Hot Title Alert: 10:04

NPR, The New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly are but a few of the many fans of Ben Lerner’s 10:04. Dear librarian, won’t you join us on the 10:04 bandwagon*?

**e-mail Library@macmillanusa.com (subject: 10:04) for your complimentary copy today.

“A mind-blowing book…” — Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“Mr. Lerner is among the most interesting young American novelists at present for several reasons, one being that he’s akin to a young Brooklynite version of the Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard. That is, in his books, little happens, yet everything happens. We come to relish seeing the world through this man’s eyes.” — Dwight Garner, the New York Times

“Ingenious… Lerner packs so much brilliance and humor into each episode… This brain-tickling book imbues real experiences with a feeling of artistic possibility, leaving the observable world ‘a little changed, a little charged.’” — Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“A funny, deeply observational metaphysical romp.” — Entertainment Weekly, Grade: A

“A generous, provocative, ambitious Chinese box of a novel, 10:04 is a near-perfect piece of literature, affirmative of both life and art, written with the full force of Lerner’s intellectual, aesthetic, and empathetic powers, which are as considerable as they are vitalizing.” — Los Angeles Review of Books

“This masterful, at times dizzying novel reevaluates not just what fiction can do but what it is. Cuttingly hilarious and incisive, Lerner’s novel would be a success without the layers of fiction (on reality on fiction). But with that narrative device, the book achieves brilliance, at once a study of how fiction functions and an expansive catalogue of life.” — Time Out New York, 5 out of 5 stars

Even more praise for 10:04:

“Lerner captures in often beautiful and sometimes hilarious style the rhythms, dissonances, and ambiguities of a New York City set in…well, it’s hard to say exactly when it is set, disorientation being one of the book’s calculated effects. The past and presumed present are intermingled, perceptions shift, reality and technology are confused, and the narrative voice of the author is transformed into the writing style of its central character, also a writer . . . Lerner pulls this complex effort off with verve and a keen satiric eye and ear. This is a modern, very New York, and unique literary novel (with, perhaps, a nod to William Gaddis’ The Recognitions).” — Booklist

“There’s plenty of dry wit in 10:04 and some laugh-out-loud moments too… Provocative and thoughtful.” — Kirkus Reviews

10:04 is available now from Farrar, Straus & Giroux