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A review by iwnbh
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
3.0
i don't hate lerner's writing style, but i guess it is a very modern-day american MFA type of deal. some sentences are brilliant (this is from the topeka school, but i especially like the line:
“He touched a wrestling state-championship banner hanging in the foyer with the distance of an anthropologist or ghost.”)
the way lerner portrayed the experience of learning a language - of knowing all the basics, all the fundamentals, but still lacking the fluency and confidence that is required in real-life situations - was one of the best parts of this book. the way he described it really stuck with me. i think he said something like hearing another character's sentences and not really understanding it fully, but understanding it like notes of a chord, disparate ideas without real syntax. a picture so big as to be meaningless. i'm learning spanish in school and that's really what it feels like.
the main character was insufferable but i (very unhappily) found myself relating to him at times. i think unlikable/critically flawed characters can still successfully lead stories though. the experience was very grating but since the book wasn't that long i was able to get through it. and despite there being so many cringe-worthy scenes, there was enough appealing writing that it made it almost worth it (like the second language stuff).
i can't say in good faith that i enjoyed reading this. however, i would recommend it over the topeka school, for those who want to read lerner's work but aren't sure where to start.
“He touched a wrestling state-championship banner hanging in the foyer with the distance of an anthropologist or ghost.”)
the way lerner portrayed the experience of learning a language - of knowing all the basics, all the fundamentals, but still lacking the fluency and confidence that is required in real-life situations - was one of the best parts of this book. the way he described it really stuck with me. i think he said something like hearing another character's sentences and not really understanding it fully, but understanding it like notes of a chord, disparate ideas without real syntax. a picture so big as to be meaningless. i'm learning spanish in school and that's really what it feels like.
the main character was insufferable but i (very unhappily) found myself relating to him at times. i think unlikable/critically flawed characters can still successfully lead stories though. the experience was very grating but since the book wasn't that long i was able to get through it. and despite there being so many cringe-worthy scenes, there was enough appealing writing that it made it almost worth it (like the second language stuff).
i can't say in good faith that i enjoyed reading this. however, i would recommend it over the topeka school, for those who want to read lerner's work but aren't sure where to start.