If anyone knows me then they know I always have my Kindle with me. I’m always reading something. I’m probably one of the few people who still reads the Sunday comics. This is why I generally like English class because it forces me to pick up books that I would never typically select. The Mezzanine is one of those books and I was excited to learn more about it.
However, at the start of this book I struggled to get through it. I honestly couldn’t read the first three pages without needing a break. Reading a novel about a man’s mundane life was actually a mundane task for me to complete. The text wasn’t exciting. The footnotes were long and boring. Howie reminded me of a ranter. I didn’t understand the hype about reading about a man’s elevator ride. But, as the story progressed, I started to realize what Nicholson Baker was trying to convey to his readers. My opinion about this novel began to change and evolve.
Howie’s view of life is the opposite of Marcus Aurelius' philosophy about life. Marcus Aurelius’ wrote, “Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life; yesterday a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice and ashes.” While Aurelius sees life as insignificant in the grand scheme of things, Howie thrives on the insignificant aspects of life. He sees this quote as a challenge to his own beliefs. For Howie it is the trivial things in life that are the most beautiful and deserve our deepest understanding. Howie analyzes everything “in the middle between life and death.” Every minute, every moment, every second of our lives is important to Howie. Yet no one takes the time to think about it. Humans want to experience drama and chaos like in an action movie. But the climax of our day might simply be our shoe laces breaking. The repetition of life is what makes up life. Those 24 hours in a day are made up of more events than one realizes because most people don’t take the time to notice.
The Mezzanine was not a book I enjoyed while I was reading it. But as I reflect on the book’s meaning, I can understand the reasons why Nicholson Baker wrote it.
Works Cited:
Baker, Nicholson. The Mezzanine. Grove Press, 2010.
Hi Emily, great post. I agree that The Mezzanine is a book that requires a bit of reflection to actually appreciate. Good job highlighting the unique way Howie appreciates his surroundings.
ReplyDeleteEmily I found your comparison between Howie and Marcus Aurelius REALLY interesting. The idea that Aurelius dismisses everyday life as insignificant while Howie finds meaning in the smallest details. I also had a similar experience reading The Mezzanine because I wasn’t very engaged at first, but I came to appreciate what Baker was trying to accomplish. Your point that “the repetition of life is what makes up life” feels like the main idea of the book. Even if the novel isn’t always enjoyable to read, it does make readers stop and consider how much of life we overlook every day. Not bad
ReplyDeleteHi Emily, I really liked your idea on why Howie was taken a back by Aurelius's writing. I never considered how Howie is the type of person who loves the mundane, which is why he fixates so long on little details. Your point about Aurelius challenging Howies beliefs and making him uncomfortable is really interesting and helps explain that passage better. I did not really like the mezzanine but I do like your take on it!
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! I also love reading on my Kindle and had a bit of a journey with The Mezzanine myself. I got what you meant about struggling at the start, the first few pages felt tedius, and I kept wondering when something was actually going to happen.I really liked what you pulled out about Aurelius. It is such an interesting contrast, Aurelius basically saying none of this matters in the end, and then Howie going the complete opposite direction and treating every tiny thing, like a shoelace snapping, as worth paying attention to. It made me think about how most of what actually fills up my day is stuff I would normally never think twice about, and this book kind of forces you to slow down and notice it instead of brushing past it like usual. I don't know what perspective is more positive about life: Aurelies' "Carpe diem, nothing in life is too serious so enjoy the present without worrying about future" message or Howie's "appreciate the small things in life."
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ReplyDeleteHey Emily! I 100% agree with you on the fact that for Howie "it is the trivial things in life that are the most beautiful and deserve our deepest understanding". This is a beautiful interpretation of a book that seems so mundane to most of us. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteI totally get this account of your reading experience--the book is "interesting" as a kind of thought experiment, but it isn't necessarily enjoyable at the sentence level, or chapter by chapter. But I actually DO find Baker's prose to be immensely enjoyable, and I think he's a remarkable writer precisely because he's able to get me so engaged in topics I am SURE I am not interested in. I would propose that this novel might be worth a rereading, now that you have a sense of how it works: Baker does a remarkable job of writing about the mundane in a way that is fun, original, quirky, weird, surprising, and artful. There are so many remarkably perceptive observations and descriptions throughout, and we occupy the perspective of someone with a seemingly infinite degree of curiosity about the world. And the book IS very funny at a number of spots. I have reread it many times over the years, and I always enjoy the experience.
ReplyDeleteHey Emily, this was definetly a relatable blog post. I enjoyed the book for about two chapters until I started falling asleep... Thats how I knew it was gonna be rough for me. This book is unique in its style but that doesn't make it engaging. At least this book makes me grateful I can't read minds.
ReplyDeleteNice blog Emily. I agree with you that at first when reading this book, I was so lost and had to remind myself what on what I was reading occasionally, but I really liked your take on the fact that there a lots of thing that are worth pondering on or remembering, but people pass on these every-day activities because we all take it for granted. Maybe taking a step back once in a while is somthing we all need to do in life.
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