Topecka school

Topeka, Kansas. 1997. Adam Gordon, a fourth-year high school student, prepares for the All-American Debate Competition finals. To his disappointment, however, it resembles more of an absurd ritual, because it is not so much about content and meaning as it is about the number of arguments raised at the rate of three hundred words per minute in order to overwhelm the opponent. Adam is interested in language in all its extreme forms, is a gifted poet, He's into freestyle rap, but under pressure from his surroundings, he's trying to be a typical guy, he goes to the gym, drinks, is using drugs, He's fighting. The tension between these two worlds causes him to suffer from migraines and anxiety, from which his parents, who work at the Topek psychiatric institute, try to help him. The two then narrate two chapters each in the book, giving their perspective on parenting and Adam's coming of age. Another perspective is brought by Darren, a mentally handicapped lost boy with limited expressive abilities, the exact opposite of Adam. And this impressive polyphony of narrative voices is gradually composed into an extremely sensitive and at the same time readable anamnesis of the individual characters and the difficult times in which they live. < br> In his third novel, Ben Lerner's refined style combines searing topicality and literary timelessness, proving why he is considered the most talented writer of his generation. < br> < br> The publication of the book was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.