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The Topeka School

By Ben Lerner
Edition

Hardcover edition

Publisher Macmillan Imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Adult ISBN

9780374277789

Awards and Honors Kirkus Best Books - 2019
NPR’s Book Concierge - 2019
NYT Notable Books - 2019
WP Best Books - 2019
CPL Best Books - 2019
NBCC Awards Finalist - 2020
Los Angeles Times Fiction Winner

The Topeka School

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SKU
9780374277789J
CONTENT NOTIFICATIONS

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco: Drug Use/Abuse

Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting “lost boys” to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart—who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father’s patient—into the social scene, to disastrous effect.



Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School 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, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.
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Adult Crossover High Plus (Grades 11 & Up)

Adult Crossover High Plus

Adult Crossover High Plus (Grades 11 & Up)

For Grades 11 & Up
For the more advanced high school reader who is ready for adult reading, our ACH+ Category is a great choice. With more sophisticated and challenging themes, the 14 books in ACH+ open up new worlds for teen readers.
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Interests

Fiction, Mature Readers, Novels, Realistic Fiction

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