The Fermata

By: Nicholson Baker

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

The Fermata is the most risky of Nicholson Baker's emotional histories. His narrator, Arno Strine, is a 35-year-old office temp who is writing his autobiography. "It's harder than I thought!" he admits. His "Fold-powers" are easier; he can stop the world and use it as his own pleasure ground. 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. Anyone who can stop time and refer in self-delight to his "chronanisms" can't be all bad!

Like Baker's other books, The Fermata gains little from synopsis. The pleasure is literally in the text. 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."

©1995 Nicholson Baker (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sparkling." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Taken on it's own, an enjoyable romp

Fairly hilarious, our man Arno's escapades, but the sex scenes got a little tedious. What was with the narrator's accent on the teen strumpet, Silvie? She sounded like Triumph, the Comic Insult Dog.
I know an action novel wasn't the author's intention, but the fold powers would surely have come to the attention of the government, Arno wasn't nearly as careful as he thought he was. All-in-all, a funny and weird book, a little heavily drenched in sex, though.

Yes, it's that bad

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. I've heard that this is characteristic of Baker's writing, and I really enjoyed it. The unfolding story was also interesting enough to keep me engaged.

The erotic potential of the time-stop ability is front and center, and while its nearest real-life correlates might be voyeurism or molesting someone who is unconscious, the fact that this is not only fantasy but also completely impossible in real life may give the reader leave to explore that aspect. The protagonist understands there are questions of morality but prefers not to face them square on. If nobody – including the object of his manipulations – ever knows anything happened, then there is no victim. He is a jerk (and not just for those reasons), but a novel about a jerk can still be worthwhile.

What sinks this book is the protagonist's own chapter-length attempts to write erotica (or describe a fantasy or an actual encounter). So tedious. He admits to us that he's not a very good writer (and even that is too generous), but the author must have disagreed with his character's own self-assessment, because these awful stories must take up at least half the book. It's especially bad in an audio book where you can't skim through the dreck.

I'm not offended it is just bad writing.

What disappointed you about The Fermata?

The story is weak and slow. I was hoping for a more imaginative book with better character development.

Arno is a pervert

It wasn’t as bad as some of the other reviews that saw on here. The narrator was fine. I hoped for more story depth. Like I said in the title. Arno is a pervert that has the mind or a 14 year old boy that loves booby touching. There were some super cringy sexual moments later in the book. If that’s your thing then this one’s for you!

Please change audio actor

Book itself is brilliant, but the performance of that boring condescending "actor". I am going to ask for refund and Amazon should get back money they gave for his performance. That guy should read no more books and save listeners.