The Fermata (Vintage Contemporaries)

This is a book you will read more than once. Over the years, I have. Make sure when you lend it to your friends, you get it back! I recently ordered a new copy because mine has disappeared again, among my women friends who poo-poo the subject but are nontheless fascinated by the read. How does a man who stops time use his great gift? In pursuit of his own personal happiness which is directly tied to his physical appreciation of women. In The Fermata, the protagonist, Arno, absolutely loves women -- it comes across in every lust-imbued word -- women of all body types, skin textures and ages. He falls in love regularly, as he keenly observes them and attempts to touch them in more than a physical way; he attempts to imprint their psyches anonymously with his admiration for them. The good reader will remove herself from judgment of Arno's decision-action tandem, suspend questions of self-determination by all the women from which Arno removes those questions, and enjoy immersing her own imagination in the thoughts of this considerate, intellectual man whose sexual appetites are permitted free reign (within his own strict morality of sorts) to manifest themselves. So many moments in the book are equally profoundly philosophical and hilariously profane, like when he tests out a small sex toy on himself to see how it would feel on a woman so that the result is just right. Arno wants this stranger to have a hidden and secret pleasure and goes to great ends to see it occur, while at the same time showing great concern for her comfort through his anonymity. Love it!

Baker's protagonist, Arno Strine, calls the pornographic stories he writes "rot", short for "erotica" but also suggesting a British term for "nonsense" or "baloney". This is clearly a description of the book itself -- not to be taken seriously, but enjoyable nonetheless. Most of the book is a series of unrelated fantasies. Every hetero male will recognize their essence -- man sees pretty woman at the office; man sees pretty woman sunbathing at the beach; man sees pretty woman driving on the highway; man is examined by pretty female doctor -- but Baker develops them in original and witty ways. The novelty is that Arno is magically endowed with the intermittent power to stop time for everyone except himself. This being a sex fantasy, Arno does not use his power to rob banks, perform instantaneous surgery, embarrass corrupt officials, rescue people from burning buildings, etc. -- all he does is take off women's clothes and write about it. There isn't any plot to speak of, and not much character development. Arno himself is quite believable, but the women he strips, as is traditional for erotic literature, are just scenery. If this bothers you, then look elsewhere; but if you take it for what it is, you will likely be both titillated and entertained.

Nicholson Baker immediately grabbed me with his "character can stop time" premise. Really immediate. Like Page One immediate. There aren't a lot of authors that can pull that off, so my hopes for "The Fermata" were high. My interest level remained high as he explored the premise in extreme detail. We all know what men would do with such a power, but how would things like light, sound, electricity, and photography be affected? Baker gives us these fun little details, but he quickly settles in to the book's real focus: hard core erotica. Because I hadn't read any reviews beforehand, it was not exactly what I was expecting. The first half of the book is a mix of time-control curiosities and sexual titillation. The second half of the book abandons most of the science fiction element and keeps only the erotica. Main character Arno Strine fancies himself an amateur erotic author. Fine. This aspect of the book fills in character details and provides motivations. My objections come from (I'm not exaggerating here) _entire_chapters_ devoted to Arno's amateur porn. The book's premise becomes completely inverted...it's only purpose is to provide author Nicholson Baker with a respectable literary cloak for publishing porn. The story line becomes so outlandish towards the end, the character dialogue and interactions so ridiculous, that I thought perhaps it would end by revealing that the narrator was simply delusional. If that's what the reader was meant to infer, Baker certainly made no effort to make it easy for them. Baker's a good author in terms of style. He creates a very credible voice for his protagonist, but what he does with that voice was just too over the top for me. Given his talent and unique treatment of the whole time travel/control fantasy, this book could have been so much more. That's why it's ultimately so dissatisfying.

I read this a couple of years ago and have given many copies to (select) friends. A story of vivid imagination, it is not for the sexually modest, but for anyone enjoying riotous humor and literary imagery.

I appreciated the smooth transaction. The book was better than expected, shipped with appropriate protective care and arrived quickly. The recipient of this tome was delighted. I recommend.

Witty and hilariously sexual. I found it insightful and revealing of male sexuality and the disconnect evident between raw voyeurism and emotional intimacy. Great read and worth the few dollars.

Shoulda tried the sample first, the idea of stopping time is cool, and the erotica tags drew me in too but somehow this author has made both those irrelevant in the face of his borimg as ramblings. Waste of my money id love a refund.

A weird book not to everyone's taste. Written in the first person and the lead character is not a nice person. But amusing in a sick sort of way and does provoke some thoughts about morals. Worth every penny I paid for it, but then again one penny was all I paid.

10年前から欲していたものの中古でもかなりの高額なため、諦めていた。きっとレアでプレミア価格だったのだだろう。ところが、しつこく検索していると念願叶って、お手頃価格で再発見。ほぼ新品状態なので、本当にありがとうございました。

Amazing - one of the most unique science fiction stories I've ever read. Amazing - one of the most unique science fiction stories I've ever read.

The Fermata is a story about a male temp call Arno Stine who is unusually bookish and introspective – and intensely self-centered. Stine discovers the ability to stop time and he primarily uses this to undress and grope women when they are unconscious, being in ‘stopped time’. The story is provided in a matter of fact way, without any attempt by the author to judge or moralise, a point Stine takes pains to emphasise. Stine justifies his actions by pointing out that the objects of his attentions (for they are essentially static objects he would love to sleep with) don’t usually become aware of the acts. Anyway, he generally seems to do a passable job of cleaning up the bodily fluids that he liberally distributes. In essence, Stine argues, what harm is done? He describes in close detail what it is he finds attractive about the women he abuses, and says he is genuinely fond of them. We don’t doubt that he is, in his own physically-oriented, lustful mind. Another justification Stine gives is that the events normally occur during infinitesimally small moments of ‘real time’. However, tellingly, even this lame justification is not actually true: Stine often briefly starts and stops real time during his acts to try to elicit some kind of positive reaction or acknowledgement from the women. He seems to be craving the interaction of a real time relationship while wanting to retain the ability to strip and molest all the attractive women he sees every day. There is no plot or character development to speak of – essentially the story is a snapshot of Stine’s current frame of mind written up as an autobiography. It includes a couple of pieces of pornographic writing by Stine that he leaves around for his targets to discover, so he can watch their reaction. These are explicit hard-core fantasies of aggressive sex acts. Interestingly, the author vindicates Stine’s view of the world to some extent through the positive reactions of one of his ‘victims’. Is the author indicating that Stine’s view of sex and women may be relatively normal and therefore acceptable? To me, at best the book might be seen as an ironic look at a sex-crazed introvert who has difficulty in forming meaningful relationships with women. However, the story doesn’t go anywhere and it is not particularly funny - the irony is not that strong and nor is it really a farce in the way of say, Tom Sharpe. There are some faintly comical aspects to the situation - if you can somehow gloss over the glorification of molestation and gross invasion of privacy (not exactly a minor issue in today’s society). But ultimately the story lacks any real insight into anything other than male lust, so it just comes across as well written (but disturbing) porn. The writing becomes increasingly tedious, which the author tries to make up for by ramping up the shock factor.

Boring.