Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
17th out of 98 books
—
53 voters
The Everlasting Story of Nory
Our supreme fabulist of the ordinary now turns his attention on a 9-year-old American girl and produces a novel as enchantingly idiosyncratic as any he has written. Nory Winslow wants to be a dentist or a designer of pop-up books. She likes telling stories and inventing dolls. She has nightmares about teeth, which may explain her career choice. She is going to school in En...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
March 30th 1999
by Vintage
(first published April 14th 1998)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
724)
Perfectly delightful! Brought me back to my childhood years- so much fun, I loved every page! Here is an excerpt:
Nora missed playing with Kira under the conker tree, all those weeks ago-or not that many weeks, actually-and she had a feeling that she and Kira were not such good friends now as they had been then. Kira had something of an idea of being friends, true, but not the whole idea. A friendship was like the core of something, not a conker but something really basic like an apple, and there...more
Nora missed playing with Kira under the conker tree, all those weeks ago-or not that many weeks, actually-and she had a feeling that she and Kira were not such good friends now as they had been then. Kira had something of an idea of being friends, true, but not the whole idea. A friendship was like the core of something, not a conker but something really basic like an apple, and there...more
This might be the most accessible Nicholson Baker novel I've read, if only due to its somewhat straightforward structure and G-rated content. None of his novels approach much resembling a plot, instead going on a stream-of-consciousness ramble. The journey is always delightful. In this case, it was a little less delightful, for me, just because I didn't really get invested in Baker's 9-year-old protagonist. Maybe because it was told in third-person. I felt distant.
Nicholson Baker has a child-lik...more
Nicholson Baker has a child-lik...more
The Everlasting Story of Nory is by one of my favorite authors, Nicholson Baker. Like all his work, it is highly readable and engaging. But it was not, by far, my favorite of his works. I liked the character who tells the story-Eleanor ("Nory"), a nine-year-old American girl living for a semester in England. Nory is a compulsive story writer who wants to be either a dentist or a pop-up book writer when she grows up. The Everlasting Story of Nory is typical Baker in its inclusion of all of Nory's...more
Nov 25, 2008
Pamela W
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people
Recommended to Pamela by:
Sheri
This is more like 3.5 or even 4 stars. I'm just feeling stingy. This little Nory character is an expat American child living in England after having been around the global block, and she's equal parts adorably childlike and completely precocious. Baker really captured her personality in the writing style, complete with some typos and mis-uses of words and grammar. And the little brother is a hoot. I'd take these two kids under my wing, if they were real (yes, I liked the characters that much) an...more
I enjoyed reading this, but I definitely could not read a whole lot of it in one sitting. The all-over-the-place random thought process of a 9-year old is exhausting!! But extremely entertaining and somewhat enlightening since I teach 3rd grade. As Sheri pointed out, reading this book is like hanging out with a little chatterbox. But it was lots of fun :) Thanks Kim!
Baker is clearly a good writer with an engaging style, but the format for this - a series of 54 mini-stories - left me wanting something different. It was the kind of book that I enjoyed while I was reading it, but in-between sessions wouldn't have been all that bothered if I had lost it and didn't get to finish it.
I really interesting book ... think the stream of consciousness of a creative nine year old. Eleanor is an American child living in the UK and the book all told by here with some fantastic nine year-old grammar and spelling basically tells of her first term at her new school and all the trials and tribulations that come with that. It took a little while to get into, but after you get used to the narrators voice it is a genuinely sweet and believable account of life from the perspective of a youn...more
If you like children around this age, you will probably love this. Otherwise I predict that you will not get it and it will irritate the life out of you. I do like this age very much, and I thought this book captured it perfectly.
I kept reading this book wanting to like it. It seem more like the Neverending Story of Nory. It was a young girl's stream of consciousness rant. I get far too much of that in real life at home. Not the right time for me to read this book.
In a way, this isn't the story told by a nine-year old, but by her father who admires her very much. If you appreciate hearing stories that nine-year old girls tell, including their randomness of thought and wonderful imagination, go ahead and read this book. For me, it dragged a little too much. My attention span is too short for the stories of my nephew, and it was too short for this book, too. I appreciate it, just didn't love it.
I really wanted to like this book, but I just ended up not. The book felt scattered and unfocused. There was a running plot, but it didn't really show itself until almost the very end. I understood why the author choose to write things the way a nine year old girl would, but I think he would have done better to write from the first person point of view if he's going to write the way Nory speaks. Overall this was a very difficult read.
I tried to read this book at least 10 times when I first bought it 5 years ago. I just couldn't get into the thought processes of a 9 year old girl. Now that my daughter is 4, it was a lot easier to relate to and find some joy in. Some slow parts, but lots of little chuckles along the way.
This is a good book if you don't have a lot of time to read (which I didn't -- picked it up when I was just about to start a move and a new job); the chapters are short and follow a loose plot, centered around 9-year-old Nory, her family, and several friends at her new school in England. Baker does a good job of capturing Nory's voice -- just the right mix of creativity, intelligence, and lack of reason. While it wasn't one of those books that I couldn't wait to pick up again, it's a nice light-...more
Would have gotten 100 stars if I'd read this at 9.
Again, charming.
I loved this book! Nory was smart, funny and poignant! Great character!
Nicholson Baker is smarter and happier than you. He gets four out of five pea-sized dollops of tooth paste for his surprising description of the cellular implications of immortality and for documenting the only real solution to the conundrum of separate faucets for hot water and cold water (back and forth back and forth back and forth).
"You can't mummify a nice memory in someone's head," so goes this lovely little book about the consciousness of a nine year old girl named Nory. I loved the book, but the stream of consciousness got a bit overwhelming after a while. It reminded me of so much of my youth and the discomfort of not quite fitting in all the time.
Jun 30, 2008
Kristi
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kristi by:
Kim Bragg
Shelves:
you-can-borrow-from-me
What a fun read! Nory is kind, sweet, bright as can be, an atrocious speller, an epic storyteller, a deep thinker, no-nonsense, tender, loyal, and endearingly unaware of what a gem she is. If there were more Norys in the world, it would be a better place.
Did you ever meet a kid that always had a story to tell? If you loved listening, you'll love hanging out with Nory. A nine year old who is passionate about creating stories. In this book you will read her story and her stories, and never want them to end!
NB displays his Ang-Lee-type ability for sliding seamlessly into the heads of his subjects in this tale of a little kid explaining how things work for her. Reminds you how circumscribed and challenging the world is when you are nine.
Forgive me, but I just couldn't get into it. Too...absent of substance, and more of an experiment in "what would that look like?" Plus-- I'm just not into exploring the minds of children...not yet, anyhow.
This book dragged in portions and wasn't quite up to the standards of what I've come to expect from Baker. I still finished it because the portions that shined were quite good.
I liked Nory okay, she wasn't too twee, but there wasn't much to the book. All I remember is a bit about how much toothpaste people really need to use.
This was a fun read, but not as interesting, in my opinion, as Baker's earlier books and essays. It might resonate more with a parent.
read this if you need to be cheered up. it's for adults but told from the perspective of a young girl, and brilliantly so. it's fantastic.
Best book I've read from the mind of a little girl as imagined in the mind of her dad. So sweet it hurts.
Interesting to see that Nicholson Baker is much in the news these days due to his political views.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Nicholson Baker is a contemporary American writer of fiction and non-fiction. As a novelist, his writings focus on minute inspection of his characters' and narrators' stream of consciousness. His unconventional novels deal with topics such as voyeurism and planned assassination, and they generally de-emphasize narrative in favor of intense character work. Baker's enthusiasts appreciate his ability...more
More about Nicholson Baker...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Jul 30, 2012 02:11pm
Jul 30, 2012 02:13pm
updated Jul 30, 2012 02:38pm