Transcription, Ben Lerner, author; Seth Numrich, narrator
The story evolves in three parts, involving different hotel locations. In the first hotel, when the story begins, our unnamed main character is traveling to Providence, Rhode Island, by train. It is during the Covid Pandemic. He is on his way to interview his former professor, his mentor Thomas, a man he once worked for as a research assistant, while he was in college. He typed up his notes. He promised his wife Mia and his daughter Eva, who has a serious eating disorder, that he would check in with them by phone after he arrived. However, after checking into the hotel, he accidentally dropped his phone into the sink. He can no longer record his interview with his mentor for the magazine, nor can he call his wife. Even though he has no recording device, he chooses to still go to the interview with Thomas. During the interview, he becomes aware of the fact that Thomas might be suffering from some degree of memory loss and confusion. His responses are a bit disjointed and unrelated to the questions posed. He inserts ideas that have no relevance, but expounds on them, apparently a character trait he has always had, but this time it feels a bit different. Thomas is revealing his own relationship with his father and also with his son Max. At one point, he seems to act like the interviewer might be his son Max. His memory returns to Germany. He recalls Hitler and the bombings from his childhood. The confusion is beginning to also affect the memories of the interviewer. He has had some mental lapses in his own past concerning his wife. Some of his memories interject themselves into his mind as they converse. His memories are also sparked in unusual ways as he walks on campus. It seems both the young man who is interviewing and the older man being interviewed each seem to be having memory issues.
In the second hotel, the narrative picks up at a memorial service for Thomas. Our narrator is criticized for his presentation there, since it was judged to be more of a confession by him, rather than an homage to Thomas. Apparently, he admits that the piece he wrote for his magazine was from his imperfect memory and was not actually the last accurate recorded thoughts of his mentor. His friends are shocked and disappointed. He must confess and explain it to Max. In the third hotel, the story moves on to Max and Adelle. Their daughter Emmie has an eating problem that is disrupting their lives. This child, Emmie, loves her grandfather Thomas. They were close, but Thomas and Max had not been as close. Father and son had a troubled relationship as Thomas sent Max to boarding school when Virginie, his wife and Max's mother took her own life. When Thomas gets Covid, his possible death became a formidable thought, and Max comes to realize that he loves his father, and believes his father loves him. Thomas had miraculously recovered from Covid, however, after being hospitalized, so what was the cause of his eventual death? He had joined the Hemlock Society. Were they involved? Did Thomas go to Switzerland with Max? Is suicide considered a dignified death? Is it ever an appropriate choice for anyone?
There were moments when the timeline confused me. I sometimes felt as if I was a voyeur or I was eavesdropping on anecdotal moments in people’s lives. The story seemed to question right and wrong choices and lifestyles. It examined loyalty and betrayal, reality and misperception. Sometimes it seemed to be disjointed or even filled with random thoughts, but I found common threads like the eating disorders, confessions, parent/child issues that were revealed with each character. I must admit, though, that although I enjoyed the writing, I am not sure I understood the story correctly. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it. To me, the story seems to be about choices. What makes a choice good or bad? What determines healthy practices vs unhealthy practices. Are the results the appropriate gauge? The novel is about romance and rejection, reaction and recovery, success and failure, honesty and deception, remorse and fulfillment, life and death.
This is an odd little book. There is so much information packed into so few pages. Sometimes, it feels disconnected and sometimes it seems to come together with a sleight of hand. The character who stars in the novel, whom I referred to as “the interviewer”, is never named, and I wondered throughout who he was. The men featured in the story have unique personalities and suffered trauma or difficulty in their youth. Two of the men featured have children with eating disorders, children whose development has suffered as a result. The men are given to some kind of confession, as the story evolves. They wonder if they are good parents. Although there are females in the story, they seem to have a more minor role. The two daughters who have the eating issues also seem ancillary. They do, however, all seem to serve to connect Max and the interviewer to Thomas.
Frailty will overcome us all, in the end. Thomas was in the present for the interview, but his mind took over as his memories wandered into the past. He knew he was losing “names and numbers”. Should we choose how we live and how we face the end in order to die with dignity, and if so, what does to die with dignity really mean? In this book, the characters seem to return to their memories of the past, to explain or justify their situation in the present, in order for them to face their coming future. Do we all use selective memories to do this?