{"id":25997,"date":"2019-05-20T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T20:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=25997"},"modified":"2019-05-20T16:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T20:28:00","slug":"ben-lerner-ross-perot-and-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2019\/05\/20\/ben-lerner-ross-perot-and-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Lerner: “Ross Perot and China”"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/span><\/div>

“Ross Perot and China”<\/strong><\/span>
\nby Ben Lerner<\/span>
\nfrom the May 27, 2019 issue of\u00a0The New Yorker<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/h3><\/div>

\"\"I<\/span>t’s not that a title has to pull me in . . . I thought before seeing “Ross Perot and China” and thinking then and there that I’d never read this story. That was even before I saw that this was an excerpt of his forthcoming novel,\u00a0The Topeka School<\/em>. Does anyone else want to read a short story (that’s not a short story) called “Ross Perot and China”?<\/p>\n

But it does have a catchy beginning:<\/p>\n

\n

They were drifting on her stepfather\u2019s boat in the middle of an otherwise empty man-made lake encircled by large tract houses. It was early autumn and they were drinking Southern Comfort from the bottle. Adam was in the front of the boat watching a changeable blue light across the water that was probably a television seen through a window or a glass door. He heard the scrape of her lighter, then saw smoke float over him, unravel. For a long time he had been speaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he turned to see what effect his speech had had, she was gone, jeans and sweater in a little pile with the pipe and lighter.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Still, I haven’t read the story yet, and I’m not sure I will. Perhaps some of you can help me see if I’m missing out.<\/p>\n

On that note, I’ve read only a few short stories by Lerner. I’ve never read his two novels, Leaving the Atocha Station<\/em> and\u00a010:04<\/em>,\u00a0which I know have been received positively. I’m also curious how those of you who have read them feel about the novels and this excerpt from\u00a0The Topeka School<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>