Review: 'Transcription: A Novel' by Ben Lerner
I've tried retyping this little intro a number of times, trying to figure out the best way to tease Transcription and hint at what struck me about it and I'm struggling. Perhaps that is, in and of itself, a good indicator for the book, which is about struggle, about figuring out what to say when, how to best say it, and whether any of that matters at all. Transcription offers a lot of food for thought but I'm still stuck on whether it fully works. Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Pub. Date : 07/04/2026 Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux The narrator of Ben Lerner’s new novel has traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, where he is to conduct what will be the final published interview with Thomas, his ninety-year-old mentor and the father of his college friend Max. Thomas is a giant in the arts who seems to hail “from the future and the past simultaneously” and who “reenchants the ...
