Nicely encapsulated summary is the author's UK agent's description https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/ben-lerner/work/the-topeka-school :
Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, [b:The Topeka School|43565369|The Topeka School|Ben Lerner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555088207l/43565369._SY75_.jpg|67209658] is the story of a family, its struggles and its strengths: Jane’s reckoning with the legacy of an abusive father, Jonathan’s marital transgressions, the challenge of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a riveting prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the trolls and tyrants of the new right, the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.
[b:The Topeka School|43565369|The Topeka School|Ben Lerner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555088207l/43565369._SY75_.jpg|67209658] is another "autofiction" from Ben Lerner with many aspects of memoir as he writes about growing up in Topeka, excelling in writing poetry and debating, the son of psychologists (renowned feminist Harriet Lerner who wrote [b:The Dance of Anger|31312|The Dance of Anger|Harriet Lerner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388261597l/31312._SY75_.jpg|31603] is his mom). He explores language and how it affects our lives, personally and politically - you never forget he's a poet, but the language of psychology is never far from the conversation either.
One of the psychiatrists at the institute where his parents worked, Klaus would respond by delivering his signature quotation from Niels Bohr, the quotation he always quoted when he seemed to contradict himself, a saying his conversation was inexorably working toward, one he loved so much he'd stop and stand still, smiling, to deliver it: "The opposite of a truth," Klaus quoted, "is a falsehood; but the opposite of a profound truth"--pause for emphasis, sound of sprinklers, insects, push mowers, felt absence of city noise, Kenny Rogers from a passing car--"may be another profound truth." It either is or is not August (Klaus removes his anachronistic glasses, round lenses, wipes his face, replaces them, resumes walking); if I assert it's August when it isn't--simply false; but if I say that life is pain, that is true, profoundly so; so, too, that life is joy; the more profound the statement, the more reversible the deep truths are sedimented in syntax, the terms can be reversed, just as there is no principle of noncontradiction, no law of excluded middle, governing the unconscious."
I love the insertion of "Kenny Rogers from a passing car."
Deceptive signers on the TV news announcing crises in gibberish instead of sign language. The constant presence of the Phelpses, a right-wing family marching with placards. His mother circumvents similar crank callers by pretending not to hear them and having them repeat their jibes, a technique she uses with her son on the phone hysterical with grief over a "dear John" letter. Repetition in speech figures significantly, as do tornadoes. The sad violence perpetrated by a mentally challenged classmate. The father's challenges treating "lost boys" while fighting his own battles with infidelity. Adam's wily conservative debate coach.
But where are the editors? Or what was the point in the repetitions? Is this a message for the discerning reader of this dense and intelligent book?
"He passes no inn or public house, no one throws him a penny from a hay cart that he might stop for bread or beer" describes Darren's long, sad odyssey home from the lake after being abandoned by his peers on p.153. Our hero walking across Central Park at night: "He passes no inn or public house, no one throws him a penny from a hay cart that he might stop for bread or beer." p. 181
My instant crush on Donna Selkie, the curve where her shoulder became her breast." p. 161 (his father speaking as a young man)
...my mind was picturing Sima half-awake beside Eric: fall of her hair across her pillow, slight part of her lips, curve where her shoulder met her breast." p. 171 (his father speaking again as an adult)
"The problem for him in high school was that debate made you a nerd and poetry made you a pussy..." p. 127
And it is a funny book. The scene of the percolating teen antagonists in the big box store while their mothers make social conversation was priceless.
Political and social upheavals occur alongside the protagonist's own traumas. He touches back and forth with references to his present life as a politically active father of two daughters, married to a professor, living and writing in Brooklyn.
I did not want the tale to end. Lerner's fiction has always had a strong attraction and this book is no different although perhaps his second novel, [b:10:04|20613582|10 04|Ben Lerner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405301226l/20613582._SY75_.jpg|39894949], remains my favorite. ( )

While this novel has received critical acclaim, I struggled to connect
with it. I guess it's a bit unfair, but I really have come to dislike
"autofiction" (how many novels about writers does one need?) That
said, there are some very captivating passages---the author is very
gifted, his vocabularly is astounding---but on the whole I found it
tedious. The repeated, interlocking touchstones (again impressive)
felt to me like "the spread," the nonsensical overflow of
argumentation from "competitive" debaters referenced in the novel.
Ultimately the novel seems to want to say something about the crisis
of masculinity and its relationship to the present socio-political
situation in America. But I think it's extremely difficult for a
semi-autobiographical work from someone whose own upbringing is so far
outside the typical experience---super famous psychologist parents, et
cetera---to write something with universal meaning. ( )

This is on my DNF (did not finish) list. I can't. It literally gives me a headache. The writing trend may be to jump back and forth and sideways, but when you have this many characters, forget about it. I do have a little psychology background, so the explanations regarding deviancy or unwanted behaviors were highly interesting. However, this story focuses on chasing so many butterflies, going back and forth in time to describe the characters and the events that shaped them, with no clue where the story is going or why so much mundane is necessary. Each night I read the story, I would TRY to stop at a point where I would not lose what I had learned. But there was so much I did not understand. There was a ton of historical background you needed to appreciate this story (I guess), and I don't think the average reader will have it. I don't usually consider myself an average reader until I have to read a highly historical book. I also think references to Palin and Trump were just an excuse to throw a current political viewpoint in the book. It didn't have any other meaning to me, otherwise. Good grief! I wanted to relate to the characters, but the passages had so many terms and vocabulary that did not aid to building to whatever tied it all together. At the half mark, I made the call to take my life back and stop reading. I refuse to read a book that I have to rewrite in my mind to make it make sense. And the reviews are so mixed. Either people totally agree like I do, or totally think it is wonderful. Lots of times, readers will have a taste of a style from other books by that author. Even so, I could have read nearly all those reviews and still gotten frustrated with reading this book. I appreciate Goodreads giving me the opportunity to read it, but this genre, whatever it may be, is DEFINITELY not my style. All I could get out of it was adults and their offspring have problems that are often passed on from one generation to the next. If that theme could have been built and all the other extraneous ideas removed, chances are great I would have finished this book. That is one great storyline lost in the middle of the ramble. ( )

Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School is abstract mish mash. Too many complicated plot lines that don’t add up to a cohesive reading experience. If Lerner wants to write a novel then he should put aside his “poet” cap. The theme of toxic masculinity is obscured by Lerner’s haphazard writing. Not sure who enjoy this book, but I’m not a fan. ( )

It has some really good thoughts on many cultural woes, specifically on toxic masculinity. It also has moments of really good descriptions throughout. While I can see quite a bit fo character development, the use of multiple perspectives and timelines detracts from the story as a whole, and makes it difficult to follow because of how disjointed it is. Great book for the commentary, not for plot. ( )