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Leaving the Atocha Station
- Narrated by: Ben Lerner
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
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?
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- Rochelle
- 12-09-14
Insightful, beautiful
I loved this book & I’m not sure why. I think part of it is the language (the author is a poet), the other part is how believable the main character is as a human being.
Adam has a serious case of imposter syndrome, and his way of dealing with this is sometimes to lie, try to look or sound mysterious (I'm not sure how well that actually works for him), or pop anxiety pills. His lies are painful not least because he’s absolute rubbish at remembering that he lied at all. He’s terrified the people around him will see him as a fraud. He’s uncomfortable, we’re uncomfortable but the people around him in the book seem to be completely fine with it all, although he ascribes to them a higher wisdom than is likely. He thinks he's a fraud as a person & as a poet & neither of these seem likely. He certainly puts too much meaning in to his interactions with others & overthinks things.
A lot of this book is us spending time in Adam's head. His perspective is definitely warped though so we see some things he doesn't. He's a painful character (in the sense of cringeworthy) but he's incredibly human & like cellophane - at times we see right through.
The narration is excellent. Initially I was bothered by the monotone of the author's voice, the flattened affect, but getting further into the book this is the perfect voice for Adam.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Gayle Winegar
- 03-26-12
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.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Dana Garden
- 08-06-15
Disappointed
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
No, unfortunately. It’s been getting good reviews and I wanted to like it--right up my alley, a poet in Madrid--but I found the narrator to be insufferable, self-important in a passive-aggressive way and at the same time self-loathing, manipulative, self-centered, hand-to-the-forehead. The only way we see secondary characters, like women who somehow love him, is through his worry about how his lies and manipulations will affect them. I appreciate the examination of language, how it can be twisted, how we don't understand each other, specially with the added burden of translation. And the telling is perhaps bravely naked, exposing this character's most gutter self, but he is not someone I want to spend time with. I listened to the end because it was short (thank god) and I wanted to see if it then was redemptive. It wasn’t really, just grumpy and depressed.
Has Leaving the Atocha Station turned you off from other books in this genre?
No!
Would you be willing to try another one of Ben Lerner’s performances?
Ben Lerner's performance worsened my reaction to his book, as he reads a lot of the prose in the dreaded Poet Voice, intoning rather than with natural speech inflections. It's possible the book might have been livelier, funnier in places, and less inescapable if I had read it. Maybe a different reader would lend the narrator more inflected variation.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Elise
- 05-08-16
Awful reading
Not a bad story but the narrator read it so badly that I didn't finish it. Lerner's reading of his story was monotone and self loathing. The why bother life is awful style of reading drove me crazy!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Buyer009
- 06-15-16
The words in our heads
Once again I'm reminded of all the things that writing can do that's difficult for film to achieve. Lerner's painting of unverbalized intentions, beyond those revealed via internal monologue is a beautiful portrayal of the real human mind.
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3 people found this helpful
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- D. Witscher
- 06-02-15
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
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3 people found this helpful
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- rachel murane
- 12-14-20
brilliant
This is one of those necessary books. A forever book. Stunning. And read beautifully, simply.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Daniel Olivieri
- 11-06-18
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.
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- honore200
- 11-09-23
AmazingBest read in a long time
Glad I listened to this novel instead of reading it. The author’s performance adds an important layer of meaning. Incredibly well written.
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- Syd K.
- 05-20-22
A classic
Perhaps my favorite novel ever. Just the absolute best. Come for the prose, stay for the ending.
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-22-22
Highly recommend
compulsive and brilliant from Ben Lerner, as per, and especially enjoyable to hear it read by the author
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- Anonymous User
- 05-22-22
Scintillatingly funny and raw all at once
Beautifully well observed. Bitingly funny. And yet somehow tragic and moving at the same time.
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- jesjaspers
- 05-26-21
Compelling
Probably the most compelling first person narrative I've read. And a first novel at that.
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- greggi
- 01-18-20
Excellent
Really enjoyed listening this in one go. I’ve recently visited Madrid as my daughter is living there and it brought the City and its history and culture alive. I’m back again in a few weeks and will look afresh at everything.
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Story
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting "lost boys" to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak.
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Strong novel about 1990s
- By citizen, jazzmania on 01-11-20
By: Ben Lerner
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Night Train to Lisbon
- By: Pascal Mercier, Barbara Harshav - translator
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Raimund Gregorius teaches classical languages at a Swiss lycée, and lives a life governed by routine. One day, a chance encounter with a Portuguese woman inspires him to question his life - and leads him to an extraordinary book that will open the possibility of changing it. Inspired by the words of Amadeu de Prado, a doctor whose intelligence and magnetism left a mark on everyone who met him and whose principles led him into a confrontation with Salazar’s dictatorship, Gregorius boards a train to Lisbon.
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It is not enough to be able to read...
- By Alana on 01-22-12
By: Pascal Mercier, and others
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Nazi Literature in the Americas
- By: Roberto Bolaño, Chris Andrews - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A tour de force of black humor and imaginary erudition, Nazi Literature in the Americas presents itself as a biographical dictionary of writers who espoused extreme right-wing ideologies in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Eerie and fascinating
- By Jikai Zenshin on 03-19-21
By: Roberto Bolaño, and others
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The Only Way Is West
- A Once in a Lifetime, 500 Mile Adventure Walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago
- By: Bradley Chermside
- Narrated by: Joel Daffurn
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What would you do if you're given a €20 note in Greece with an email address scribbled on it: Spend it, slip the suspect counterfeit bill into an enemy’s birthday card, or send an email, hoping it will lead to you finding everlasting love? Brad, a hopeless romantic, chose the latter. Two years later, his love life remains a disaster and his career is misfiring. As he’s about to walk Spain’s fabled Camino de Santiago to ponder some profound life changes, Brad receives a reply.
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Not my favorite
- By Mark B. Lepper on 11-27-20
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10:04
- By: Ben Lerner
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the last year, the narrator of 10:04 has enjoyed unexpected literary success, has been diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition, and has been asked by his best friend to help her conceive a child, despite his dating a rising star in the visual arts. In a New York of increasingly frequent super storms and political unrest, he must reckon with his biological mortality, the possibility of a literary afterlife, and the prospect of (unconventional) fatherhood in a city that might soon be under water.
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A novel worth reading
- By Bradley Paul Valentine on 01-29-15
By: Ben Lerner
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The Passion According to G.H.
- By: Clarice Lispector
- Narrated by: Sofia Willingham
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Lispector’s most shocking novel. The Passion According to G.H., Clarice Lispector’s mystical novel of 1964, concerns a well-to-do Rio sculptress, G.H., who enters her maid’s room, sees a cockroach crawling out of the wardrobe, and, panicking, slams the door - crushing the cockroach - and then watches it die. At the end of the novel, at the height of a spiritual crisis, comes the most famous and most genuinely shocking scene in Brazilian literature....
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So freaking good!
- By Gordy on 04-11-18
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The Topeka School
- A Novel
- By: Ben Lerner
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari, Peter Berkrot, Tristan Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting "lost boys" to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak.
-
-
Strong novel about 1990s
- By citizen, jazzmania on 01-11-20
By: Ben Lerner
-
Night Train to Lisbon
- By: Pascal Mercier, Barbara Harshav - translator
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raimund Gregorius teaches classical languages at a Swiss lycée, and lives a life governed by routine. One day, a chance encounter with a Portuguese woman inspires him to question his life - and leads him to an extraordinary book that will open the possibility of changing it. Inspired by the words of Amadeu de Prado, a doctor whose intelligence and magnetism left a mark on everyone who met him and whose principles led him into a confrontation with Salazar’s dictatorship, Gregorius boards a train to Lisbon.
-
-
It is not enough to be able to read...
- By Alana on 01-22-12
By: Pascal Mercier, and others
-
Nazi Literature in the Americas
- By: Roberto Bolaño, Chris Andrews - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tour de force of black humor and imaginary erudition, Nazi Literature in the Americas presents itself as a biographical dictionary of writers who espoused extreme right-wing ideologies in the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
-
Eerie and fascinating
- By Jikai Zenshin on 03-19-21
By: Roberto Bolaño, and others
-
The Only Way Is West
- A Once in a Lifetime, 500 Mile Adventure Walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago
- By: Bradley Chermside
- Narrated by: Joel Daffurn
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would you do if you're given a €20 note in Greece with an email address scribbled on it: Spend it, slip the suspect counterfeit bill into an enemy’s birthday card, or send an email, hoping it will lead to you finding everlasting love? Brad, a hopeless romantic, chose the latter. Two years later, his love life remains a disaster and his career is misfiring. As he’s about to walk Spain’s fabled Camino de Santiago to ponder some profound life changes, Brad receives a reply.
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-
Not my favorite
- By Mark B. Lepper on 11-27-20
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Intimacies
- A Novel
- By: Katie Kitamura
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: Her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister. And she's pulled into controversy when she’s asked to interpret for a former president accused of war crimes.
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A Serious Book
- By "janpetrow" on 07-23-21
By: Katie Kitamura
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The Flamethrowers
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Kushner
- Narrated by: Rachel Kushner
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Reno, so-called because of the place of her birth, comes to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity—artists colonize a deserted and industrial SoHo, stage actions in the East Village, blur the line between life and art. Reno is submitted to a sentimental education of sorts—by dreamers, poseurs, and raconteurs in New York and by radicals in Italy, where she goes with her lover to meet his estranged and formidable family.
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Expansive and metaphorical; interesting story with a unique trajectory.
- By K Gray on 10-24-23
By: Rachel Kushner