The Everlasting Story of Nory

by Nicholson Baker

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 England, where she is mocked for her accent and her friendship with an unpopular girl, and she has made it through the year without crying.

Nicholson Baker follows Nory as she interacts with her parents and peers, thinks about God and death-watch beetles, and dreams of cows with pointed teeth. In this precocious child he gives us a heroine as canny and as whimsical as Lewis Carroll's Alice and evokes childhood in all its luminous weirdness.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Literary Fiction, Literature, British Literature, Childrens, American

226 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 1998

About the author

Nicholson Baker is a contemporary American writer of fiction and non-fiction. He was born in Manhattan in 1957 and grew up in Rochester, New York. He has published sixteen books--including The Mezzanine (1988), U and I (1991), Human Smoke (2008), The Anthologist (2009), and Substitute (2016)--and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, the New York Review of Books, Best American Short Stories, and Best American Essays. He has received a National Book Critics Circle award, a James Madison Freedom of Information Award, the Herman Hesse Prize, and the Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1999, Baker and his wife, Margaret Brentano (co-author with Baker of The World on Sunday, 2005), founded the American Newspaper Repository in order to save a large collection of U.S. newspapers, including a run of Joseph Pulitzer's influential daily, the New York World. In 2004 the Repository’s holdings became a gift to Duke University. Baker and Brentano have two children; they live on the Penobscot River in Maine.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think The Little Prince or possibly The Elegance of the Hedgehog (I didn't finish it, but iirc it's akin). Children's worlds reflect those of adults. Children's observations illuminate adult issues. Eleanor, Nory, is, in many ways, a typical little girl - she has friends, she is not brilliant, she is not angelic, she does mean well, she has a happy family... she is quite likely the best contemporary philosophers' Everyman we could imagine.

Or, maybe this is Baker's self-indulgent Cute Kid collected anecdotes. After all, the dedication is "For my dear daughter Alice, the informant." And it is cute, and hilarious, and can be enjoyed even if not read with any *L*iterary depth.

The appeal (or lack thereof) will depend on the reader. I liked it. I think I'd have loved it if we were a more hip, urbane family, the kind who at least consider the value of private schools, sabbaticals, travel abroad, creativity, history.... Readers who cannot stand anything remotely twee will despise this.

"'Don't count your bad lucks before they happen.' That was a saying that she had made up. It was kind of like 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch,' except the opposite."

"Nory's mothers contribution was teaching Nory and Littleguy about everything, and how it's important to be honest and not hurt people's feelings. Nory's father's contribution was writing books that help people go to sleep."

Nory is compiling a book of projects for kids, and includes "Make a Tree, every time you do something good hang a card on a branch saying what you did. It may make you happier."

Nory is obsessed with Achilles and his near-invulnerability. "So Achilles would not be able to kill as many people after they had cut off his foot, since he would have to fight hopping to and fro, or rolling around in a wheelchair, or a wheelchariot, going 'Charge! Rip, slash, stab, rip,' at people and then frantically pushing the wheels."

"Littleguy had gotten into the usual habit of walking up to a stranger in a toystore and saying 'Hello, I'm shy.'"

Nory's made-up story about the Burning Rain is incredible, but too long to quote here.

...So, yes, I do recommend it. And I will be hanging onto my copy and hoping to reread it someday.
-----------
About to start my second read. I see a lot of people seem to think this is a kid's book. Gimme a break. It wasn't intended to be and never will be. Some kids may discover and like it, and that's fine, but don't think that you need to access your inner child to appreciate it... s/he likely won't appreciate it nearly as much as adult you could.

Done with my second read. I have to admit, it's paced at the rate of the thoughts of a bright & beloved child of nine... which makes it a bit tiring for me! But I still love it... so creative, so joyful, with subtle themes about friendship, honor, etc. This time it reminds me just a bit of another book that I adored when I was a youngster: Mister God, This is Anna but this is just *more.*

I love the mother's idea of distracting thoughts when fretting is keeping you awake: plan the furnishings of a dollhouse, room by room, including details of colors, materials, accent decor.... I also like that the parents had minor roles. And that Nory and Littleguy love each other (it does help that they're not too close in age).

I could pull quotes, but I wouldn't know which to choose or how to stop adding more. Just, if you have any interest at all, read this yourself. If you can't find it at your library (and you live in the US) PM me and I'll ship it to you... I want it to go to a good home.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 rambling thoughts and stories. It is a pleasure to read and Nory is fun to spend time with but at the end (and often during) the book, I thought, Well, ok but why? Why do I care? or maybe, Why do I not care more? And at the end, I felt relieved to be finished without the usual touch of sadness I feel after reading a really excellent book. And the read left me writing & talking like Nory which I'm not at all sure is a good thing. So I recommend Nory to Nicholson Baker fans as a good-but-not-his-best book with the warning that you may start thinking and writing in overly enthusiastic run-on sentences like these!

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

My six-year-old daughter recently asked me about the giraffe in our house.

"What giraffe?" I asked.

"That giraffe you and Mom felt coming down the stairs."

"That was a draft, some cold air, you know, a breeze."

She nodded skeptically, as though she'd stumbled upon an exotic smuggling ring. For me, her question was a reminder of the miraculous, perplexing world in which children live.

Nicholson Baker has written a most beguiling novel about that world. "The Everlasting Story of Nory" perfectly captures the ordinary life of a kind, creative nine-year-old girl. In the cacophony of novels, memoirs, and talk shows about the harrowing hazards many children face, Nory's story is a charming reminder of the life children need and deserve.

Nicholson presents Nory with a degree of gentle irony that makes this novel sweet, but never saccharin. The book's sustained comedy stems from Nory's attempts to make sense of her year in England, where her father is taking a sabbatical to "write books that help people get to sleep."

Leaving behind her dear friends in Palo Alto, Calif., and moving to the little town of Threll, Nory must figure out a new school, defend her accent, and negotiate the complexities of playground politics. She manages all these tasks with great concentration and success, but she devotes at least as much effort to her everlasting series of dreams and tales that pit a little girl against extraordinary, sometimes gruesome challenges.

"You need something to fail in a story," Nory observes, "because then when it fails it has to get better. Usually with a story there is a moment at which you're supposed to think some person or animal has died or some other really sad failure has happened - and if you don't know that that's how stories are supposed to work you can become quite upset and have to run out of the room to escape the squeezing feeling in your chest, like at the end of 'Lady and the Tramp.' "

Indeed, much of this short book concerns Nory's simple but profound discoveries about the nature of language and fiction. While most of us race through words like bored commuters on familiar streets, Nory studies words like a jeweler. She takes no colloquial phrase for granted. She realizes immediately that "the last straw was not the last straw in the machine at the restaurant that when it was taken meant the machine was empty and you would have to drink your milkshake sadly without a straw." And she knows a camel's back is unlikely to be broken by that straw. He would kneel down long before the burden got too heavy.

Even when being taunted for befriending an unpopular classmate, Nory mourns how difficult it will be to recall the details of childhood. "You live your life always in the present," she notes. "And even in the present, this day, dozens and hundreds of little tiny things happen, so many that by the end of the day you can't make a list of them. You lose track of them unless something reminds you. Say someone says, 'Remember when you dropped your ruler this morning?' And you do remember. But then that is lost in the tangle."

Baker has untangled those memories with loving precision in what's likely to become a classic book for adults about childhood. If there's any real "failing" in "The Everlasting Story," it's that fourth grade isn't everlasting after all.

http://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0625/06...

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 were all these things around it- the peel and the leaves and the wax they put on the peel to make it shiny, and whatnot. The shiny peel is a fun part, but the friendship has to go down and down into the very core, and Kira didn't seem to understand what that core should be. Or maybe she just had a different opinion of what it should be than Nory did. Nory believed that the core was not just to stick together and be friendly from time to time, as the case may be, and definitely not always to be in a competition every second, and not just to be tomboyishly friendly, but also to be able to empty your heart out to the person.

Not even one of my favorite passages but just so delightful as it follows her train of thought. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is about Nory, a nine year old who is a bad speller and tries to get along with her parents, friends and brother while standing up for herself and others. That's really it. It doesn't sound like a middle aged man pretending but more like a middle age man who does a great job of creating a book for adults that seems like it could be for kids. Where the book is flawed, and I think this is where others who reviewed this book will agree, is that you just don't really care about Nory or her friends. There's no real interest, and as such it takes forever to read this 200 page book. Nothing is really resolved at the end because there is no progression. It's Nory telling stories, most of which, although clever, are generally uninteresting and not that fun to read. Nicholson Baker tries to put his amazing writing style into a 9 year old and although it works in his prose, it doesn't work in its ability to create a good story. Sure, it's still Nicholson Baker, who I think is one of the greatest user of the English language, and you should still read this book if you have nothing else to read, but to say the truth, not so interesting for an adult.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purchased at a used bookstore in Charlottesville, VA.

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

In truth--veering from 3 to 4 stars and back constantly.

Baker's Nory is a wonderful voice in many ways. She's supposed to be 9: in some ways unbelievably young, and in others unbelievably old. Sometimes this is endearing, but often it's also annoying.

Let's start with her spelling--no 9 year old who is as literate as Nory is spells that consistently and not-making-sense badly--unless maybe she's doing it on purpose as an affectation, since she does seem to take bad spelling to heart as an identity. Either way, it doesn't fit with her character, one who sees surprisingly well through the charades of stories and words that she is fed. Very perceptive insights such as a meditation on the illogical aspects of the story of Achilles seem to come from an older and wiser child, one who would not spell barked as "barcked", or noticed as "notesed" or close as "cloes".

Constant storytelling is certainly one of Nory's charms. She has a story for every situation, and an interior monologue that never quits. But many of the stories themselves seem to belong to a much younger and different person. There is a disconnect in the logic of who she is.

Also: Nory's brother is just about the most precocious two year old you will ever meet.

Nory befriends a girl in her new school, Pamela, who is bullied and friendless, and that is one of the strongest aspects of Baker's book. The tough and clannish social life of children and the failure of adults to protect the vulnerable is portrayed with both sensitivity and a harsh realism.

But then: a totally upbeat ending. It dilutes the strength of what comes before. Definitely a letdown for me.

And--seriously--who ARE these parents? They felt like cartoonish shadows on the edges of Nory's imagination. They don't like their child's teacher so they move from California to England as a solution? And as to where the financial support for the family is coming from--a total mystery.

Still....despite the irritating contradictions I enjoyed Nory and her ramblings. You could definitely do worse.

[Chance Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

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-like appreciation for the entire world. Putting this child-like appreciation into an actual child kind of diminished it a bit for me. It's much more interesting, for me, to see this wide-eyed wonder coming from a guy who helps his girlfriend masturbate with an avocado (like in the Fermata) than in an actually innocent nine-year-old girl.

The ending is beautiful and touching, and I laughed at loud at the story of Babysitter Barbie as the Virgin Mary and the Three Wise Barbies, "one blond, one dark-haired, and one African-American."

[Terri Floccare · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Sam Slaughter · Rating 1 out of 5]

A waste of my time as far as literature goes. I understand what he was trying to do but still found it boring and, as mentioned, a waste of
my time

[M.L. Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading last year’s favorite.

[Lisa]

I like Nicholson Baker a lot. Or, upon reading this, maybe I liked him 15-20 years ago. Picking this book up, I felt that his specific writing style should be well-suited to tales of childhood, but for whatever reason, I didn't warm to it (although, having a son who adores owls, I was fascinated to read about Littleguy who is scared of owls, described very convincingly!). I might pick this up again, but in the midst of a mini reading slump, this isn't the right book for me right now.

[Ben Thurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minor delight from one of America's finest wordsmiths. Told from the perspective of precocious, nine-year-old Eleanor Winslow, an American girl living with her family for a year in England, The Everlasting Story of Nory is full of the earnest reflections, imaginative digressions, inadvertently humorous malapropisms and neologisms, and the boundless wonder and joy you might expect from such a narrator.

Gently-paced and good-humoured, the sweetness of the story is the perfect delivery mechanism for deeper reflections on kindness, friendship, courage and the pleasures and perils of growing up.

[Ethan Ksiazek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Precocious musings of a girl fascinated with the world in front of her. It’s fun to read Baker speak vicariously through, whom I’d presume to be his daughter, as he’s curiously attuned to how dreams and play guide all of our youthful priors into something magic and fun.

Nevertheless, the book is very rambling, and I’m remiss to say that it’s worth reading if you’re in this game to glean a whopping thinker or an oh-shit-grab-the-oh-shit-handles-and-gear-down-page-turner.

Obviously, I’m partial to Baker..

[Janey Skinner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could be a good book for read-aloud with a child, say, ages 5-8. The writing is vivid, and the basic story of a girl in a new school stressing about friends could work for many kids. The strongest through-line is about bullying, and what to do about it when you see someone else being bullied. A friend recommended this because the protagonist, Nory, is an American girl living temporarily in the U.K., at age 8 or 9 - exactly I was, at that age. She's an imaginative girl, and much of the first part of the book consists of stories she tells her dolls or friends - and some musings on what makes a good story that the author probably enjoyed putting in his character's words. It doesn't always have a lot of momentum - I had to keep reminding myself I was reading it.

I was disturbed by one thing in particular, that would make me NOT recommend this book. Nory confuses words and it's an amusing and playful thing, much of the book. For example, she might say "trembulate" instead of "tremor" - or use a similar word in place of the correct one (famous/infamous). Kids could get pleasure from catching her mistakes, or parents could have fun explaining them in a read-aloud. But there is one consistent mistake she makes that really bothers me. Her geography errors are always related to Africa and Asia. She says Bangkok is in Africa (and I think many kids and parents wouldn't necessarily catch that error), and she calls the people living in Ethiopia "African Americans" and so on. This mistakes never get corrected in the text - she never finds out any more about Asia or Africa - and so it winds up feeling like a colonial attitude, a form of institutionalized racism showing up in the thoughts of a young child. For this reason, I won't pass the book along.

[astried · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everlasting? nay... Neverending... I even made the mistake of typing neverending when I was searching for the book in GR. I've read Baker's other book The Anthologist and loved it. In a way I should've known. What I loved about Anthologist is how he meandered around the world just to say one single thing but he did it in such a lovely way; the voice of that poor guy prevaricating in his writing and life is endearing; somehow it just striked a cord within me, because I'm also that kind of person. In this book, the style became a deadly weapon.

Substitute the guy with a small girl and you'll have the point of this book. It simply drove me crazy. All the stories she made up and told her dolls, listening to her pontificating, dear me... Does it mean that I'm not fit to be a mother? I swear I could strangle her mid-story. Which I guess also mean that some other people will find her adorable, cute and mature beyond her age. So by all means try reading, you'd probably like it since you're not me. For those who feel they will probably similar to me, the secret of surviving reading this book is to read it in small portions. Also you're welcome to skip the chapters of her story. Taken in small doses the writing still has its own charm, I especially adored the beginning. I guess the difference will be like being visited by a niece and having that girl lives with you 24hrs a day, 7 days in week.

[Sarah Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that truly felt "everlasting". I started reading this book the second I picked it up...last August. At just over 200 pages it shouldn't have taken me so long to finish. Nicholson Baker's writing is entertaining enough and true to the narrative of a typical elementary school girl. It was full of the same kind of imaginative, quirky thoughts and fears I had as a child. But halfway through I was still waiting for a plot to kick in, and then realized there wasn't supposed to be one. Without a plot the story began to feel like an endless chore after the initial amusement wore off. These childhood musings are the type of thing I enjoy reading periodically in Facebook statuses or blog posts from friends(either repeating the words of their children or reflecting on their own childhood), but are not enough to keep me hooked in to a whole novel.

[Richard B · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 young child. Baker has always (in my opinion) had a knack for doing first person narrative well and this is no exception. This book is not shocking or in anyway erotic like Vox or The Fermata, but is an honest and understated book.

[Pamela W · Rating 3 out of 5]

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) and I wouldn't even eat them for dinner like I did those last two tots. A fun and at times touching little book.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed 9 year old Nory and her imagination, at times I thought this book was just an exercise in cleverness for Nicholson Baker. The observations that Nory makes about friendships and the social world of 9 year olds are beautifully done, and the stories she tells herself for her own pleasure are strange and wonderful. What really bothered me was Baker's representation of the children's speech--childlike malapropisms were charming at first but then began to get old--and the sense that the story was not really going anywhere. Enjoy the moment in this book, because that is all there is.

[Kendall (reads more&) Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

#readingchallenge2019 (my book with my favorite animal on the cover)

I’m fairly certain this novel is actually a transcript from a recording of a 9-year-old girl who found a microphone and rambled her entire life into it over a long period of time. Complete with tangents, the stream of consciousness is rant-like.

Granted the author does an incredible job, as a middle aged man, pretending to be a young child, but where he attempted to be clever, it felt flawed. Such as when he misspells words.

The overall whole of the novel was not a ‘good story’. I felt like an aunt telling my niece ‘uh-hu-cool-oh she did what?!-bleg. Dragging on and on and on

[Kristen's Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is my brain and everyone must read it!

This is a captivating exploration of childhood, perception, and the complexities of language. Set in contemporary Paris, the novel follows Nory, an American girl navigating the intricate world of an international school where she is enrolled for a semester.

At its heart, the novel delves into Nory's inner thoughts and observations as she grapples with her surroundings and the interactions with her classmates and teachers. Baker's prose is characteristically introspective, inviting readers into Nory's mind as she wrestles with questions about identity, friendship, and the nature of storytelling itself.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

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-but-literate read that's good for high-distraction times.

[Isabell · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're in the mood for a short, quirky and well-crafted novel or have young children, definitely read this book. Nicholson narrates the story in the voice of a 9-year-old girl. The story manages to be endearing, sweet and a little sad and disturbing. One warning, however. Baker's writing is very detailed, a la Updike. If you prefer more fast-paced, plot-driven books, I'd avoid Nicholson Baker altogether.

[Kyle Mcclure · Rating 4 out of 5]

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).

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

"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.

[Lee Berger · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.