The Mezzanine

Paperback, 144 pages

Published Jan. 12, 1998 by Granta Books.

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5 stars (2 reviews)

The Mezzanine (1988) is the first novel by American writer Nicholson Baker. It narrates what goes through a man's mind during a modern lunch break.

8 editions

Is this book a blueprint of My Own Brain?

5 stars

I love books that make me feel 💖normal💖

The asymmetry found in the gap between two identical events--shoelaces breaking on either shoe at different days despite being subject to the same wear and tear--grates at the mind and the day is spent churning neurons over life events only tangentially linked, not so much by a clear trail of cause & effect, but by a need to unearth some hidden logic above which the universe twists, an intricate code as dazzling as sunlight on the mezzanine, a need to locate and analyze the bizarre workings of this world and regain some equilibrium, some even footing, in this lopsided realm of disharmonies created by man-made structures and systems (which are increasingly ugly in logic, aesthetic, etc due to capitalism)... this book describes my Everyday Mind without the taint of pretense or shame about being 'weirdly obsessed' with the minute details of mundane …

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rated it

4 stars

Subjects

  • Modern fiction
  • Fiction