Leaving the Atocha Station

July 4, 2011
In Madrid on a fellowship, a young American poet examines his ambivalence about authenticity in this noteworthy debut novel by acclaimed poet Lerner, whose poetry collection, Angle of Yaw, was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award. Adam, the hilariously unreliable narrator who describes himself as a "violent, bipolar, compulsive liar," is both repellent and reassuringly familiar, contradictorily wishing to connect and to alienate. His social interactions are often lost in translation: "They wanted the input of a young American poet writing and reading abroad and wasn't that what I was, not just what I was pretending to be? Maybe only my fraudulence was fraudulent." Lerner has fun with the interplay between the unreliable spoken word and subtleties in speech and body language, capturing the struggle of a young artist unsure of the meaning or value of his art. Even major events, like the 2004 Madrid train bombings, are simply moments that Adam is both witness to and separate from; entering into a conversation around the wreckage, he argues: "Poetry makes nothing happen." Lerner succeeds in drawing out the problems inherent in art, expectation, and communication. And his Adam is a complex creation, relatable but unreliable, humorous but sad, at once a young man adrift and an artist intensely invested in his surroundings.

July 1, 2011

Poets turn to writing fiction for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they're curious about the possibilities of the genre and think that their poetic skills are transferable to the medium of prose. Lerner (The Lichtenberg Figures) is the latest poet to attempt this conversion, and his debut novel follows protagonist Adam Gordon, a young American poet who wins a yearlong fellowship to Madrid. Adam spends much of his residency suffering from the nagging suspicion that he is unable to have authentic experiences. Mediated by a steady diet of antidepressants, drugs, and alcohol, his life in Spain is portrayed as a series of shifting surfaces that lack any possibility of meaningful social or political engagement. VERDICT While well written and full of captivating ideas, this novel might have been better as a collection of essays. At its worst, it simply revives the tired stereotype of the self-absorbed poet as the lead character in his own reverse bildungsroman--one in which the only character who matters is the very person whose development the reader cannot bring himself to care about.--Chris Pusateri, Jefferson Cty. P.L., CO

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2011
In his adroitly interiorized first novel, poet, National Book Award finalist, and Fulbright scholar Lerner depicts the panic, anguish, and strategies of deceit suffered and deployed by a young American poet on a fellowship in Madrid. Adam is massively insecure about his limited Spanish, his grandiose project, and his precarious mental equilibrium. He attempts to control his anxiety with an excess of pills, cigarettes, alcohol, hash, indolence, and lies. In spite of himself, he is befriended by gallery owner Arturo and his gorgeous, kind, and brainy sister, Teresa, a noted translator and poet. Adam practically moves in with Teresa but has sex with Isabel, bluffing his way through awkward situations. Lerner makes this tale of a nervous young artist abroad profoundly evocative by using his protagonist's difficulties with Spanish, fear of creativity, and mental instability to cleverly, seductively, and hilariously investigate the nature of language and storytelling, veracity and fraud. As Adam's private fears are dwarfed by terrorist train attacks, Lerner casts light on how we must constantly rework the narrative of our lives to survive and flourish.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)