How do you rate a novel about the politics of language?

Garth Risk-Callberg will be here to talk about Ben Learnersley to snobble, the Topeka School.

Why is anti-Semitism on the rise and what do we do about it?

Barry Weiss will join us to talk about her book, How to Fight Anti-Semitism.

Alexander Alter will give us an update from the publishing world, plus we'll talk about

what we and the wider world are reading.

This is the Book Review Podcast from the New York Times.

I'm Pamela Paul.

Garth Risk-Callberg joins us now.

You know him most recently as the author of City on Fire.

He is also a critic, and this week he writes about the latest novel from Ben Learner called

the Topeka School.

Garth, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Let's start with the kind of Ben Learner Primmer.

Who is he?

This is his third novel.

So, it's an interesting novel for me because in many ways he's like a demographic shadow

itself.

He's born in I think 79.

He grew up in the hinterlands as I did, so in his case Topeka.

Where did you go in?

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