Breakaway Books

Authored by Ben Lerner; Published April 2026; Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Transcription is certainly a 2026 novel. Centered around the COVID pandemic and concerns about the effects of technology, the novel made it easy for me to forget I was reading fiction.

In Transcription, the narrator is sent to Rhode Island to interview his mentor and famed academic, Thomas, for one last article at the end of his life. After an unfortunate accident, the narrator’s iPhone (and recording device) is out of commission, but he persists in his mission despite his inability to make a clear record. Thomas, whose memory appears to be spotty at best, spews out story after story of their past, never quite understanding whether he’s being recorded or not. What unravels next sheds light on the relationship between Thomas and his son Max and the role technology has begun to play in all of our lives. 

Transcription is divided into three parts: the initial interview, commentary on the controversy of the narrator’s failure to record Thomas, and Max’s explanation of Thomas’s ramblings to the narrator. Personally, I would have loved just a little more connective tissue between the parts—it felt jarring to jump from place to place and time to time without much of a clue as to what was happening. The more I think about the contents, the more I dig out of it, but I wish the author had given me just a little bit more, especially on the relationship between Thomas and Max, or Max and the narrator. As it is, the novel stands as an interesting commentary on technology and even early COVID, but fatherhood? I’m not quite sure what it wants to say.

I enjoyed the author’s exploration of what it feels like to be untethered from technology, to be set out to sea by an accident as mundane as dropping a phone in a sink. His comparison to traveling back in time is apt, and truly, whenever I cut myself off from my smartphone, it is like entering a different era or a different world altogether. The author restrains himself from a full condemnation of technology and constant connectedness; after all, he makes a point of recalling that it is technology that allows Max to finally unburden himself to Thomas via iPad when Thomas is at death’s door with COVID. It is technology that ultimately ends up freeing Max’s daughter from anxiety and allowing her to eat. Even that, though, is a type of ambiguous approval. Surely, watching a screen can’t be the only way his daughter ever eats, and there is always the risk that the screen addiction is lifelong. 

If you’re looking for a novel that’s more contemplative than action-packed, and our connection with technology is a topic that enthralls you, pick up Transcription. But, if you’re looking for something that will allow you to escape the present time, I can’t recommend this one.