Leaving the Atocha Station

By: Ben Lerner

Narrated by: Ben Lerner

Adam Gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young American poet on a prestigious fellowship in Madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. Instead of following the dictates of his fellowship, Adam's 'research' becomes a meditation on the possibility of the genuine in the arts and beyond: are his relationships with the people he meets in Spain as fraudulent as he fears his poems are? Is poetry an essential art form, or merely a screen for the reader's projections? A witness to the 2004 Madrid train bombings and their aftermath, does he participate in historic events or merely watch them pass him by?

©2011 Ben Lerner (P)2011 Dreamscape Media

Critic reviews

"[A] noteworthy debut.... 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...[and] 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." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Well written and full of captivating ideas." ( Library Journal)

"[P]rofoundly evocative.... [Lerner] cleverly, seductively, and hilariously investigates the nature of language and storytelling, veracity and fraud." ( Booklist)

Captured the Challenge of second language

Where does Leaving the Atocha Station rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The author wrote beautifully about that weird place of understanding enough of the language and culture to pass as fluency and then never be quite sure of what you heard, said, or took place. For any of us that have been there , it was beautifully done: did he say this or that? Was it future or past? what did I just say? A story that might be ho hum takes and humor and sadness from this perspective.

Which character – as performed by Ben Lerner – was your favorite?

I loved that the reader was the author, He made it rich with his feelings and confusion. The emotions were so heart felt.

Any additional comments?

I recommend this to anyone who has lived abroad or travelled knowing the languge just enough to get into trouble looking fluent.

intriguing study of modern man

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Do not allow the author to read this book. He ruins what is an interesting and intelligent and surprising story. What is it about professional writers that make them think they are the only one who can do justice to their novel ? Let the professional readers read and the writers write.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Leaving the Atocha Station?

The drowning in Mexico

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no it is all psychological

Hate the Narrator, Love the Novel

At various points the narrator of this book—an immature and just plain annoying young poet squandering his year on a Fullbright in Madrid—considers killing himself by taking all his medications at once. I found myself hoping he wouldn’t kill himself not because I had any sympathy or care for him but because if he died then the novel would be over and I wouldn’t be able to hear any more of his clever/interesting/vaguely profound insights. Good book once you get past hating the narrator.

A classic

Perhaps my favorite novel ever. Just the absolute best. Come for the prose, stay for the ending.

What an insufferable twat

I am not sure if he’s lying to us or to himself. ADHD and emotionally immature person who is just a mask of himself. Not sure what reality is but he’s def got a lot of social anxiety and doesn’t know which way is up. Def recommend lol