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A review by mrsfligs
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
5.0
I really have no idea how I stumbled on this book in the first place. All I know is that I loved it and it made me laugh out loud. Not because it is funny ha-ha, but because it is so ridiculously focused on the small oddities of life. I guess I found myself laughing at the ridiculousness and trueness of the narrator's observations -- and the seriousness of purpose he applies to things such as why shoelaces seem to break around the same time.
In many ways, this book is like a Seinfeld episode -- it is about "nothing" but "everything." The book is not your standard novel in any way, shape or form. Nothing really happens. The narrator breaks a shoelace, goes to get a replacement on his lunch break, and heads back to the office. Along the way, he makes detailed observations (many chronicled in the footnotes) about every little thing he sees or thinks about -- often leading him to reveries about his childhood.
This book always sticks out in my mind because I remember reading it on an overseas flight and I ended up laughing hysterically and being unable to stop. Not to say the book is that funny but there was something that tickled my funny bone and I started laughing and got out-of-control about it. You know how it is when you laugh in a confined place or where you shouldn't and it gets worse and worse because you know you need to stop but you only laugh more? It was like that. But it might have been jet-lag warping my little brain as well. Anyway, I think this is a little gem of a book.
In many ways, this book is like a Seinfeld episode -- it is about "nothing" but "everything." The book is not your standard novel in any way, shape or form. Nothing really happens. The narrator breaks a shoelace, goes to get a replacement on his lunch break, and heads back to the office. Along the way, he makes detailed observations (many chronicled in the footnotes) about every little thing he sees or thinks about -- often leading him to reveries about his childhood.
This book always sticks out in my mind because I remember reading it on an overseas flight and I ended up laughing hysterically and being unable to stop. Not to say the book is that funny but there was something that tickled my funny bone and I started laughing and got out-of-control about it. You know how it is when you laugh in a confined place or where you shouldn't and it gets worse and worse because you know you need to stop but you only laugh more? It was like that. But it might have been jet-lag warping my little brain as well. Anyway, I think this is a little gem of a book.