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Feb 12, 2009

Manny rated it:

There's such a diversity of opinions concerning this book that I can't bring myself to take sides. Instead, I present

Your cut-out-and-keep do-it-yourself Vox reviewing kit

This (ground-breaking/tedious/overhyped/short) novel does for phone sex what (Last Tango in Paris/Lady Chatterley's Lover/Death in the Afternoon/The Bell Jar/Ben Hur) did for (sodomy/gamekeepers/bullfighting/suicide/chariot-racing). Nicholas Baker's book is (surprisingly/predictably/tediously/unnecessari More...

10 comments like (29 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2008

Yulia added it

What surprised me about this book was just how boring it was. I'd purchased it in college, after having gotten to know (as much as one can know someone you can't trust) over several months of almost daily calls the random phone sex caller at my college. And, as happens in this book, our talks ranged in subject from his religious views (which I found quite odd, considering how he'd found me) to philosophy to my negative views of myself. And so my expectations were very high when I found out ab More...

9 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2009

Evan rated it:

I have to give the author credit for bravery, for writing something this poorly and having no compunction or fear about putting it out there for all eyes to see and minds to ponder. It would be like me putting the first drafts of my own aborted novels out there; works that I simply couldn't bear having anyone look at. I learned a few things: that the discoloration of genitalia on Roman statues is due to people cumming on them, and that guys hang around the frozen food section of the store to see More...

24 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2008

Jim rated it:

Vox...If you are a slang and vocabulary junkie who can read inappropriate adult material, then I very highly
recommend Nicholson Baker as your new favorite author.

I laughed so hard out loud and alone while reading this book. I learned so many new terms for body parts and acts of sin from Vox.

Of course, ten years after the book came out, they're more common terms. Not between you and I, of course. We're too polite when we speak on an adult chat line to each other. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2010

Anil rated it:

Ok, so I am done with the book. And I am glad to report that the book has a "happy ending" as you are bound to expect of a book like this.

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I am already getting enough ribs for carrying around this book.

So right off the bat, I have to say, yes this is smut. But remember no pictures. And if you are looking for a turn on, you are much better off reading blogs or turning to the Internet than this book.

In any human interaction or More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 02, 2010

Jasmine rated it:

Do you know why emoticons exist?

The theory in psychology is that a large portion of communication is nonverbal and an even larger portion of this is actually specifically facial. So what happens when you take seeing someone out of the picture? "I liked your voice" "What are you wearing" "which hand" and that sort of thing. I am left to wonder if perhaps phone sex party lines might be the reason men can no longer read body language. Gentleman, crossed ar More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2011

notgettingenough rated it:

So last night. What did you do?

I finished Vox. I couldn’t resist. COULDN’T put it down.

Of course. Vox. And?

And what?

Well, did you…? While you were reading it? Tell me how you were.

I was pretty much as I am now. Dressed. Sitting up. Left leg crossed other the other. I mean, I wasn’t at my computer. I was sitting at the kitchen table.

But you didn’t find it that sexy then. If you didn’t - ….?

Oh, it was incredibly se More...

7 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 12, 2007

Tatiana rated it:

this guy... my writing teacher explained his books as basically huge magnifying glasses. one of his books, i believe, takes place entirely on one person's escalator ride from one floor to another. there's another book where someone picks lint out of his belly button for the entire length of the book. in this book, this guy calls a 900 number and has phone sex. that's the entire book. so we're talking a time span of a few hours at the very most. what's interesting though (and the book is en More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 26, 2008

Brent rated it:

. . .Vox, a single-issue novel (sex), also a single-mode novel (dialogue), and further disembodied by the fact the the two protagonists never touch or meet, communicating only by party line. The object, the thing, in this case, is the telephone -- that frictionless technology. Vox is frictionless too, and thus meets a contemporary demand: it asks nothing of you. Modern tendencies -- safe sex, pornography, human dwindling -- are present as accepted guests, not as intruders. Sunniness and perversi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2008

matt rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2009

Molly rated it:

After finishing up Double Fold, Baker's fantastic treatise on the phasing-out of paper (and therefore invaluable and irreplaceable archives) at important libraries here and abroad, I had to go back and revisit Vox, his very well-received phone sex novel. The book consists in a phone sex conversation between Jim and Abby, two adults who serendipitously meet through what is probably a more explicit version of LavaLife (anyone else see those late-night commercials?). This, I know, sounds like a More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Drew rated it:

Vox could reasonably be described as postmodern; like, for instance, JR, it's composed entirely of dialogue. Unlike JR, it's not difficult to read, contains no contempt for its characters or for humans in general, and makes no attempt at erudition. This is incredibly refreshing.

And despite the fact that Vox's dialogue takes place entirely between two people on a phone sex hotline, I submit that it's less about sex and more about forging a powerful connection between two strangers. L More...

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Nov 14, 2010

Dale rated it:

Baker is either a member of his generation's great writers or has just spent too many years working as a writer for Penthouse Forum: my bet's on the former. Yes, the book is about sex. It's a huge gamble to have written this novel because, judging by popular culture and the ridiculous percentage of people who think that "Lolita" is a novel about a pedophile, the book can be overlooked and dismissed as just an erotic, albeit well-written and -paced, novel. Luckily, I think there are More...

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Sep 18, 2009

Tim rated it:

This book details a single conversation between two people on a phone sex chat line. Neither party is a professional, rather they are both just ordinary everyday people who made the choice to call the line, liked the sound of each other's voices in the group area, and decided to switch to a single private line where they talk only to each other. This is where the book begins.

Though the purpose of their call is for each of them to climax, they end up getting into a long conversation i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 25, 2009

Erik rated it:

With Vox, Nicholson Baker uses ideas pornographic and profane to give reason for hope in human decency and interconnectedness. Vox is 165 pages of dialogue between a man and woman who meet on a phone sex line, so with the least amount of exposition possible, the story is made entirely of their interactions and the intricacies of their personalities and intelligence.

Baker, who enjoys performing feats of literary dexterity, gave life and humor to the vast minutia of potentially dull cu More...

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Sep 26, 2007

Zach rated it:

This was a fast read and for the most part kept me dialed in to the story however I expected something more along the lines of the Mezzanine (which I had read directly before starting this) which I think left me feeling disappointed and might have tainted the read.

What I learned: balance your reading list - let an author breathe like a red wine for a while before jumping into another book. (Unless of course you're reading something like Harry Potter)

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Read my full review here: http://virtualmargin.blogspot.com/2011/05/vox-22100.html

Vox is a 1992 novella by Nicholson Baker. The 1992 is important, since it's about 2 people chatting over an adult hotline. The entire book is a transcript of their conversation. I love how the book seems like such a relic of its publication date. A phone conversation? HA...how 1992.

FUN FACT: Monica Lewinsky gave a copy of this book to Bill Clinton as a gift. How 1998!

In Vox the two cha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 25, 2010

QVT rated it:

I never thought anyone would take the time to write a 176 page argument about why the casual is not erotic, despite Jay's claims in my legendary "Fruit Smoothie." But they did. I'm swayed, Nicholson. You've got a shite name. And the casual is not erotic. Also, you're probably impotent and should get that looked into. I say this as a regular watcher of Criminal Minds. It's better to deal with the issues before you start stabbing (and I do mean stabbing) people. They're innocent. You wet More...

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Oct 07, 2011

Chance rated it:

I've been wanting to read another book by Nicholson Baker ever since I read--and loved--The Fermata. This one isn't as striking or profound as I found that one, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. Still, I feel like he hadn't quite let loose yet. There is a bit of wordplay, creating new words (which, in a weird backwards way, redefine the meanings of the words they're replacing) for sex and body parts; however, it's not as deliciously fun and funny as it is in The Fermata.

Vox is almost More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Mark rated it:

Some people may think Baker is prurient, others that he is deeply philosophical about relationships and sexuality. But there is no denying that he is a bold, fearless writer of erotic scenes and situations. This book, which revolves around practitioners of phone sex, shows off his curious mixture of eroticism and philosophical musing.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2011

AG rated it:

The Mezzanine is a book I think about on a weekly basis; it's frightening how much my brain works in exactly the same way as the brain of Nicholson Baker -- meandering, silly, slightly dorky. So I cracked open Vox excited to watch that same frisky intellect dissect everyone's favorite topics of sex, love, intimacy, etc. But to quote "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide -- "Oh, twas not to be." There were exactly two pages where this was interesting -- a paragraph on how love is More...

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Feb 21, 2011

Jess rated it:

This *definitely* shouldn't count as a Virtuous book, but I plead susceptibility to NPR-reviewed authors. The book is basically one long phone sex line conversation between two strangers, and it gets about as smutty as you'd expect in that situation. Its charm is the surprisingly accurate rendering of a meandering discussion in prose form--Baker writes how people talk incredibly well. It's dialogue and story at the same time; everything you know, you know from what the characters say, but you st More...

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Sep 29, 2011

MJ rated it:

I liked this. Right now it’s 11.51PM (later when the review is complete) and I would rather be munching a shellfish platter than writing this review, but here goes. (That was not an innuendo, in case you were worried. However, it is a little known fact that men are attracted to oysters as it’s the closest they can get to cunnilingus in food form. I was told this at a marine snack-shack in Orkney). So. Two people dial a sex chat line, switch to a private room, and have a natural conversation that More...

8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Eric rated it:

Eh. I stopped reading this slim book, because it was boring and repetitive. The simulated phone sex scene that got all the eyebrows raised, I skipped to at the end. Ok, it works...but...the rest of the book is a bear to slug through, and I don't like the characters, particularly the male protagonist (I use that word with a grimace) as I feel Baker made this character...well, it's not as if we're supposed to particularly like him, I'm fine with that--but the character also seems, wildly unreali More...

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Oct 28, 2011

Amy rated it:

A sexy book is not really the thing you want to read when you're sick, to be honest, but I was stuck in bed and read this all in one sitting. Somehow I missed the hype about it but I can see why the hype existed in the first place: it's exactly the kid of self-satisfied, a little bit smug modern book about sex that attracts that kind of attention. But the whole idea of them meeting on a sex chat line seemed bizarre to me: do people still do that, honestly?

But, besides that slight odd More...

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Jul 13, 2011

Sabra rated it:

It's one thing to know a book's draw is based on one long phone sex conversation. What comes to mind is language which would entice one into touching, moisture, an elevated pulse and heavy breathing--in that order, or otherwise. In magazine ads, flyers stuck against petrified gum on metropolis sidewalks, late night commercials on antenna-ready cable, we see the pay-per play numbers for hotline chats, and wonder what would happen if one were to call on a warm and lonely night. Would the voice mat More...

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Feb 03, 2009

Lindsey rated it:

I'm only half through this book right now, but it's absolutely ridiculous. It was actually on the "Staff Recommendations" table at my public library, and I figured it had to be amazing since it was erotica on a main table in the middle of the library.

I was so wrong. Everything about this book is contrived and irritating. Has Nicholson Baker never had a telephone conversation in his life? Because that's the only possible excuse I can come with. The dialogue (and the whole bo More...

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Sep 07, 2011

Larry rated it:

Nicholson Baker likes to write about short timespans. Mezzanine took place during an escalator ride. Vox is a single phone sex conversation. Not all of his books are thus structured, but he does seem to delight in keeping things compact (as does Ian McEwan sometimes; his Saturday takes place between morning and evening of one day [a Saturday, naturally]). 50 years ago this book would have been banned; by today's standards it is relatively tame, but certainly X rated. I won't spoil it, but will p More...

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Dec 15, 2011

Tajo rated it:

I actually skimmed the last couple of chapters of this one, because it was so boring and didn't turn me on in the least. It had a lot of potential but after a while the characters just seemed extremely pretentious and ridiculous and the pace of the conversation seemed off. People don't often sit in silence while others go on for long ass monologues, they interject, they put in their two cents, they agree or disagree or make sounds of approval or disapproval. It was just obvious after a while tha More...

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Jan 27, 2012

Mia rated it:

The premise is interesting: a man and woman call a sex chat hotline and end up in a "private room" where they talk all night and reveal the most intimate details of their lives (mostly non-sexual) without indulging more than their names -- and neither is sure that the other hasn't created a pseudonym either. It's an interesting look at how people share information, expose themselves to strangers, etc. but in the end it just kind of fell flat for me. I don't know how I wanted it to end More...

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