I do want to read more by this author, because the best part of this book was its exposition of minutia in everyday settings and in the rituals and implications related to the protagonist's ability to stop time.
Not sure I'll try another Nicholson Baker book.
Martin Amis handles adult situations far more maturely. Then the story again drops to the level of pornography. Will his car stop? If so, what happens when he re-starts time for the rest of us? He fails to address this. He gets close to something interesting when he writes about what might happen if our "hero" stops time while driving on the freeway. Baker skips over the difficulties of dealing with the idea of suspending time and that's just cheating in my book. His talent is obvious in that he does give some laugh out loud moments and as mentioned above, the premise is amusing. I regret this book as my first experience with Nicholson Baker. The book however is so heavily weighted with erotica that it tips into the porn category and fails to deliver much in the way of story. The book is built around a clever idea and the author is certainly able to string words together.
What's memorable is less the sex and the sex toys (including the "Monasticon," in the shape of a monk holding a vibrating manuscript) than Arno's wistful recollections of intimacy: the noise, for instance, of his ex-girlfriend's nail clipper, "which I listened to in bed as some listen to real birdsong." Like Baker's other books, The Fermata gains little from synopsis. Anyone who can stop time and refer in self-delight to his "chronanisms" can't be all bad! Arno uses this gift not for evil or material gain (he would feel guilty about stealing), though he does undress a good number of women and momentarily place them in compromising positions - always, in his view, with respect and love. His "Fold-powers" are easier he can stop the world and use it as his own pleasure ground. His narrator, Arno Strine, is a 35-year-old office temp who is writing his autobiography. The Fermata is the most risky of Nicholson Baker's emotional histories.
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