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mentat_stem's review against another edition
emotional
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The entire core narrative of this book involves a new father feeding one bottle to his 6 month old daughter and thinking about life.
The recursion of flashbacks within flashbacks flesh out the ambitions and insecurities of the narrator. The effect is intimate and vulnerable. It's a style of storytelling I found fascinating in Mezzanine. Here it's even further refined.
I connected with the French horn lessons and musings on musical notation. Thoughts on the deprecation of technology and language emphasize the fleeting nature of our time on earth.
The stream of conscious narrative taken to extreme allows me to appreciate how other offers embrace the technique to various degrees. Rarely does anyone else use it to the exclusion of all other narrative tools.
The recursion of flashbacks within flashbacks flesh out the ambitions and insecurities of the narrator. The effect is intimate and vulnerable. It's a style of storytelling I found fascinating in Mezzanine. Here it's even further refined.
I connected with the French horn lessons and musings on musical notation. Thoughts on the deprecation of technology and language emphasize the fleeting nature of our time on earth.
The stream of conscious narrative taken to extreme allows me to appreciate how other offers embrace the technique to various degrees. Rarely does anyone else use it to the exclusion of all other narrative tools.
davygibbs's review against another edition
4.0
This is the book that established for me a comfortable familiarity with Baker's writing--his delightful obsession with the most marginal miscellany, his gift for bestowing the greatest importance on the tiniest things. It is, specifically, about the feeding of a baby, but in more general terms, you can say that it's about what every other Baker novel is about--the details.
bengriffin's review against another edition
3.0
A self-indulgent little novel which would probably appeal more to parents or the pretentious intelligentia than it did to me. Having said that he does have quite the knack for tapping into certain evocative memories, such as the taste of sun-warmed water pistol water, and it can be quite nice to escape into someone elses musings for an afternoon, even if they are somewhat idyllic, personal, and self-important.
trekbicycles's review against another edition
5.0
Nicholson Baker is becoming a favorite — his exhausting descriptions (of the use of commas, of the sound of opening peanut butter jars, of picking noses) are so much fun! An entire novel, and an entire world!, are contained within the 20 minutes needed to give a baby a bottle.
sarah_of_bramblewood's review against another edition
5.0
Lovely writing. It's almost like a meditation. Especially touching now that I have a little Bug, myself.
szeglin's review against another edition
4.0
I think I liked The Mezzanine better, but the relationship details in this novel are very touching and make the novel feel more personal.
brain_storm's review against another edition
4.0
Alexander loves it, too. He pulls it off the shelf and says, "Chiz," which is Budgiespeak for Cheerios (pictured on the cover).
stewreads's review against another edition
3.0
A man rocks his newborn to sleep for 20 minutes, and we read his every thought in that span of time. In theory, this is a great opportunity for the usual Baker-isms - the author's rambling, overlong digressions on the minutiae of modern life that have made me love his work so far. However, this one just didn't do it for me.
It's frustrating because I can see exactly what Baker is going for here: a sweet book on the tedium and adventure of new fatherhood and family, peppered with witty digressions and lots of dancing-around-the-point-but-that-dance-becomes-the-point. And I do think it is a very sweet book, a very personal experiment - but I quickly found myself losing interest in these five-page paragraphs about nose picking and peanut butter. The Mezzanine and Vox are two of the funniest novels I've ever read, but Room Temperature lacks the same oomph, although it makes complete sense as the book that came between them.
Still, it's onward with Baker. He hasn't dropped in my estimation at all; I just wish I could have connected with this one a bit more.
It's frustrating because I can see exactly what Baker is going for here: a sweet book on the tedium and adventure of new fatherhood and family, peppered with witty digressions and lots of dancing-around-the-point-but-that-dance-becomes-the-point. And I do think it is a very sweet book, a very personal experiment - but I quickly found myself losing interest in these five-page paragraphs about nose picking and peanut butter. The Mezzanine and Vox are two of the funniest novels I've ever read, but Room Temperature lacks the same oomph, although it makes complete sense as the book that came between them.
Still, it's onward with Baker. He hasn't dropped in my estimation at all; I just wish I could have connected with this one a bit more.
pehall's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite the job, if I might say so, that is either Box of Matches or Mezzanine, but, nonetheless, a finely crafted, though idiosyncratically punctuated, piece of plotless prose, so could this be classed as fiction (novel, novello or novelletto)?
beepbeepbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Nicholson Baker could describe surgery as symphony. Each book is a beautiful reverie of a certain place and time, and the encounters that change people. So so good.