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gadicohen93's review against another edition
3.0
The protagonist can invoke a special power, imposingly referred to as The Fermata, to drop into a wrinkle in time and look up girls' skirts. Though he is ostensibly the only man in the world with this superpower, he's clearly an antihero, inspiring pity rather than envy, a lonely man who chooses to engage with other people when time and consciousness only exist for him, whose primary way of connecting with others is by fondling them, and who has yet to uncover the powers of love, trust, emotional connection.
As far as a fictional memoir goes, this one is quite beautifully written, though the objects on display here are quite ugly and get repetitive. At points it becomes a Proustian string of memories, overlapping anecdotes of times where the protagonist stopped time to peek at beautiful women. Of course, it was fascinating for me to be dropped into his morally challenged brain, and snicker-worthy to see someone capitalize on such a superpower in such a pathetically smutty way.
But I got tired of it after a while. There was no real growth or forward glug of character, except perhaps in the last twenty pages. Rather than a memoir, this read like a manifesto: The main character elucidating his philosophy, defending his assaults on women, engaging in an endless cycle of intellectual (and physical) masturbation.
As far as a fictional memoir goes, this one is quite beautifully written, though the objects on display here are quite ugly and get repetitive. At points it becomes a Proustian string of memories, overlapping anecdotes of times where the protagonist stopped time to peek at beautiful women. Of course, it was fascinating for me to be dropped into his morally challenged brain, and snicker-worthy to see someone capitalize on such a superpower in such a pathetically smutty way.
But I got tired of it after a while. There was no real growth or forward glug of character, except perhaps in the last twenty pages. Rather than a memoir, this read like a manifesto: The main character elucidating his philosophy, defending his assaults on women, engaging in an endless cycle of intellectual (and physical) masturbation.
salisbury_hare's review against another edition
4.0
Erotic groundhog day dressed in a literary prize-bait birthday suit
spectracommunist's review against another edition
4.0
I'm really glad that I've come across a mostly plotless erotica that is so well written and revolves around the writer's thoughts and adventures in a lifetime. I like the way that it is mostly about loneliness and those experiences of the aroused state-of-mind. And it also explores the differing sexual desires of male and female.
p3tt1tt's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
billymac1962's review against another edition
4.0
I have a feeling guys will appreciate this novel much more than women will. Arno Strine is a 35 year old office worker who is living every male's fantasy. He is able to stop time
all around him. So what does he do? Undresses beautiful women, of course!
He rationalizes this by explaining his true love of all women and that what he does is for love. It's a fun read,
although if you're a prude, you'd best not bother as some passages could easily have come from Penthouse Letters. At times, the novel is downright hilarious, especially where he asks a female coworker what she would do if she had this power. This novel's a riot.
all around him. So what does he do? Undresses beautiful women, of course!
He rationalizes this by explaining his true love of all women and that what he does is for love. It's a fun read,
although if you're a prude, you'd best not bother as some passages could easily have come from Penthouse Letters. At times, the novel is downright hilarious, especially where he asks a female coworker what she would do if she had this power. This novel's a riot.
nation's review against another edition
4.0
Normally I read my rot on the net, so having people at work ask me what my book's about when I read this on my break was fun.
I think if this hadn't had elements of SF I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much, but this is simply a personal preference.
It only got me hot and bothered once; Baker's prose is raunchy, but his inability to refer specifically to any parts of the female anatomy was aggravating.
I think if this hadn't had elements of SF I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much, but this is simply a personal preference.
It only got me hot and bothered once; Baker's prose is raunchy, but his inability to refer specifically to any parts of the female anatomy was aggravating.
georgiarose888's review against another edition
4.0
This book was not recommended to me, it was recommended to my boyfriend. It sat by the edge of the bed until I, intrigued by its description, and intrigued by the recommendation given to my boyfriend and then relayed to me second-hand, decided to give it a go.
I started off thinking this book was a very funny joke. 'Ha ha', I thought at various twists and turns.
About a third of the way through I decided to look up the author on Wikipedia. 'Who is this comic genius?', I mused. It was then that I found out, to my genuine surprise, that Wikipedia lists this book as an erotic novel. I was stunned. 'Wow', I thought.
Yes, this book is about a man who has been gifted the earth shattering ability to stop time at will but only uses it to take women's clothes off, and yes there were some sex scenes, but I had been taking this all as obviously ridiculous. The main character is so clearly a massive loser, and the lewd scenes I mentioned were completely bonkers.
I then had a crisis of faith. What if this whole time I had been laughing at this hilarious novel that was intended to be totally seriously erotic? I felt confused. 'Hmm', I pondered.
I then turned to Goodreads, the last bastion of good- faith literary criticism. It seemed to me that anybody who had read it and taken it like me, as mostly comedic and unserious, gave it 4/5 stars. And it is a brilliant book, dilemma aside. Baker's intelligence shines throughout this novel. On the surface he has written an obscene memoir of a fantastical pervert, but underneath it is an exceptionally well crafted unreliable narrative. To be honest, the fact that some people seem to believe that Arno's defense of using the Fermata is obviously just Baker endorsing the idea that it is totally harmless to pause time and use it to take women's clothes off is frankly saddening. Even if you weren't picking up on how obviously Baker is writing Arno to be delusional, he is also written to wobble over the immorality of it numerous times, and is told how much of a creep he is to his face by a woman he used it on. Let's use our brains people.
However, there are numerous 1 star reviews of people who, I believe, read this believing it to be a genuine erotic effort and came face to face with a main character who is rapist pervert enacting his fantasies on un-consenting women. 'Eek!', I exclaim in my head.
I don't believe Nicholson Baker to be a rapist pervert misogynist. I believe this to be the work of a brilliant satirist. I feel my status as 'woman' gives me some room to say this. (That all rhymed I think)
Anyway, if I'm wrong I'm wrong and I will change my rating to 1 star and decree this book to be horrible and vile and immoral and will flush it down the toilet or whatever.
'Gross!', I will think.
I started off thinking this book was a very funny joke. 'Ha ha', I thought at various twists and turns.
About a third of the way through I decided to look up the author on Wikipedia. 'Who is this comic genius?', I mused. It was then that I found out, to my genuine surprise, that Wikipedia lists this book as an erotic novel. I was stunned. 'Wow', I thought.
Yes, this book is about a man who has been gifted the earth shattering ability to stop time at will but only uses it to take women's clothes off, and yes there were some sex scenes, but I had been taking this all as obviously ridiculous. The main character is so clearly a massive loser, and the lewd scenes I mentioned were completely bonkers.
I then had a crisis of faith. What if this whole time I had been laughing at this hilarious novel that was intended to be totally seriously erotic? I felt confused. 'Hmm', I pondered.
I then turned to Goodreads, the last bastion of good- faith literary criticism. It seemed to me that anybody who had read it and taken it like me, as mostly comedic and unserious, gave it 4/5 stars. And it is a brilliant book, dilemma aside. Baker's intelligence shines throughout this novel. On the surface he has written an obscene memoir of a fantastical pervert, but underneath it is an exceptionally well crafted unreliable narrative. To be honest, the fact that some people seem to believe that Arno's defense of using the Fermata is obviously just Baker endorsing the idea that it is totally harmless to pause time and use it to take women's clothes off is frankly saddening. Even if you weren't picking up on how obviously Baker is writing Arno to be delusional, he is also written to wobble over the immorality of it numerous times, and is told how much of a creep he is to his face by a woman he used it on. Let's use our brains people.
However, there are numerous 1 star reviews of people who, I believe, read this believing it to be a genuine erotic effort and came face to face with a main character who is rapist pervert enacting his fantasies on un-consenting women. 'Eek!', I exclaim in my head.
I don't believe Nicholson Baker to be a rapist pervert misogynist. I believe this to be the work of a brilliant satirist. I feel my status as 'woman' gives me some room to say this. (That all rhymed I think)
Anyway, if I'm wrong I'm wrong and I will change my rating to 1 star and decree this book to be horrible and vile and immoral and will flush it down the toilet or whatever.
'Gross!', I will think.
harvio's review against another edition
3.0
- I really enjoyed Baker's "The Mezzanine", and he is undoubtedly the master of minutiae, but I always feel weird rating any kind of 'erotic' fiction. His novel "VOX" took telephone sex to a new creative level (FYI: Clinton received a copy from Monica Lewinsky) and many critics claim that it is a rare bridge between pornography and literature. "The Fermata" is an erotic yarn surrounding a protagonist who has the ability to stop time, but instead of using this power to rob banks, or help mankind, . . . he just stops time so that he can undress women.
mxsallybend's review against another edition
3.0
Nicholson Baker's The Fermata is a strange read . . . awkward and hard-to-categorize, much less review. It's comprised of equal parts literature, science-fiction, romance, comedy, erotica, and memoir.
On the one hand, it absolutely deserves an five-star review for its sheer audacity, innovation, and mastery of language. This is a very clever, beautifully written novel that manages to deliberately meander without boring the reader. It's also a very humorous novel, not so much in a laugh-out-loud sort of way, but one which succeeds in delivering a smile (or more often a smirk) per page. When I allowed myself to become lost in Arno's voice, I quite enjoyed the read, even as I rolled my eyes and scoffed at his good-natured laziness. It's no wonder Baker gets far more attention as a purveyor of literature than as a genre author, but you get the sense that's entirely how he likes it.
Having said all that, this is a book that struggles to earn more than a single-star review for its plotting, pacing, and story-telling. It's is a story comprised of musings, observations, and asides, in which very little happens to advance the plot. Being a fictional memoir does excuse the narrative struggle to some extent, but the 'fictional' element does demand something more. There's a great concept at the heart of the story, with Arno able to freeze time and manipulate those around him, but his own odd sense of morality and decorum won't allow him to exploit it, while his own laziness holds him back from maximizing it. Of course, Arno and his failings are, essentially, the story, so it's hard to find him at fault. Still, it's a read that frustrated me to no extent because it adamantly refused to explore the concept.
Basically, the book comes down to this - Arno longs for women he can never have; freezes time in order to undress or gently molest them; and then restarts time and walks away without the possibility of emotional attachment. It's an interesting concept, and one that's definitely erotic in its application, yet which manages to avoid being obscene in its own cleverness. Arno is so disarming, his efforts come across as innocent and rather naive, good-natured in their thoughtfulness, when in reality they're rather personal assaults upon the women around him.
There's one chapter where he continually stops and starts time, adjusting pornographic images for one woman and adjusting a discreetly place sex-toy for another, which kind of sums up the entire novel. It's weirdly inventive and amusing, but the work required to secretly arouse the two women - with absolutely no payoff for Arno - is so far beyond absurd, it really strains the bounds of credibility.
If you're a fan of literate novels, one who favours concept over content, and one who appreciates narration over narrative, give The Fermata a shot. It is a fun read (taken in small doses) but the novelty does wear thin after a while. On the other hand, if you're at all intrigued by the concept, but (like myself) tend to lean more towards plot and characterization that storytelling showmanship, try giving Dean Koontz's [b:Dragon Tears|32429|Dragon Tears|Dean Koontz|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308458435s/32429.jpg|2771826] a read instead.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
On the one hand, it absolutely deserves an five-star review for its sheer audacity, innovation, and mastery of language. This is a very clever, beautifully written novel that manages to deliberately meander without boring the reader. It's also a very humorous novel, not so much in a laugh-out-loud sort of way, but one which succeeds in delivering a smile (or more often a smirk) per page. When I allowed myself to become lost in Arno's voice, I quite enjoyed the read, even as I rolled my eyes and scoffed at his good-natured laziness. It's no wonder Baker gets far more attention as a purveyor of literature than as a genre author, but you get the sense that's entirely how he likes it.
Having said all that, this is a book that struggles to earn more than a single-star review for its plotting, pacing, and story-telling. It's is a story comprised of musings, observations, and asides, in which very little happens to advance the plot. Being a fictional memoir does excuse the narrative struggle to some extent, but the 'fictional' element does demand something more. There's a great concept at the heart of the story, with Arno able to freeze time and manipulate those around him, but his own odd sense of morality and decorum won't allow him to exploit it, while his own laziness holds him back from maximizing it. Of course, Arno and his failings are, essentially, the story, so it's hard to find him at fault. Still, it's a read that frustrated me to no extent because it adamantly refused to explore the concept.
Basically, the book comes down to this - Arno longs for women he can never have; freezes time in order to undress or gently molest them; and then restarts time and walks away without the possibility of emotional attachment. It's an interesting concept, and one that's definitely erotic in its application, yet which manages to avoid being obscene in its own cleverness. Arno is so disarming, his efforts come across as innocent and rather naive, good-natured in their thoughtfulness, when in reality they're rather personal assaults upon the women around him.
There's one chapter where he continually stops and starts time, adjusting pornographic images for one woman and adjusting a discreetly place sex-toy for another, which kind of sums up the entire novel. It's weirdly inventive and amusing, but the work required to secretly arouse the two women - with absolutely no payoff for Arno - is so far beyond absurd, it really strains the bounds of credibility.
If you're a fan of literate novels, one who favours concept over content, and one who appreciates narration over narrative, give The Fermata a shot. It is a fun read (taken in small doses) but the novelty does wear thin after a while. On the other hand, if you're at all intrigued by the concept, but (like myself) tend to lean more towards plot and characterization that storytelling showmanship, try giving Dean Koontz's [b:Dragon Tears|32429|Dragon Tears|Dean Koontz|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308458435s/32429.jpg|2771826] a read instead.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins