Already being hailed as one of the twenty-first century’s great American novels, Ben Lerner’s deft, cerebral tale of peer pressure and toxic masculinity in a Kansas high school reverberates with bracingly relevant issues of gender politics and social bullying. Exquisitely written and compellingly plotted, The Topeka School packs a mighty literary punch.
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2020
Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2020
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of '97. His parents are psychologists, his mom a famous author in the field. A renowned debater and orator, an aspiring poet, and - although it requires a lot of posturing and weight lifting - one of the cool kids, he's also one of the seniors who brings the loner Darren Eberheart into the social scene, with disastrous effects.
Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is a riveting story about the challenges of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a startling prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the tyranny of trolls and the new right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 9781783785360
Number of pages: 304
Weight: 363 g
Dimensions: 216 x 135 x 18 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'The Topeka School is a novel of exhilarating intellectual inquiry, penetrating social insight and deep psychological sensitivity. To the extent that we can speak of a future at present, I think the future of the novel is here.' - Sally Rooney
'The Topeka School is an education in the sympathetic imagination, a deep and bracing intellectual challenge, a powerful political statement.' - The Observer Guide to the Best Autumn Culture
'It’s his most ambitious work and I believe it’s a masterpiece.' - Zack Graham, BBC Radio 4 Open Book
'Ben Lerner is arguably the hottest novelist writing in America today, in complete control of his ideas and his prose, and ambitious with both’ - The Telegraph Autumn Highlights Preview
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“Brilliant novel....”
In Ben Lerner’s new novel, it is hard to separate fiction from reality. As the main character in his book, he was born in Topeka , his parents are both psychologists and graduates in 1997.
The language as well as the...
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“Blew my mind”
I feel like I've read something special and enduring in The Topeka School, a book that subtly tackles the social implications of fragile white masculinity, and that doesn't attack men outright. At the same... More
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