Introduction: My cousin thought it was an interesting book but also pretentious, it confounded him. Made me intrigued about the book. When people call a book pretentious, I sometimes agree, and sometimes, I guess I'm pretentious and enjoy the book. But that got me curious about this one. Also the book is supposed to be about the midwest, Topeka Kansas in particular, not the Madison Wisconsin I grew up in, but you know, maybe I could identify the soft knowledge of what it meant to be a midwesterner. Have I finally assimilated New York? Or am I just an oddball? Ben Lerner teaches at Brooklyn College. He has an impressive resume with lots of awards. Thoughts while reading: Madonna and Child by Duccio is referred to on p. 46 of the hardback. The focus is Darren, Adam, Darren, Johnathan (1st person). I tolerate not knowing how it all fits together. I think Johnathan might be Adam's father. The Menninger Clinic is a famous clinic that used to be in Topeka Kansas, but moved...