http://culturalsnow.blogspot.com/2008...

I've been reading The Fermata, by Nicholson Baker. I think I've read most of Baker's fiction over the years, but for some reason this had slid between the cracks; a phrase that seems fairly appropriate because Baker has two obsessions - sex and language. "Between the cracks" would probably send him off on a twelve-page discursion about metaphor, cliché and some woman whose bum he accidentally groped, or thought about accidentally groping, in a Dairy Queen on the outskirts of Baltimore in 1979. Perhaps with footnotes.

The Fermata is the peculiar tale of Arno Strine, who discovers a talent for stopping time. (Those of you who've seen Heroes will know what I mean, and will also have further evidence as to how startlingly unoriginal - yet strangely enjoyable - this mash-up of The X Files and The Tomorrow People really is.) Strine uses his gift for two purposes: to get his work done in apparently superfast time (he's a temp typist); and to look at women's bodies.

This makes Strine sound like a pervert, and he is, but (by his own perception) a fundamentally decent, thoughtful pervert. He does actually like women, and would be mortified if anything he did upset them. He looks at their bodies; touches them; even masturbates in their presence; but then ensures that everything is returned to normal when time restarts, so that they never feel violated. Sometimes he seems to overstep his self-defined mark, mysteriously introducing sex toys into the lives of strangers, but his motive is always to bring happiness. Sick he may be, Patrick Bateman he ain't.

Baker adds to the moral confusion by having Strine write pornography, which is offered to us in the course of the narrative. We're distanced from it (it's fiction within a fiction) and Strine's motivation is supposedly honourable; he offers it to the women he sees, to excite them, to bring him joy, although he also masturbates while writing it. But it's definitely porn, not erotica (don't ask me what the difference is, it just is) and can be read as such. Should a reader appreciate Baker's gift for aping the tropes of Hustler and Penthouse? Or enjoy a discreet hand shandy of his/her own? (Incidentally, Mary Gaitskill in the back-cover blurb describes The Fermata as "Rabelaisian" which is one of those glorious critical references that's taken on a life of its own; people who've never read a comma of Rabelais know what he's like because of all the other writers who've been described as Rabelaisian; essentially, people who write about morally suspect things with such joy that you can't hold it against them. There's a similar phenomenon in rock journalism; everything the Stooges and Captain Beefheart ever recorded could be permanently wiped, and their reputations would be unaffected. But we're veering into Baudrillard territory there, and I did promise you a holiday from that.)

The crucial thread throughout the story is that Strine keeps his gift a secret, so none of his 'victims' (and I debated long and hard - ooh, there he goes again - about whether or not to use those quotation marks) know they've been spied on, undressed, fondled. Which, of course, raises all manner of questions about supposedly victimless crimes. If you never know that a man across the road is watching you undress through the curtains, is there a problem? If I don't know that the CIA is reading my e-mails, is there a problem? Because his gift is so bizarre, Strine can only discuss it with his acquaintances as a hypothesis, a parlour game, a piece of conversational fantasy; I know it's crazy, but what would you do if you could stop time? Even in its theoretical state, they tend to be repulsed by the potential invasion of privacy, so he keeps the secret from everyone but the reader until the end of the narrative. And when he does genuinely attempt to persuade someone that it's true, there are unexpected consequences.

The only thing that Baker doesn't address is the notion that maybe everybody has these powers. Since nobody knows when Strine stops time, how would Strine know when someone else stopped time and undressed him? And stepping back a little into the realm that we desperately call 'reality', Baker has constructed a fictional possibility. How would it be if everyone in the world knew that possibility wasn't a fiction; except for Baker? He's merrily playing with the creative possibilities of time, unaware that everyone else in the world is groping his bum. ( )

Without question, one of the most original and fascinating premises I've ever encountered. What would you do if you were able to stop time? Think about it. This is a relatively short book and extremely sexually charged. Not for the prudish or even the moderately straight laced. ( )

I want to start out by saying that I really liked the idea of this book. Really, I did. However, this book fell way short of my expectations. About the story...

The narrator has the unique ability to stop time, to drop into what he calls "The Fold". One aspect of the story I enjoyed was learning of all the machinations he concocted to be able to do this (rigged parts of an electronic toy racetrack, throwing the shirt off his back into the spin cycle). All of this was original, and highly amusing. Unfortunately, that is where the amusement stops.

The narrator uses his ability to do exactly what you would expect he would do (sort of): he undresses and fondles women. I find this unlikely. I believe having him stop short of sex is the authors way of garnering sympathy for the character. Unfortunately, it fails. Honestly, and this may sound terrible, I would have enjoyed it more, and would have found it to be more credible, if he would have gone further, testing the limits of his ability. Instead, the author keeps him in a sort of safe stasis, never pushing his desires or curiousity further.

But, interestingly enough, the narrator says he would feel terrible having sex with these women. Which is strange, seeing as he has no problem undressing and molesting them (and even strapping sex toys to them). These inconsistencies and contradictions are part of what makes this book irritating. Again, this does absolutely nothing to garner sympathy or credibility for him. In another scene, the narrator attempts to rid the world of crime by removing all the guns from people in one area of town. This is a juvenile attempt by the author to somehow make the narrator a hero. This fails also.

One aspect that made this book nearly impossible to read was the over-abundance of euphamisms. Every single time breasts, female genitals, or penii were mentioned, a different euphamism was used. Every...single...time. Hundreds of them. I'm not sure if this was intended to be funny, or witty, but it fails on both accounts and is instead groan-inducing.

This book could have gone off the beaten path and possibly have been good, but the author decided to turn it into some sort of platform for his moral ideals. Most of the time, this book cannot decide if it wants to be playful or serious, and so tries to pull both off at once, which didn't work.

Surprisingly, the writing is promising (if at times long-winded. If you're not a fan of paragraph long sentences, you might skip this book). But, all in all, this book is sophomoric at best, juvenile at worst. ( )

I so enjoyed this book. The "hero" has found a way to stop time but not his own time. So he gets to move through that moment in time while everything else is frozen. Frozen but very hot. A steamy story with lots of voyeuristic scenes, but more than that. Just a great sexy read. I spent some delicious moments wondering if there had ever been an Arnold Strine in my life.

And I never look at a man in glasses without thinking about this book. ( )

If I could have a super power this is the one I would ask for. I don't think I would use it in quite the same way though. Arno Strine can stop time and he uses his ability to take off stranges clothes. I bought this book because I loved NB's Vox and I don't like this one quite so much but it is still very funny and a good story. I love the ending, which is ever so slightly mental, but then so is the rest of the story. ( )