Vox [Paperback]

Nicholson Baker (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 26, 1993

Baker has written a novel that remaps the territory of sex--solitary and telephonic, lyrical and profane, comfortable and dangerous. Written in the form of a phone conversation between two strangers, Vox is an erotic classic that places the author in the first rank of America's major writers. Reading tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Baker's self-indulgent novel, a 14-week PW bestseller in cloth, transcribes a long telephone conversation between two people who meet over a phone-sex call-in line. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Jim and Abby meet over the phone when they both dial one of those 976 party lines that are advertised in adult magazines. After some exploratory small talk, they retire to the electronic "back room" for a more intimate chat. Their long conversation makes up the entire book. If the premise sounds a bit thin, remember that Nicholson Baker's brilliant first novel The Mezzanine ( LJ 11/1/88) was about an office worker's lunch-hour expedition to buy new shoelaces. Like all great artists, Baker has the ability to make familiar objects and everyday events seem new and strange. Centerfolds, lingerie catalogs, and X-rated videos will never look the same. Indeed, Vox transforms the genre itself: this is eroticism for the safe-sex Nineties. Not only is there no physical contact, the participants never leave the privacy of their own homes. Recommended, with the caveat that some readers may find the subject matter offensive. Baker's Room Temperature ( LJ 3/15/90) was one of LJ 's "Best Books of 1990" ( LJ 1/91).--Ed.
- Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reissue edition (January 26, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679742115
• ISBN-13: 978-0679742111
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've written thirteen books, plus an art book that I published with my wife, Margaret Brentano. The most recent one is a comic sex novel called House of Holes, which came out in August 2011. Before that, in 2009, there was The Anthologist, about a poet trying to write an introduction to an anthology of rhyming verse, and before that was Human Smoke, a book of nonfiction about the beginning of World War II. My first novel, The Mezzanine, about a man riding an escalator at the end of his lunch hour, came out in 1988. I'm a pacifist. Occasionally I write for magazines. I grew up in Rochester, New York and went to Haverford College, where I majored in English. I live in Maine with my family.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Vox May 4, 2004

By Damian Kelleher

Format:Paperback

Vox is the novella length discussion between Abby and Jim, two relatively lonely people inspired, late one night, to call a sex phone line to make a connection with someone, anyone. They find each other, and as the novel progresses, through a series of neatly spaced erotic stories, they begin to develop a friendship, marvelling at the strange wonders of technology, the phone, and how it could bring two people together who would never otherwise meet.

The entire story is in dialogue, with only a very few 'he said' and 'she said's to allow us to remember just who is speaking - which due to the quality of the writing and characterisation is rarely necessary. At first, Jim is mostly interested in one thing, but early on he realises that he has found someone who is perhaps worth more of a time investment than a 'normal' call to this particular chatline, and for a very long time, there is only very minor sex talk. They discuss the little oddities of life that everyone discusses in quiet moments, sharing thoughts about mundane items or events in ways that would no doubt sound instantly familiar to anyone, anywhere. A huge positive of this novella is that Baker writes both characters with a sense of awareness, just like any other normal person. There are a lot of things that the two characters just plain get, and a lot that they don't. They can talk about the casual immediacy of events, or the metaphysics of those little lights on stereo sets.

A few questions. Have you ever, when talking to someone, wanted to travel through the phone? Yes. Have you ever spoken to someone, and you know that if, through any circumstance whatsoever, there is a break in the conversation, the magic will be gone and that will be that? Yes.... Have you ever taken a sick day off from work and then felt so guilty about it that you just had to spend the rest of the day being 'pious'? Yes. Abby and Jim discuss these little truths about the world, and more, though to be honest, most of the rest tend to the explicit. Those conversations are, I think, handled tastefully, without resorting to vulgarity, which is surprising, considering the nature of the call and of the story. To be sure, quite often explicit conversation will begin, but it is of a 'warm' nature, I suppose, not vulgar and shocking and crude - they even make a point about that fact in adult movies.

Nicholson Baker writes with the heart. I've had conversations like this. You've had conversations like this. Whether or not they tended to the erotic doesn't matter, the point is: we've all spoken to another person that we've been interested in, and they've returned the interest, and we know the way we talk and what we talk about. This novel perfectly captures this, and by the end of it, I felt utterly sad that these two, imperfect, beautiful, interesting and sexual characters were just that...characters. Never have I felt so cheated before, or so thankful that I had been, if only for a moment, able to glimpse into the minds of these two extraordinarily ordinary people, through one simple phone conversation. Read more ›

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Kinky, kinky fun, until the laundry's done. September 19, 1996

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This is the perfect little nibble-sized book to read while waiting for your laundry to finish. It's delightfully naughty without being raunchy, so you don't feel the big, sexless hand of mom slapping you upside the back of your head.
The whole thing is dialogue between a man and a woman talking on a phone sex line, swapping fantasies about sex and more. Nicholson Baker is the master of pointing out all the goofy things we do and think about, but never want to admit to anyone. He taps right into the kinky part of your brain and, if you'll let him, he'll take you on an amusing ride of taboo human behavior.
Pick up all those dirty clothes off your floor, turn the spin cycle on and read away. By the time the dryer buzzes, you'll be buzzing too. What you do after that is your own little story...

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Intellectual Sex on an 800 Number? August 7, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

For a book that begins with the perennial favorite "What are you Wearing?", Vox quickly devours the prototype of phone sex caller as disrespectful loser, instead presenting characters with mature, if slightly bland, personalities. Is this a good thing? Well..yes and no. While it is refreshing to read a sexual novel without a torn bodice on the cover, I found much of the dialogue to be just as contrived and unbelievable as any number of generic 'swashbuckling pirate saves the girl' page turners. Add to this disability the suspension of belief required to believe that these individuals would pay 3.99 per minute for three hours only to reveal Jim's preoccupation with Tinkerbell's wide hips and Abby's unchecked love of creamed chipped beef and you have the reason for this three star review.

Still, I admit to being intrigued by the concept of revealing sexuality to a stranger over the phone and must praise Baker for having the audacity to attempt such an undertaking. Unfortunately, the tiring details of this book render it unsexy as the characters take themselves ,(and their fantasies), far too seriously. The book reads like an indie art house hit- one that has been subjected to a lot of hype. And I feel the same muddy daze as when I leave an art house after wading through two hours of heightened plastic emotion. While I'm glad I read the book, (or saw the film),...I still feel a bit cheated that style won out over substance.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The technology is dated, but the story is still arousing June 13, 2004

By F. Orion Pozo

Format:Paperback

Back in 1993, before Internet erotic chatrooms, Jim and Abby meet through an erotic phone chat service and begin a conversation that becomes the text of this novel. Devoting a whole novel to one erotic phone call allows the author to develop his characters better than your average pay-by-the-minute erotic service would normally allow. Cost becomes no object to these two people a continent apart as they explore their fantasies with each other. While the conversation doesn't maintain a high level of stimulation throughout, there are exciting moments. Overall, a good light work with exciting episodes and a climactic ending.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great March 1, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I found Vox to be a very well written book that is more about the vulnerabilities and emptiness of the characters than about sex. I think some of the criticisms in the reviews are off-base in that this book is not meant to be titilating. I found Vox to be about two people reaching out for something missing in their lives. I do agree, however, that the author could have done more to get that point across and to give the reader a real point to the story. Also, I'd like to thank the reader who suggested FRIED CALAMARI (I really enjoyed it).