A Box of Matches

Rating:
Summary: Finally something refreshing
Review: A Box of Matches gives the entire New England states something to relate to, as well as the world. Pages turn with ease, while I was engaged by the protagonists laid back but critical train of thoughts. Baker made this Californian native feel compatible.
Emmett, who days begin with self absorbed quality time engages the reader very directly through his world. Emmett taking the time to stop and pay attention. With an invitational personality Emmett conjures up fascinating but life-like deatiling that illuminate pictures in your head. Emmett, a Smart and Honest individual who decides to "practice" his life on his own terms. Good read-"refreshing"

Rating:
Summary: A Box Of Matches...A Journey into Life's Smallest Details
Review: A Box Of Matches is a very unique novel from Nicholson Baker. Although this is a story in which absolutey nothing of significance occurs in the physical realm, the novel more than makes up for its lack of action. I have never read something quite like this before in my career as a student/reading enthusiast. Baker takes hold of the reader through a regimented story telling process in which everyday begins in the same way. Baker, (through main character Emmett) speaks about the simple things in life and how these things desirve more attention than they get. This novel allows access into the mind of Emmett, a man who is your typical New England man, with a not so typical thought process. This book is a very interesting read. It is clear with this novel that Baker is a very talented and imaginative writter who is not afraid to tackle new writing styles. I highly reccommend this book for anyone who likes to think deeply about life. There is a good chance that this book will change the way you live it.

Rating:
Summary: Nicholson Baker is a pathetic human being
Review: A Box of Matches is one of the most unique books I've ever read due to the fact that it consists of a man regaling us with his random thoughts, theories and advice. It just goes to show they're really is more going on inside a person's head then we actually think and what's more, some of Emmett's advice can actually be considered and used. I'd recommend this book to anyone who finds the hidden thoughts and un-said ideas just as interesting and comical as the ones that are said.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful short book
Review: A great, great novel.

Less overtly "clever" than Baker's earlier books, this tribute to life, children, pets, and middle age, is one of his absolute best. More subtle, wise, and humble.

Great read.

Rating:
Summary: Bedtime stories for grown-ups
Review: At first I didn't have much hope for this novel, as other stories about nothing (to which I was exposed through school) were nearly the death of my love of reading, but this was a book apart. I flipped through it several times on different visits to the book shop, each time thinking to myself that there was no point to reading it, yet inexplicably I kept picking it up. When I got it home I just couldn't put it down. It is original and well observed, and it is also deeply moving and strangely poetic. I found the subject matter and writing style very soothing-- like reading "Goodnight Moon" as a child. The pureness of emotion was amazing; who'd have thought that reading about somebody drawing the curtains could make you cry? If you open your mind to it, this book will rekindle your appreciation for life's little things.

Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: Baker narrator rises each morning while it is still dark and mumbles to himself about this and that. About as interesting as it sounds. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Everyday Life, Fasciniatingly and Elegantly Stated
Review: Emmett is 44 years old, and married to Claire with two children, a cat, and a duck. He has a regular job as a textbook editor. He has embarked upon a routine of waking up as early as possible, usually around 4:30 in the morning. He lights a fire with a wooden match, makes coffee in the dark, then sits by the fire and thinks. He writes down his thoughts. This sounds like a trivial premise for a book. But, like Emmett's fires, each day starts slowly, but gradually catches and generates a good deal of warmth. Reality TV and internet cams have brought mundane everyday life to our consciousness. But often what is lacking in those vehicles is any profound reflection and lasting value. This book contains a lot of well written, gently provocative but penetrating prose on various subjects we are all familiar with, but don't think about much. When the last match is gone from the box, the book ends. Too bad there weren't a few more matches in the box, because I wanted more of this fine writing.

Rating:
Summary: Minimalist Masterpiece
Review: Emmett is forty-four years old, an editor of medical textbooks, married to Claire, with two growing children. The story begins when he decides to get up early each morning, light a fire in the pitch-black darkness, and spend time in quiet reflection. And he does so through a whole box of matches--thirty-three matches--thirty-three frigid mornings, thirty-three delightful short chapters.

This is not a traditional novel with a plot. It is more like a journal, in which a man shares his inmost thoughts--small thoughts, anecdotes, observations about matches and fires and how to find things in the dark; and about his family, his troubled thoughts about his father, the children he dearly loves; his sense of time slipping away; his surprising discoveries about his pet duck... and so much more. It is the story of a man's life, not in chronologic order but as the network of meanings and experiences that life is made of.

So little seems to happen, so little seems to change from one day's musings to the next, that I would call this minimalist fiction. And yet, much is revealed. You come to know Emmett and his family in a deep and touching way.

I enjoyed this little book and I recommmend it highly. There is more to it than meets the eye. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Rating:
Summary: spots of wonder in the most ordinary life
Review: Enthusiastic Recommend: A Box of Matches, by Nicholson Baker
I was immediately drawn into this book. It's a novel that seems more like a series of essays. It's a novel because the person writing the essays in front of early morning fires during a cold winter in Vermont is a fictional character, a 44-year old family-man with piercing insight into things that tend to elude most of us. This character, Emmett, (fitting name, almost Dickensian) also has a wonderful sense of story and words. There is one essay/chapter for each match in the box - 33 in all. This is a great book for someone who either has a lot of time and likes to use it contemplating the little amazements of life, or for someone who is too busy to realize there are little spots of light in even a fairly ordinary life. The first group will appreciate the author's keen observation of life's daily routines. The second, I hope, will be shocked into realizing how much they are missing and so, slow down.
Those people who live balanced lives, pay close attention, and have a gift for language could perhaps write their own Pack of Cigarettes (ooh, no, bad for running), Bag of M&Ms (ooh, no, bad for running), Cylinder of Pringles (ooh, no, bad for running)...I guess not. That's what happens when someone is really good at something. They make it look so easy, and you think it is. (Remember those Olympian pole-vaulters? Doesn't that look fun?) Most of the time, it's not. So, everyone, even you well-balanced types, should read A Box of Matches and do it as it was ostensibly written - in front of the fire on chilly mornings.

Rating:
Summary: The Devil owns the Details
Review: Every time I read a Nicholson Baker book I find myself wondering things he might wonder: Why was this particular typeface selected? What kind of writing reads best with sans serif type? Why do editors tell you the name of the font at the end of some books? What is the rationale of putting the page numbers on the top versus the bottom of the page? Is there a maximum weight for a book? Or, in this case, a minimum? Why so many blank pages at the end?

But halfway through A Box of Matches I began to wonder about larger questions, almost none of them good: Is this literature? Is it even fiction? Can a story exist without conflict? Without antagonists? With no plot? Only one multi-dimensional character?

I have always applauded Baker for pushing the boundaries a little more each time out, but he went too far in A Box of Matches. As a writer, he has a world-class gift for describing minor events perfectly and crisply. But isn't there a limit to how minor minor can get? Couldn't he have found something more worthwhile to use his talents on?

I kept waiting for some kind of O Henry ending or the sudden realization that Emmit, the self-absorbed main character, had somehow evolved. Anticipating what might happen made the book pass faster, but those sorts of developments aren't Baker's style. In retrospect, the book seems like the literary equivalent to recording an Opera star singing scales before a show.

No, no, no. Go back and read The Fermata, The Mezzanine, U &I, even Double Fold (his wonderful non-fiction debut) and save yourself from this Book of Matches. If Baker wants to publish his writing exercises, nothing says we have to read them.