Nicholson Baker takes a place among our most meticulous observers of anyone currently producing fiction. By meticulous, I mean not only minutely close, but microscopically close. Baker engenders a sense of wonder as he praises the absolutely mundane from his vantage in a modern office. He compares a stapler and a row of staples to a railroad, and it's an image that stays with me to this day (I read this book about five years ago). His description and assessment of shoe laces raises that quotidian item to the miraculous.

The story takes us out to lunch and a very, very close (again) consideration of typical takeout lunch, outdoor benches near downtown buildings, the architectural spaces in office building entryways ... I can't recall everything, but nothing is taken up that shouldn't be.

I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately took up (and thoroughly enjoyed) "Vox," a book-length phone sex conversation (talk about a dated piece!)

Nicholson Baker is an intriguing practitioner, well worth the acquaintance. ( )

The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker

I will think of this book whenever I tie my shoes . It is a compressed version of James Joyce's Ulysses, with all the events revolving around a lunch hour.

One of the cornerstones of the book is a quote from Marcus Aurelius Meditations
"Manifestly, no condition of life could be so well adapted to the practice of philosophy as this in which chance finds you today! " P 124

I would recommend this as an interesting view of the thoughts that pass through one's mind - a flux of concepts that come and go. ( )

I liked it, entertaining ( )

Technically it's a novel, as it describes a person's activities and thoughts during a brief period, but that literary structure is merely an excuse for Baker to ruminate on everyday things that most people never notice. What this man observes and thinks about is mind-boggling, as is his ability to describe processes and devices that we all take for granted. As others have said in other ways, "The Mezzanine" is tribute to details---details at a level almost unbelievable. Thanks to Mr. Baker I now know the finer points of cleaning the moving handrail of an escalator, and can say that I have read footnotes that take up an entire page (or nearly so). It gets about one and a half stars for plot development, but who cares? A great read! I loved it. ( )

Details, details, details… this book is fraught with details. How one guy riding an escalator to the mezzanine floor can think of so many things and how one writer, Mr Baker, can devote an entire book about this simple ride up one floor is simply astounding. I will never think about shoe laces, perforated paper or Jiffy Pop popcorn the same. I don’t think I can ever think about anything the same ever again. This is like a Dummy book for living a mundane life. ( )