Transcription

“a rare case of Good Writing About Phones”

“I listened to Ben Lerner’s new novel in one go today in my studio and can’t recommend it enough. A journalist takes the train from New York to Providence to interview his aging and very famous former-professor and accidentally drops his iPhone in a hotel sink beforehand, then pretends to record the interview on the broken phone to save face. Fatherhood, iPhone addiction, WWII history, the vagaries of memory and haunting of family history, forgiveness, and those ASMR unboxing videos on YouTube. Lerner wrote my favorite new book of the year.”

“I will say that reading Ben Lerner’s latest novel while on an off-grid preschool family camping trip is A MOVE. Ripe scenario for examining the absence of screens, one’s phone addiction, nostalgia for a deviceless past, etc.”

“Sharp and moving and slim”

“Short, exquisitely written and very thought-provoking. I'm still pondering it every day.”

“Unsettling but in a good way?”