Transcription

Transcription by Ben Lerner (2026) I really connected to 10:04 (I was in NYC during those bookending hurricanes) but had I merely read the synopsis of this book… not the subject matter I want to spend time with. However, I scored an audiobook, and it’s short, so that was an easy way in—and I’m glad I did because I’m entranced with it. This one’s very strange, mind-bending, melancholy, but also oddly hilarious… I think you could call it a poem, or a comic (though also sad) novel—but “novel” covers all of those. It may be short, but there are 1000 pages of ideas packed in there. It’s disappointing when people attempt to sum up a book by saying it’s “about” X (some broad concept) —I mean, I’m inclined to do that, too—I’m lazy with the laziest of ’em. So I’m just going to ramble on about some things that assaulted my brain after I listened to the excellently performed (Seth Numrich) audiobook. No immediate (for me) handles (snowstorms, diners, someone drinking coffee), rather, subjects that bum me out, lately—fatherhood, difficult family relationships, and stories about Covid lockdown—I’m through with all that—but I was willing, in this case, to go there, because I’m also a sucker for games, structure, parallels, short books, dense books, ambiguity, knowing I’m missing something, embarrassment, and love. Also, crazy ideas about dreams—and this book immediately influenced my dreams and even some nightmares. Like going out with no pants—or an interview without a recording device. On his way to meet with his elderly mentor, our protagonist has dropped his phone in “the sink” (obviously, the toilet). (People keep telling him he needs to put it in a bag of rice—idea for better book cover: pic of dead phone in bag of rice!) He reconstructs the conversation from memory—and it only becomes “an issue” because he makes the blunder part of his article—as it’s also dealing with recollection and false memories and misrepresentation and technology and documentation. Oh, the U-turns and re-visits and repetitions and, crazily, much more. Also, though I’ve never had children of dealt with an eating disorder, I found the third part of the book totally fascinating. I’ve always wondered how I would have approached having kids—but most stories about that subject don’t interest me much. This definitely did. I won’t give it away—it’s a thriller, and I’m not kidding. Also, like the rest, kind of tragic, definitely funny, and also hard to put your finger on.

11.5.26