The Everlasting Story of Nory

Although I enjoyed 9 year old Nory and her imagination, at times I thought this book was just an exercise in cleverness for Nicholson Baker. The observations that Nory makes about friendships and the social world of 9 year olds are beautifully done, and the stories she tells herself for her own pleasure are strange and wonderful. What really bothered me was Baker's representation of the children's speech–childlike malapropisms were charming at first but then began to get old–and the sense that the story was not really going anywhere. Enjoy the moment in this book, because that is all there is.