#17 in Contemporary fiction
The Topeka School
- 304
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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About the book
The Topeka School is a 2019 novel by the American novelist and poet Ben Lerner about a high school debate champion from Topeka, Kansas in the 1990s. The book is considered both a bildungsroman and a work of autofiction, as the narrative incorporates many details from Lerner's own life. The novel was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 6.7 across 56 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 27% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Contemporary fiction average of 7.6. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 6.7 | 56 | 100% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“Interesting but Disjointed I did enjoy reading this book and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys heavy focus on characters over plot. A little bit disjointed, but I like seeing things from the three different perspectives of Adam, Jane, and Jonathan.”
“I was staggered, having struggled through this monumentally pretentious book, to read some of the glowing reviews it has garnered. Hopes were inappropriately raised early on with a segment where Adam finds himself in the wrong lakeside house, which drew me in. It turned out…”
Frequently asked
How long is The Topeka School?
It has 304 pages — shorter than 68% of the ranked books in Contemporary fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Contemporary fiction — with scores between 7.0 and 7.9, closest to this book.
