Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

the new novel -- the topeka school -- is excellent until the last section, when it devolves into moral pedantry. the failure is more pronounced given how good the climax was -- and how complex the characters were. it shouldn't all resolve into a bite size/social media ready comment about masculinity

I have only been peripherally aware of this dude, but seeing Topeka School on best of 2019 lists piqued my interest. Where should I start?

Leaving the atocha station and then the short monograph, the hatred of poetry, which follows up on themes from the novel about negative capability

If you like those then the topeka school next.

His poems are kind of cool too. I like the first collection best—the lichtenberg figures.

I liked 10:04 better than either Atocha or Topeka, haven't read the poems.