Word: strine
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...novel, The Fermata (Random House; 303 pages; $21), is somewhat less elevated. A fermata, in music, is the extension of a note, chord or rest. What is extended, or stopped, in Baker's tale is the forward motion of the universe. His hero, a fellow named Arno Strine, has discovered that he can freeze time (presumably from sea to shining sea) by snapping his fingers, while all else is stopped. What he does is a 13-year-old boy's dream: Strine, who's 35, takes the clothes off unresisting women and masturbates. Then he re- dresses the women, snaps...
That's about it. Not another idea or phenomenon disturbs the flow -- that's probably the right word -- of the narration. As with any extended porn, the book is a highly elaborate tease, sillier and more exotic with each chapter. It's not ugly stuff, as such things go; Strine isn't a rapist or even a thief, though he does steal peeks. Ogling is really all he's interested in, and all that Baker seems to feel readers need to sustain their interest. That's fairly patronizing and more than a little feebleminded, though maybe he is right. Still...