Leaving the Atocha Station
by Ben Lerner
Ben Lerner’s debut novel, which won the 2011 Believer Award, follows a young poet over the course of a year-long Fulbright scholarship in Madrid. Praised for both its humour and intelligence, Leaving the Atocha Station offers both a biting satire of the art world, and a vivid insight into the anxieties of the creative process.
This smart, self-deprecating novel is a thinly veiled portrait of the author as he struggles with imposter syndrome (verging on a total breakdown) during a prestigious fellowship overseas. Merciless in his forensic analysis of social interaction and his skewering of his own pretension, it’s also a clever exploration what can be lost and found in translation between two languages and cultures.
Cal Flyn, Deputy editor
Five Books review