Ark Audio Book Club #42 The Topeka School by Ben Lerner

Ark Audio

This month on the ark audio book club, we are revisiting an old flame with the new novel "The Topeka School" by Ben Lerner. Lerner’s first novel, "Leaving the Atocha Station", was the book started this crazy show so in many ways this is something of special occasion. In The Topeka School, Adam Gordan of the Atocha stations is back and this time we are learning about his upbringing with his Psychologist parents at the eponymous research and treatment facility in the small Kansas city. Told from the perspectives of Adam, his father Jonathan and his Mother Jane, the novel is exploration both of the formation of this character and the complex historical entanglements that an upbring entails, from youthful hijinks to developmental psychology, from New york subversives to midwestern values, from the fringes of the Westboro Baptist church to the exclusive debating clubs for future politicians. The novel explores the complexities of living in our world in classic Lerner style by excavating the disjunctions of language and action the stories we produce to square the circles. Talking about the book are long-time friend of the pod, Franek Korbanski, returning champ and Lerner scholar, Charlie Cassarino and of course, the people started the podcast all those years ago, Giovanna Alessandro and Macon Holt. From Granta Books.