Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mine was a very personal reaction to Lerner's book, as one of the "white Americans" he references who could easily work illegally in Madrid teaching English. I had my time there long before he did (I'm assuming this is an autobiographical novel); like Adam, Lerner's protagonist, I was an aspiring young writer who, deep down, doubted himself and had a good deal of difficulty living in the moment.

I applaud Lerner for how much he captures in Leaving the Atocha Station -- the particular sights, smells, and sounds that make up the capital. Although I lived there in the late 1980's, not too far removed from the days of Franco, I returned with my wife and two young sons for a brief visit in 2010, six years after the story of the novel takes place, and I can't say that the city has changed all that much in the ensuing years.

Learner's Adam is not the most likable hero. He's self-absorbed and just plain selfish through much of the book. In the end, however, I understood him. Probably because I saw so much of myself as a young man in him.


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