Nostalgia? | Exploring Shared Experience in Nicholson Baker's _The Mezzanine_
"Haven't I been here before?" - Although it's far from beating Mumbo Jumbo on the wackiness scale, Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine is definitely still one of the oddest novels I've come across. After closing the book (or rather, my laptop), as it often tends to be the case when finishing a particularly unconventional piece of literature, I was left mulling over what I had just read. What exactly was I supposed to have gained from this experience? Most well-written stories will make you feel something after you've finished reading them. It could be relief and fulfillment after an intense adventure. Maybe it's something more solemn, like at the end of a series of books where you finally part ways with the characters you've come to know. Or maybe the book will leave you hanging, with more questions than when you started. To me, this so-called "aftertaste" can be one of the most interesting aspects of a novel, although for some books, it c
