2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS

Recently Viewed clear list

Powell's Q&A, Kids' Q&A | February 2, 2012

Emily Winfield Martin: IMG Kids' Q&A: Emily Winfield Martin

2 comments By Emily Winfield Martin

Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a... Continue »
  1. $10.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    Oddfellow's Orphanage

    Emily Winfield Martin 9780375869952
spacer
Free Shipping!

Ships free on qualified orders.
$5.95
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Beaverton Literature- A to Z

Checkpoint

by Nicholson Baker

Checkpoint Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From Nicholson Baker, best-selling author of Vox and the most original writer of his generation, his most audacious novel yet.

Meet Jay.

Meet Ben.

Jay has summoned his old friend Ben to a hotel room not far from the nation's capitol. During the course of an afternoon, they will share a delicious lunch and will crack open a bottle of wine from the hotel minibar. They will chat about everything from Ben's new camera to Iraq to the unfortunate fate of a particular free-range chicken.

And Jay will explain to Ben exactly why and how he is planning to commit a murder that will change the course of history.

Review:

"If one of our supreme chroniclers of mild manners can be roused to such patriotic indignation, democracy yet has a fighting chance." Benjamin Strong, The Village Voice

Review:

"[A] work of provocative and razor-sharp fiction...[Baker] craft[s] a nail-biting duet...that incisively charts the emotional turmoil generated by the horrors and conundrums of war, terrorism, dirty politics, and repression." Booklist

Review:

"Except for its inflammatory theme — Baker's novels have always been desperate to be noticed, and here he breaks new ground in his sensationalism — Checkpoint could be dismissed as another of Baker's creepy hermeneutical toys." Leon Wieseltier, The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"[A] droll piece of work...at times even hilarious....An absolute treasure for anti-Bushists, the purest sin-and-snake-venom deceit and villainy to pro-Bushists. Let the reader-voter call it." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Checkpoint is the fictional equivalent of...Fahrenheit 9/11 and is sure to generate the same barrage of commentaries, pro and con....Unsettling and redemptive by turns...a timely and provocative book, and one well worth reading and debating." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Review:

"[R]ousing and at times repugnant....For a while the talk is exhilarating, if the reader shares the characters' beliefs..." Laurie Stone, Newsday

Review:

"Checkpoint makes Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 look like a work of Jamesian subtlety and nuance. There isn't a graceful or interesting sentence in this blunt, plotless, obscenity-laden screed. (Grade: F)" Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"Appreciation of this novel depends entirely on one's political attitudes toward the war in Iraq and the presidency of George W. Bush....It is less a novel and more of a passionate cry from the heart about American foreign policy that Baker clearly opposes." USA Today
back to top

About the Author

Nicholson Baker was born in 1957 and attended the Eastman School of Music and Haverford College. He has published six previous novels and three works of nonfiction, including Double Fold, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2001.
back to top
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9781400079858
Author:
Baker, Nicholson
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2005
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Vintage Contemporaries
Publication Date:
20050431
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
115
Dimensions:
8.08x5.24x.35 in. .31 lbs.
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. $11.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    The Fermata

    Nicholson Baker 9780307807496
  2. $4.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    The Second Plane: September 11: Terror and Boredom

    Martin Amis 9781400044542
  3. $9.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Oblivion: Stories

    David Foster Wallace 9780759511569
  4. $5.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    The Future Dictionary of America

    Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss and the staff of McSweeney's 9781932416206
  5. $5.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Labor Days: An Anthology of Fiction about Work

    David Gates 9780812971613
  6. $2.50 Used Mass Market add to wish list

    The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials, Book 2 (His Dark Materials #02)

    Philip Pullman 9780440238140
back to top

Related Aisles

Checkpoint Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$5.95 In Stock
Product details 115 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9781400079858 Reviews:
"Review" by , "If one of our supreme chroniclers of mild manners can be roused to such patriotic indignation, democracy yet has a fighting chance."
"Review" by , "[A] work of provocative and razor-sharp fiction...[Baker] craft[s] a nail-biting duet...that incisively charts the emotional turmoil generated by the horrors and conundrums of war, terrorism, dirty politics, and repression."
"Review" by , "Except for its inflammatory theme — Baker's novels have always been desperate to be noticed, and here he breaks new ground in his sensationalism — Checkpoint could be dismissed as another of Baker's creepy hermeneutical toys."
"Review" by , "[A] droll piece of work...at times even hilarious....An absolute treasure for anti-Bushists, the purest sin-and-snake-venom deceit and villainy to pro-Bushists. Let the reader-voter call it."
"Review" by , "Checkpoint is the fictional equivalent of...Fahrenheit 9/11 and is sure to generate the same barrage of commentaries, pro and con....Unsettling and redemptive by turns...a timely and provocative book, and one well worth reading and debating."
"Review" by , "[R]ousing and at times repugnant....For a while the talk is exhilarating, if the reader shares the characters' beliefs..."
"Review" by , "Checkpoint makes Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 look like a work of Jamesian subtlety and nuance. There isn't a graceful or interesting sentence in this blunt, plotless, obscenity-laden screed. (Grade: F)"
"Review" by , "Appreciation of this novel depends entirely on one's political attitudes toward the war in Iraq and the presidency of George W. Bush....It is less a novel and more of a passionate cry from the heart about American foreign policy that Baker clearly opposes."
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...


Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.