A review by danuunad
10:04 by Ben Lerner
4.0
The epigraph of 10:04 reads as follows:
The Hassidim tell a story about the world to come that says everything there will be just as it is here. Just as our room is now, so it will be in the world to come; where our baby sleeps now, there too it will sleep in the other world. And the clothes we wear in this world, those too we will wear there. Everything will be as it is now, just a little different.
Much of the book that follows is a meditation on this theme of changing/unchanging, of things being the same, yet totally different. It is exemplified in a number of very interesting situations, ranging from dreams and a potentially life-threatening storm that fails to materialize to one person's discovery that their self-constructed identity is almost entirely based on a lie and the transformation that art undergoes upon being declared worthless by an insurer.
It is also reflected by the frequent recurrence of certain "signature words" or phrases (a concept that is, of course, mentioned explicitly somewhere in the book) in various contexts, such as "craquelure", "coeval", "proprioceptive", "dissected", "bad form of collectivity" and especially "unseasonably warm", which started to drive me nuts towards the end of the book.
This book is also highly self-referential and metafictional, with Lerner frequently breaking of the fourth wall and wondering aloud whether his (fictional?) acquaintances would be mad if he used their stories in this book. These stories, incidentally, make up some of the most memorable parts of 10:04. This book also shines when Lerner channels his inner David Foster Wallace, using personal recollections as a springboard for short essays on famous artworks, literary pieces, poems or, in one memorable case, a presidential address.
The problem with these often fascinating and occasionally hilarious interludes is that they make the main narrative arc seem just that, a springboard, with not much inherent value beyond setting up Lerner's next brilliant outburst. It is a testament to Lerner's wit that this book nevertheless kept me entertained all the way through.
The Hassidim tell a story about the world to come that says everything there will be just as it is here. Just as our room is now, so it will be in the world to come; where our baby sleeps now, there too it will sleep in the other world. And the clothes we wear in this world, those too we will wear there. Everything will be as it is now, just a little different.
Much of the book that follows is a meditation on this theme of changing/unchanging, of things being the same, yet totally different. It is exemplified in a number of very interesting situations, ranging from dreams and a potentially life-threatening storm that fails to materialize to one person's discovery that their self-constructed identity is almost entirely based on a lie and the transformation that art undergoes upon being declared worthless by an insurer.
It is also reflected by the frequent recurrence of certain "signature words" or phrases (a concept that is, of course, mentioned explicitly somewhere in the book) in various contexts, such as "craquelure", "coeval", "proprioceptive", "dissected", "bad form of collectivity" and especially "unseasonably warm", which started to drive me nuts towards the end of the book.
This book is also highly self-referential and metafictional, with Lerner frequently breaking of the fourth wall and wondering aloud whether his (fictional?) acquaintances would be mad if he used their stories in this book. These stories, incidentally, make up some of the most memorable parts of 10:04. This book also shines when Lerner channels his inner David Foster Wallace, using personal recollections as a springboard for short essays on famous artworks, literary pieces, poems or, in one memorable case, a presidential address.
The problem with these often fascinating and occasionally hilarious interludes is that they make the main narrative arc seem just that, a springboard, with not much inherent value beyond setting up Lerner's next brilliant outburst. It is a testament to Lerner's wit that this book nevertheless kept me entertained all the way through.