Into the hardly still pond of contemporary human sexual relations, Nicholson Baker not so very long ago dropped a stone whose ripples for a short time resembled waves. Yet it was inevitable that "Vox," no longer buoyed by hype, would eventually sink from our gaze. Now Mr. Baker has chosen to follow what came to be known as "that phone sex novel" with another, even more fancifully attention-getting story of modern anti-intimacy.
"The Fermata," the author's fifth book, is narrated by Arno Strine, a seemingly ordinary fellow whose secret, miraculous distinction lies in his ability to freeze, at whim, any moment in time. Capable of bringing the universe to a complete and total halt simply by snapping his fingers, he is then at liberty to wander among his statue-like, temporarily insentient fellows, safe in the eerie atmosphere of the suspension he's created.
The New York Times
Having turned phone sex into the subject of an astonishing national bestseller in Vox, Baker now outdoes himself with an outrageously arousing, acrobatically stylish "X-rated sci-fi fantasy that leaves Vox seeming more like mere fiber-optic foreplay"
Seattle Times
"Sparkling." - San Francisco Chronicle
Physical Info: 133 x 203 x 18mm | Paperback