Synopsis
Two men - Jay and Ben - sit in a Washington hotel room. Jay has called his old friend Ben there - to tell him why and how he wants to kill the President. Jay is a bit of a loser (he's lost his girlfriend, his job, his car), generally easy-going, but now he's on edge and he's angry - and he's acquired some radio-controlled flying saws, and is working on a boulder with a depleted uranium centre- but he also has a gun and bullets. Ben is the voice of liberal reason, with a job and a family. Jay switches on a tape machine, and the two men argue. Well, Ben tries feebly to reason or cajole, while Jay rants and rages about everything from the horror of what happened at that southern Iraq checkpoint where US forces opened fire on a Shiite family in a Land Rover, killing most of them, and decapitating two young girls; to the iniquities of the present administration, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al., and abortion (if they're against abortion, how come they can kill women and children?), not to mention the napalm-like substance ('improved fire jelly') used in bombs in Iraq. Their dialogue veers from chilling and serious to wacky and crazed (Bush, says Jay, is 'one dead armadillo'). Checkpoint is a novel about a man pushed to the extremes, by a writer who is clearly angry. Like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, it takes the temperature of America just below the surface and finds it at boiling point.
Review
A quick, stripped cry of a book. . . . As timely as fiction gets. Lorrie Moore, "New York Review of Books" Provocative . . . incendiary . . . a great work. Rick Moody, " The Believer" A meditation on action . . . [Baker] analyses the details of daily life with a surgeon s precision. "The Economist" If one of our supreme chroniclers of mild manners can be roused to such patriotic indignation, democracy yet has a fighting chance. " Voice Literary Supplement" A ripped-from-the-headlines docudrama for the printed page, a timely and tense screed for a divided country hurtling toward who knows where. "Associated Press" Checkpoint is about limits of presidential power, of law, of discourse, of rationality, and of language itself. "Boston Phoenix" Compelling . . . a passionate cry from the heart. "USA Today" What makes Baker original is his minute obsessiveness and his willingness to entertain inappropriate subjects. . . "Checkpoint "takes Baker s obsessiveness and inappropriateness into the public realm. " Newsweek" An astonishing, uncomfortable conversation. Baker has a real ear for the cadence and wryness of the modern intelligentsia. "Portland Oregonian" Baker's new novel checks its inhibitions at the door . . . entertaining, edgy and unpredictable." "Las Vegas City Life" Sly, slender but important . . . Baker excels at writing about those facets of the human experience we prefer to hide. "San Francisco Chronicle" This novel could be a kind of record of our times. . . . Its goal is to take [the] internal combustion process of hatred and anger and make it visible which Baker does brilliantly. "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" On the whole, Baker improves upon Samuel Beckett's [Godot]. Baker's jokes will make people, rather than theatre majors, laugh. "Los Angeles Times" "Checkpoint" is like a hornet: It s small, quiet, with a sinister aspect to its midday peregrinations, and it has a stinger: conscience. "Toronto Globe and Mail" I confess to finding Nicholson Baker s prose so witty and hypnotic that I never want it to stop. "Washington Post" Baker writes like no one else in America. "Newsweek" Baker [is] one of our most gifted and original writers. "Seattle Times" Enthusiast, obsessive, visionary, engineer of the everyday there s nobody quite like Baker in the literary universe. "Newsday" [Baker s] prose is so luminescent and so precise it manually recalibrates our brains. "Time""
"A quick, stripped cry of a book. . . . As timely as fiction gets." -Lorrie Moore, New York Review of Books"Provocative . . . incendiary . . . a great work." -Rick Moody, The Believer "A meditation on action . . . [Baker] analyses the details of daily life with a surgeon's precision." -The Economist"If one of our supreme chroniclers of mild manners can be roused to such patriotic indignation, democracy yet has a fighting chance." -Voice Literary Supplement "A ripped-from-the-headlines docudrama for the printed page, a timely and tense screed for a divided country hurtling toward who knows where." -Associated Press"Checkpoint is about limits-of presidential power, of law, of discourse, of rationality, and of language itself." -Boston Phoenix"Compelling . . . a passionate cry from the heart." -USA Today"What makes Baker original is his minute obsessiveness and his willingness to entertain inappropriate subjects. . . Checkpoint takes Baker's obsessiveness and inappropriateness into the public realm." -Newsweek "An astonishing, uncomfortable conversation. Baker has a real ear for the cadence and wryness of the modern intelligentsia." -Portland Oregonian"Baker's new novel checks its inhibitions at the door . . . entertaining, edgy and unpredictable." -Las Vegas City Life"Sly, slender but important . . . Baker excels at writing about those facets of the human experience we prefer to hide." -San Francisco Chronicle"This novel could be a kind of record of our times. . . . Its goal is to take [the] internal combustion process of hatred and anger and make it visible-which Baker does brilliantly." -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"On the whole, Baker improves upon Samuel Beckett's [Godot]. Baker's jokes will make people, rather than theatre majors, laugh." -Los Angeles Times"Checkpoint is like a hornet: It's small, quiet, with a sinister aspect to its midday peregrinations, and it has a stinger: conscience." -Toronto Globe and Mail"I confess to finding Nicholson Baker's prose so witty and hypnotic that I never want it to stop." -Washington Post"Baker writes like no one else in America." -Newsweek"Baker [is] one of our most gifted and original writers." -Seattle Times"Enthusiast, obsessive, visionary, engineer of the everyday-there's nobody quite like Baker in the literary universe." -Newsday"[Baker's] prose is so luminescent and so precise it manually recalibrates our brains." -Time
-A quick, stripped cry of a book. . . . As timely as fiction gets.- -Lorrie Moore, New York Review of Books-Provocative . . . incendiary . . . a great work.- -Rick Moody, The Believer -A meditation on action . . . [Baker] analyses the details of daily life with a surgeon's precision.- -The Economist-If one of our supreme chroniclers of mild manners can be roused to such patriotic indignation, democracy yet has a fighting chance.- -Voice Literary Supplement -A ripped-from-the-headlines docudrama for the printed page, a timely and tense screed for a divided country hurtling toward who knows where.- -Associated Press-Checkpoint is about limits-of presidential power, of law, of discourse, of rationality, and of language itself.- -Boston Phoenix-Compelling . . . a passionate cry from the heart.- -USA Today-What makes Baker original is his minute obsessiveness and his willingness to entertain inappropriate subjects. . . Checkpoint takes Baker's obsessiveness and inappropriateness into the public realm.- -Newsweek -An astonishing, uncomfortable conversation. Baker has a real ear for the cadence and wryness of the modern intelligentsia.- -Portland Oregonian-Baker's new novel checks its inhibitions at the door . . . entertaining, edgy and unpredictable.- -Las Vegas City Life-Sly, slender but important . . . Baker excels at writing about those facets of the human experience we prefer to hide.- -San Francisco Chronicle-This novel could be a kind of record of our times. . . . Its goal is to take [the] internal combustion process of hatred and anger and make it visible-which Baker does brilliantly.- -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-On the whole, Baker improves upon Samuel Beckett's [Godot]. Baker's jokes will make people, rather than theatre majors, laugh.- -Los Angeles Times-Checkpoint is like a hornet: It's small, quiet, with a sinister aspect to its midday peregrinations, and it has a stinger: conscience.- -Toronto Globe and Mail-I confess to finding Nicholson Baker's prose so witty and hypnotic that I never want it to stop.- -Washington Post-Baker writes like no one else in America.- -Newsweek-Baker [is] one of our most gifted and original writers.- -Seattle Times-Enthusiast, obsessive, visionary, engineer of the everyday-there's nobody quite like Baker in the literary universe.- -Newsday-[Baker's] prose is so luminescent and so precise it manually recalibrates our brains.- -Time
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