From the award-winning author of 10:04 and Leaving the Atocha Station, a tender and expansive family drama set in the American Midwest at the turn of the century: a tale of adolescence, transgression, and the conditions that have given rise to the trolls and tyrants of the New Right.
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting “lost boys” to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart―who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father’s patient―into the social scene, to disastrous effect.
Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is the story of a family, its struggles and its strengths: Jane’s reckoning with the legacy of an abusive father, Jonathan’s marital transgressions, the challenge of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a riveting prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the trolls and tyrants of the New Right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.
Ben Lerner is an American poet, novelist, and critic. He was awarded the Hayden Carruth prize for his cycle of fifty-two sonnets, The Lichtenberg Figures. In 2004, Library Journal named it one of the year's twelve best books of poetry. The Lichtenberg Figures appeared in a German translation in 2010, for which it received the "Preis der Stadt Münster für internationale Poesie" in 2011, making Lerner the first American to receive this honor.
Born and raised in Topeka, which figures in each of his books of poetry, Lerner is a 1997 graduate of Topeka High School where he was a standout in debate and forensics. At Brown University he earned a B.A. in Political Theory and an MFA in Poetry. He traveled on a Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid, Spain in 2003 where he wrote his second book, Angle of Yaw, which was published in 2006 and was subsequently named a finalist for the National Book Award, and was selected by Brian Foley as one of the "25 important books of poetry of the 00s (2000-2009)". Lerner's third full-length poetry collection, Mean Free Path, was published in 2010.
Lerner's first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, was published by Coffee House Press in August 2011. It was named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and New York Magazine, among other periodicals. It won the Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for "first fiction" and the New York Public Library's Young Lions prize.
In 2008 Lerner began editing poetry for Critical Quarterly, a British academic publication. He has taught at California College of the Arts, the University of Pittsburgh, and in 2010 joined the faculty of the MFA program at Brooklyn College.
Lerner's mother is the well-known psychologist Harriet Lerner.
译︱石晰颋 正如菲利普·拉金说他自己那样,大部分的写作者都不会“连环屠龙”。在他们达到某种程度的成功之后,一个人的文学生活就可以与另一个人进行比较:能够花在写作上的时间,以及思考写作的时间;在校园里写作,或者如果幸运的话,在异国他乡的文学艺术节里写作。对于自...
评分译︱石晰颋 正如菲利普·拉金说他自己那样,大部分的写作者都不会“连环屠龙”。在他们达到某种程度的成功之后,一个人的文学生活就可以与另一个人进行比较:能够花在写作上的时间,以及思考写作的时间;在校园里写作,或者如果幸运的话,在异国他乡的文学艺术节里写作。对于自...
评分译︱石晰颋 正如菲利普·拉金说他自己那样,大部分的写作者都不会“连环屠龙”。在他们达到某种程度的成功之后,一个人的文学生活就可以与另一个人进行比较:能够花在写作上的时间,以及思考写作的时间;在校园里写作,或者如果幸运的话,在异国他乡的文学艺术节里写作。对于自...
评分译︱石晰颋 正如菲利普·拉金说他自己那样,大部分的写作者都不会“连环屠龙”。在他们达到某种程度的成功之后,一个人的文学生活就可以与另一个人进行比较:能够花在写作上的时间,以及思考写作的时间;在校园里写作,或者如果幸运的话,在异国他乡的文学艺术节里写作。对于自...
评分译︱石晰颋 正如菲利普·拉金说他自己那样,大部分的写作者都不会“连环屠龙”。在他们达到某种程度的成功之后,一个人的文学生活就可以与另一个人进行比较:能够花在写作上的时间,以及思考写作的时间;在校园里写作,或者如果幸运的话,在异国他乡的文学艺术节里写作。对于自...
这本书最让我印象深刻的是它对“运动”和“静止”的辩证处理。在一些极具爆发力的场景中,文字的节奏快得像一场追逐戏,充满了动能和不可逆转的力量;然而,在另一些篇章里,时间仿佛被冻结了,角色们陷入漫长而痛苦的沉思,世界的运转似乎都为了等待他们做出某个微不足道的决定。这种张弛有度的节奏感,使得阅读过程本身成为一种身体的体验。我感觉自己和人物一起呼吸,一起屏住呼吸。此外,作品中那些关于冲突和和解的描绘,都非常微妙且克制。它没有落入传统戏剧冲突的俗套,而是将最大的张力隐藏在对话的间隙、未曾出口的话语和肢体语言的微小变化中。这要求读者必须带着极大的耐心去解码,但一旦理解了那种潜流,作品的深度便会猛然显现。
评分这本书真正吸引我的是它对“环境”——无论是物理环境还是社会环境——的描绘达到了近乎史诗般的规模。它捕捉到了一种特定的地域气息,那种弥漫在空气中、渗透在社区肌理里的,既有朴实无华的善良,也深藏着难以言喻的压抑和保守。我能清晰地感受到那种小镇生活带来的双重性:既是庇护所,又是无形的牢笼。作者在描述场景时,那种对细节的偏执令人赞叹,仿佛每一条街道、每一栋建筑都有其自身的历史和秘密,并以一种不动声色的方式影响着居住其中的人物命运。更重要的是,它成功地将宏大的社会议题——比如阶级固化、历史遗留问题——巧妙地熔铸到最私密的家庭冲突之中。这使得整部作品摆脱了说教的空泛,而拥有了坚实的、可触摸的现实基础。读完之后,我感觉自己仿佛在那里生活了一段时间,带着那些人物的疲惫和困惑,回到了自己的日常。
评分这本书的叙事结构令人惊叹,它像一幅由无数细小碎片拼凑而成的挂毯,每一块碎片都散发着独特的光泽和质感。作者似乎对人物内心的幽微之处有着近乎病态的洞察力,那些被小心翼翼隐藏起来的恐惧、欲望和自我欺骗,都在文字的解剖下无所遁形。我尤其欣赏它处理时间线的方式,它并非线性推进,而是像回声一样在不同的时空点之间跳跃、碰撞,每一次回溯都为当前的场景增添了新的维度和重量。阅读过程更像是一场智力上的探险,我必须不断地调整我的视角,才能跟上作者精心编织的逻辑迷宫。那些关于身份认同的探讨,并非停留在表面的标签化,而是深入到个体经验的肌理之中,去探究“我是谁”这个看似简单的问题背后,潜藏着多少代际的期望、社会结构的压力,以及个体自由意志的微弱挣扎。文字本身也极具张力,既有古典文学的厚重感,又不失现代口语的鲜活与锐利,读起来既有挑战性,又令人心甘情愿地沉溺其中。
评分从风格上看,这本书无疑是极具野心的,它试图囊括太多,但令人惊讶的是,它大多时候都成功地驾驭住了这种广度。我感受到的最强烈的情绪是那种难以名状的“疏离感”。角色们似乎永远在试图连接,但又总是在关键时刻错失了彼此的信号。这种疏离感并非简单的孤独,而是一种存在主义层面的错位——你知道自己身处何处,知道自己应该扮演什么角色,但内在的“自我”始终感觉像是被放大了的、扭曲的倒影。作者对内心独白的运用达到了炉火纯青的地步,那些句子如同破碎的镜片,反射出主角看待世界时那种既清醒又近乎偏执的视角。它对语言本身的探索也十分有趣,你会发现某些词汇被赋予了新的、沉重的含义,仿佛作者在创造一种只有通过这本书才能完全理解的内部词典。这是一部需要你全神贯注、细细咀嚼的作品,它绝不提供廉价的慰藉。
评分这部作品的后劲极大,它不属于那种读完后拍拍脑门说“有趣”就结束的类型。它在你合上书本很久之后,仍然会在不经意的瞬间跳出来,比如在处理人际关系或者面对重大选择时。它探讨了信任的脆弱性,以及我们为了维护一个“可以接受的现实”需要付出多大的认知努力。作者的笔触冷静而精准,即使描写最激烈的情感场面,也带着一种近乎科学观察者的距离感,这反而让情感的冲击力更加持久和深刻。它不是一本关于“发生什么”的书,而是一本关于“发生之后,我们如何继续存在”的书。它迫使我审视自己生命中那些被视为理所当然的假设,并质疑自己是如何构建起对世界的理解框架的。阅读体验非常个人化,像是在进行一场私密的、略显不安的自我审视。
评分Jane的部分很好看。总体还是太意识流。以后碰到literary fiction要小心。
评分(3.5) Dealt masterfully with multiple indeterminate narratives and time conjunctions/ eclipses, yet this relatively loose weaving of perspectives, storylines, contemplations, and history could not bring altogether a pivotal arch and core, thus languishing the strength of the message it tries to convey. ( # Masculine glossolalia
评分难看的部分非常难看,好看的部分也非常好看。一直在撕书和惊叹之间徘徊。也可能是难看的部分太难看了,稍微好看一点,便觉非常好。就像难吃的食物吃多了,连榨菜都是人间美味。
评分看了10%,不知道作者想要说什么故事。啰里啰嗦,不知所谓。文字功底还不错,但是行文太刻意了。放弃了=。
评分kinda dark
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