AUDIO

Traveling Sprinkler

by Nicholson Baker
6 CDs. retail ed. unabridged. 7 hrs. Dreamscape Media. 2013. ISBN 9781629230917. $59.99; Playaway digital; digital download. F
COPY ISBN
Paul Chowder is a middle-aged poet who's looking for a new medium, and his background in music makes songwriting seem like a viable option. Chowder wants to write a protest song but keeps circling back to love songs, perhaps because he is still in love with his ex-girlfriend. He struggles with life's daily distractions while searching for his future, and his constancy pays off at last. Baker's sequel to The Anthologist is presented as a stream of consciousness monolog. Random thoughts and associations intermingle as the story slowly unfolds, allowing Baker to interject a wealth of information about music, composers, poets, and traveling sprinklers. The author narrates the story beautifully.
VERDICT Recommended. ["Baker, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner, is always daring, and what results here is a witty and enticingly coherent blend of the everyday and the profound," read the starred review of the Blue Rider hc, LJ 9/15/13.]
Reviewed by Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence , Feb 15, 2014
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