Saliendo De La Estación De Atocha (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Ben Lerner is perhaps a genius, in that he's able to brilliantly describe the many simultaneous, ego-centric abundance of ways we make meaning out of the world and people around us, and how we often spectacularly fuck all of it up, but also how, I dunno, there's still something really kind of beautiful about that process.More: I think the reason this book hit me as hard as it did is because I recognize so much of myself in Adam, and I wish I didn't. "Leaving the Atocha Station" is the book many writers writing about writers (as narrator/protagonist) are trying to write, albeit, I think, more earnestly and less effectively than Lerner's short, stunning and often hilarious debut novel. His narrator is suspicious of his own status as poet, and suspicious of any person claiming or having “a profound experience of art.” Lerner's protagonist is a pill-popping liar who is who is stiflingly steeped in his own solipsistic, writerly bullshit. Yet he recognizes it, confesses it, shares it with the readers, making him authentically lovable, and making "Leaving the Atocha Station" mandatory reading for anyone who fancies himself or herself a writer, a poet, or a person who has profound experiences of art.
What do You think about Saliendo De La Estación De Atocha (2013)?
Why do I like novels about/by poets so much? Also, much about Spanish and living abroad...
—Jessa
One of the best books I have read about art and writing.
—Rebekah
Tapping out at page 68 with a hearty "fuuuuuck this"
—itamar
Funny, painful, poignant, and felt deeply true.
—audball
