The+Everlasting+Story+of+Nory

=//The Everlasting Story of Nory// comments=



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My thoughts on the book, "The Everlasting Story of Nory", is that 9 year old Nory doesn't fit in with most people because she is from Boston and moved to Britain. Nory Winslow is very caring toward others no matter how they treat her when most people would be mean to people that hate them. Nory has a friend named Debbie that lives in Boston. Nory is disapointed that she can't see her so they have to write letters to each other. Nory becomes very disapointed when Debbie doesn't write back. Later in the book Nory meets a girl named Pamela. Pamela is a girl who demands attention from everyone because she is popular. In the hallway, a few kids come to pick on Pamela. Nory is the first to defend her. When the bullies run off, Nory talks to Pamela and before you know it, Nory made her first friend in Britain.

Overall, the book was very confusing. What I mean by that is that every chapter was about a different story. It was very hard to remember every part of the book when every chapter is some different story. A few good things about the book was that it was very interesting. Every story she told had an interesting ending, or a life lesson.

When I first sat down to decide what book to read I chose "The Everlasting Story of Nory" because it seemed like an imaginative book that would entertain me with stories of childhood antics. While this book was indeed childish, it failed to captivate me the way most books of this subject matter do. Nory's stories were jumbled and somewhat hard to follow. I know this is probably Baker's way of recreating the mind of a nine year old, but I feel it could have been accomplished in a more organized, readable fashion. Also, as I got farther and farther into the book the point of view seemed to switch from an enthusiastic, creative nine year old Nory, into an adult failing to capture the true essence of a child. The presentation of Nory herself even felt somewhat stilted and stereotypical. This child is bubbly and genuine; in a word- cute, exactly what most people think of when they think of children. Nory seems to have no faults in her character which makes for a somewhat one dimensional and non-versatile character. This books saving grace is its outlandish stories which could have been plucked right from the mind of a child. Overall, this book didn't really do much for me, and I wouldn't recommend for someone to read it. -Rebecca McNeill

My first impression of the book was that it would, like most novels, represent a chronological story with an apparent theme, however, as I progress through the novel I feel that it doesn't truly deserve or represent the classification "novel". To me it felt more like i had gone and found some small child's diary, it was almost a book that was developed out of short stories that were seemingly unimportant. I was quite disappointed in the way it felt to me, the fact will always remain that "you're a grown up and you dont know what being a kid is like", although all parents have heard and dispute this I feel this book solidifies it. The child felt far to unintelligent for a 9 year old by modern standards. All in all I found the book highly saddening in respect to its attempt to channel Miss Baker's inner child. -Andrew Wyatt

I chose to read "The Everlasting Story of Nory" because I expected it to be a creative novel representing the innocent, young mind of Nory Winslow and thought it would be a cute, yet unique story. While it definitely was a unique book, it was way different from anything I imagined. It followed the story of Nory, a 9 year old American girl who moved to England. This major change in her life caused her to face many difficulties including leaving best friends behind, making new friends, trying to help save Pamela from constantly being harassed and humiliated, and adjusting to the new way of life in England all while trying to grow up. The novel expressed the view of a child and portrayed it in an entirely new way. While children are often thought of as lacking knowledge and being naive, Nory's innocence was represented in a positive manner. Of course, silly fears such as owls and teeth existed, but the book also proved that children often innocently view complex problems with simplicity that adults overlook or ignore. For example, in the Death Watch Beetles story, Nory looked at the situation and calmly analyzed a possible solution to both save the building as well as the beetles. Nory assumed that if humans were able to explain the problem and their opinion of the issue to the beetles, then the beetles would kindly agree to stop chewing the wood and therefore wouldn't have to suffer death. As the saying goes, sometimes ignorance really can be bliss. Nory, in the beginning, was still at that age where there seemed as if no evil existed in the world, and everyone was always willing to help those in need. Throughout the story, Nory was characterized as an intelligent and caring girl who had a wild imagination and loved to write creative stories. At the conclusion of her stories, she always included a moral or important lifetime value. Nicholson Baker’s coming-of-age story especially showed Nory being exposed to many first time experiences. She left the country, went to a new school, left her best friends behind, and met a girl named Pamela. Pamela was a friendly and quiet girl who constantly got teased and was forced to deal with other classmates being obnoxious and rude to her for absolutely no reason. Nory was shocked that people would do terrible things to Pamela since she was such a kind and gentle girl who never bothered anyone. Nory sacrificed being popular and risked her other friendships in order to try and end Pamela's torture and humiliation. She always stood up for her and remained loyal to her until, after an everlasting struggle, the teasing began to slowly subside. Of course, things take time and many students continued to harass Pamela, but it is quite likely that over time it would eventually end all due to the kindness Nory provided from the start. The book was broken up into many little stories involving Nory which sometimes added confusion as to which stories she wrote and what was going on. Overall, "The Everlasting Story of Nory" was not my favorite book but definitely did provide an interesting perspective. -Rachel Kupferman

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The Everlasting Story of Nory was an intriguing book involving friendship, school, bullies, and aging. I chose to read this book because it looked good and I thought that it would be a lighthearted summer read. It was told in the third person, but it was as if the author was in the mind of the 9 year old protagonist, Eleanor Winslow, also known as Nory. The complexity of the diction and the language show Nory’s maturity for her age. Nory and her family moved from America to Threll, England. This is a big adjustment for Nory because she has to leave her best friend Debby behind in the United States. At her new school making friends is hard for Nory, and she never really has one best friend. In this stage of her life, she is dealing with the school bullies. There is a girl in her class named Pamela who is bullied and hated by everyone in the school. They even go as far to push her into a box and not let her out. They call her names and constantly torment her. Nory feels bad for Pamela and takes her under her wing by becoming friends with her. Nory is always standing up for Pamela, and even tells the teachers about the bullies that harass Pamela. Nory’s other friend at her new school, Kira, discourages her friendship with Pamela. She is constantly reminding Nory that Pamela will drag her down to “unpopularity.” Kira will not be seen with Pamela. The fact that Nory continues to be friends and stands up for Pamela shows incredible maturity for a nine year old girl. Nicholson Baker does a very good job throughout the book embodying the character of Nory. It is as if he is in the mind of a nine year old girl, or reading her diary. Nory’s maturity throughout the book is astonishing, but every once in a while her true age shines through. For example, she doesn’t use her little brother’s real name. Throughout the entire book, her little brother is referred to as Littleguy. Also it is shown when she tells stories to herself for amusement. There are many different symbols in this book as well, such as at the end of the book, Nory loses her first tooth, and that symbolizes her starting to grow up and mature more. Nory is very mature for her age though already, she thinks very complex thoughts and feels very complex emotions. I enjoyed this book but I thought that it was a little bit confusing and at times hard to understand. It was not my favorite book, and I do not think that I would recommend this book to anyone, but I did not hate it. I thought it was O.K. overall. Nicholson Baker does a fantastic job throughout the book using symbolism, diction, and many other literary elements to tie the whole story together.=====

-Nina Maddux
The Everlasting Story of Nory discussed many different topics of life that most 9 year old girls endure. Nory Winslow- who had recently moved from her home in America to her new home in Threll, England- had one of the worst impacts with these experiences. Nory was bullied at school by her fellow classmates for playing with an unpopular girl named Pamela. Nory became close to another classmate named Kira- who despised Pamela for her lack of friends. Nory has tough decisions to make, such as whether or not to sacrifice her other friends to be with Pamela. Aside from her life and tough decisions at school, Nory was a very creative girl. She would love to make up stories and use her imagination to make her dolls come alive. Nory would create stories and tell them to her little brother. She would create stories about midgets who collected fans, girls trying to escape the acid rain in the desert, and even girls and their brothers being burned in a fire. Nory would often create stories in her head to make reality seem more pleasant. Nory had heard of the church being infested with Death Beetles and that they were being sprayed with poison to be killed. That upset Nory deeply. Nory created a story of where the Death Beetles became sick and need help. They went to a girl named Mariana who made the Death Beetles a potion consisting of flower petals to heal the bugs. When I first started __The Everlasting Story of Nory__ it was very intresting and intruging. As the book went on, it became more and more confusing. The chapters would switch from Nory's life of being bullied to a random story in which she made up. Nory created interesting stories, but the book itself was very confusing and random. Nicholson Baker is a very skilled author and I enjoyed his morals in the story- yet I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. The book wasn't terrible- yet it wasn't very good at the same time. -Erin Davis

The Everlasting Story of Nory was interesting and not like many other books. The narrator was a 9 year old girl and many of the issues in the novel were related with her age. Nory has recently moved to England and is trying to settle in -- she faces challenges with making friends, school bullying, and growing up. The story is rather childish, but what can you expect? It's from the point of view of a child. The book was okay, however the author's word choice at times didn't fit into the book. More often than not, challenging words were used that are typically not understood by a child of her age. Therefore, it was hard for me to think of her as a kid. Other than that, Nory is a spunky little girl who stands up for what she thinks is right. The author, Nicholson Baker, did a great job with her characterization. Surprisingly, some of the stories she would tell were violent. She would talk about her brother's burning body or acid/burning rain that would burn your skin in the middle of the desert. Also, towards the end of the book, it became harder and harder to differentiate between Nory's fictional stories and what was happening to her in real life. The ending of the story was random and didn't do much for me. It just left me confused. Overall, the book was alright -- at some points it was great, at others it was not. However, it wouldn't be on the top of my list to recommend to anyone. -Hannah Geils

The Everlasting Story of Nory is told from the perspective of a nine-year-old girl, making for a different format from a normal book. The short chapters and often random topics discussed show the lack of attention span, among other characteristics, of young children. She has an incredible imagination, even for a 9-year-old, and uses imaginary characters to express her problems and issues with her world. Nory tried to think of an ideal world, both with her imaginary characters and in the physical world. She tried to solve problems with "Mariana," some similar to those she and her friends, including the bullied Pamela, suffered through. In one real world instance, she made her family create fables with morals, and had to add moral's to the ones created by her little brother. Additionally, Nory cared about Pamela, who became her friend merely because out of effectively all the girls at the school, only Nory didn't bully Pamela. Nory find it fairly easy fitting in after moving to Threll from California, but she has some outsiders' naivet é, not knowing what is considered "normal" in England - and by extension not understanding why Pamela is bullied. Her younger and more inexperienced perspective on life allows for a unique interpretation of the world. The highlight of this book is its fresh and innocent perspective on the world; many of the plot elements don't flow well, and thus the book has limited plot structure. Characters are well developed, considering the book is written in a limited third-person perspective form. A somewhat entertaining read but not the most enthralling story I've read. -David Rieder

The Everlasting Story of Nory makes our ordinary lives turn its attention toward a 9-year-old American girl who has an entirely different, but extraordinary imagination. Nory Winslow wants to be a dentist or a designer of pop-up books. She likes telling stories and inventing dolls. She has nightmares about teeth, which makes me question why she would want to become a dentist. But it could be the reason why she chose that for her career. She is going to school in England, where she is mocked for her accent and her friendship with an unpopular girl, Pamela, and she has made it through the year without crying. Tou2gh girl she is. This book is told from Nory's perspective but not by her herself. Which would make it third person limited. It was extremely off topic and needed more concentration, which made it sort of confusing. Otherwise Nicholson Baker made these made up stories interesting, hysterical, and thoughtful all at the same time. Baker follows Nory as she interacts with her parents and peers, thinks about God and death-watch beetles, and dreams of cows with pointed teeth. In this precocious child he gives us an idol as shrewd and whimsical. The Everlasting Story of Nory is definitely a book I would love to read again. --Mikhala Cooper

The Everlasting Story of Nory was an interesting book that takes you into the daily life, stories, memories, and dreams of a nine year old girl with an imagination like no other. Eleanor (Nory) WInslow, an American girl, attending school in England, loved to tell stories with her dolls and would read at night when she got scared or had a bad dream. She loved fables and always liked to find the good in things and tell stories where you could learn a lesson from them. She loved beautiful chinese fans and was very passionate about becoming a dentist. The book was almost like a journal that she wrote in when a thought or memory came to mind. She cared alot about others feelings such as her friend, Pamela. She was the bigger person of her class and treated Pamela how she wanted to be treated. For instance her motto was do unto others as you want others to do to you. She wasnt your average nine year old. She took a great interest in teeth. She wanted to start a fake food museum with various fake Japanese foods. She also like to earn things on her own and would do nice deeds to make money, such as making her parents a decorated poster of nice mottos and sayings. Although no matter how perfect and unique Nry seemed throughout the book, her flaws and insecurities were potrayed throughout her stories. She loved to laugh and smile and would continuously laugh in class here teacher saying her laughter and talkative nature was one of her FATAL FLAWS. She also no matter how quiet and innocent she looked knew how to get sassy, and would think of comebacks and smart remarks she could say to kids who bullied Pamela. The book throughout shows how a girls childhood can be a whirlwind of adventures full of insecurities, happy times, and life learning lessons. It is a book that will take you back down memory lane, make you smile and laugh, and reflect on your past. The Everlasting Story of Nory is an intersting book that makes you think and reminisce on the years that you cherished most...your childhood. -Tahirih Nesmith

__The Everlasting Story of Nory__ was a very enjoyable book that kept me reading. It told told the stories of Nory's life in a fun was that wanted me to find out what happens next. I loved how it told things in a way how Nory would say things. Nory is a nine year old little girl who is originally an American, but lives in England. She has a wild imagination shows that by making stories up and sharing them with her dolls. She wants to be a dentist when she grows up, or an author/ illustrator of children's pop up books. Those are not average jobs that not many nine year olds would think of. It takes a crazy imagination to think of those. Even though she wants to be a dentist, she is terrified of teeth. Nory also has a little brother who they call Little Man. Little man is afraid of owls and LOVES toy trucks and toy trains and things of that sort. Nory is sometimes teased at school because she is an American and has an accent and some of the school kids think she is stupid. Also, they tease her for being friends with this girl named Pamela. Not many people like Pamela, in fact Nory is her only friend. Nory doesn't like how the kids tease Pamela and throw her things on the ground and make fun of her for no reason except for that she is unpopular and other kids tease her. Nory stands up to Pamela's bullies and tells them to stop bullying her. Even one of Nory's good friends, Kira, tells Nory that she wont be Nory's friend if Nory continues to hang out with Pamela. This makes Nory realize what a true friend is and that Kira is not really one of them, especially if she is telling Nory who she can and cant hang out with. Nory goes through many mini journeys and makes many mini stories, including ones like Mariana and the Death Watch Beetles. She is a very intelligent and inquisitive little girl who knows many things and always wants to learn more about everything. In the end, __The Everlasting Story of Nory__ was a very entertaining book that i would read again! -Elizabeth Hill

The Everlasting Story of Nory at first seemed to be a lighthearted story of an "exchange student" from America who had moved with her family to England. When I first started to read the book I enjoyed the fact that it was almost like reading a diary of Nory's life. Nory talks about her new life in England with her friends and the friends she tries to somewhat keep in touch with in America. Pamela is a good example of the love that Nory exudes to people she knows. Pamela is the victim of her grade and is immersed in the mean and hateful people in the world that she lives in. Nory shows that she has a dual personality which can be exemplified in the fact that Nory is friends with Pamela and also with Kira. Kira is a part of the group that bullies Pamela everyday of her school life. This shows a great deal of maturity in Nory. Another character that stood out to me was littleguy. First off, the name littleguy made me feel that he did not get the “respect” that he might have deserved. He seems to be only thought to be a boy who is only interested in trucks, but I think that he was almost a dark horse in the way that he might just come around and be more than what he is seen to be. A fact that interested me about the story was that Nory mentioned her old life in America very rarely, and that the little she did talk about it didn’t give me a full understanding of what she thought and felt about leaving there. The stories that Nory told were in depth and almost too in detail to be just seen as a “little girls imagination”. Some of them described situations as acid rain and saving a child. This seems to me that there is more than just a story but maybe that it was symbolizing something more than what is written on paper. Overall I enjoyed the story, but I have to say that Nory’s ability to over exaggerate and over describe situations was a bit frustrating at times. -Isabella Slotin The Everlasting Story of Nory was a very interesting book. Nory portrayed herself as a very bright 9 year old with quite an imagination. The stories she tells her dolls prove how creative she is. Nory wants to be a dentist or someone who designs children's pop up books. It is ironic that being a dentist is one of the careers she has thought about doing because she is absolutely terrified of teeth, as seen in her stories with cows that have pointed sharp teeth. Nory also is a very courageous little girl who is not afraid to be Pamela's friend when everyone else pressures her to treat her as they do. She is an influential person who changes the attitudes of her class mates towards Pamela the end of the book.She also loves her family very much, and talks much about her little brother. Nory represents the definition of a true friend, unlike her "good" friend Kira who does not approve of Nory's and Pamela's friendship. Nory is unselfish, caring, and does her best to succeed in everything from helping someone out to grades in school. Nory is introduced throughout the book with adult decisions, such as whether or not to tell the teacher how Pamela is being bullied. The Everlasting Story of Nory is a coming of age novel. The parents are not present at school. Nory leaves the safe community at being home with her parents where she can be helped with decisions but is instead in the completely different and emotionally unsafe world of school. She gains wisdom and knowledge through learning how to be a good friend and by teaching others indirectly. She returns with a higher rank as everyone begins to treat her and Pamela differently in a good way. Overall the Everlasting Story of Nory was a very intriguing book that I would recommend.

-Victoria Hills

The Everlasting Story of Nory tells of a nine year old child who has strange nightmares about teeth, yet wants to be a dentist, she becomes friends with an unpopular girl named Pamela when she moves to the city of Threll, England. Nory is an imaginative young girl who puts up with the criticism of bullies and popular people because of the fact that her friend Pamela has no friends. This book taught that whatever fears you may have can not stop you from living your dreams. Nory is a bold and insightful nine year old. She is mature for her age and even though she cares about the Death Watch Beetles in the Threll Cathedral, she is terrified of spiders! Nory adores her family, especially her little brother, whom she calls Little Man. Little Man is afraid of owls but loves toy transportation objects. Nory loves to tell stories and she wants to design pop-up books. This book was a pleasure to read. I enjoyed it quite a lot. -Julia Ravenel

My first impression of The Everlasting Story of Nory was that it would be an interesting and simple read. However, I quickly found out that I was mistaken, at least in the interesting aspect of my assumption. I found that, overall, this book did not have a set plot line outside of the individual stories. Although some of Nory's stories offered an insightful few of her world, the majority of them failed to lend their relevance to any kind of concrete story line. I found this book childish and failed to immerse myself fully into Nory's world.

-Emily Phillips

I became interested in choosing __The Everlasting Story of Nory__ for two reasons. I had heard it was an enjoyable read, and I discovered the book was about a young girl who told fun, entertaining stories, which I enjoy hearing. Once I started this book, I immediately knew that I would thoroughly enjoy reading it, because of these delightful stories that I felt I was getting to experience due to the specific and unique style in which they were narrated. These dreams, stories, flashbacks, and more kept me reading. Nory is an optimistic, curious, persistent young girl who takes her readers through all her past and present adventures. She naturally is descriptive when telling her tales to her listeners. She brings them along with her through her life in Threll, England. At school, through her friendships, and family, Nory shows characteristics such as being a loyal friend to her best friend, Pamela. Nory deals with difficult people such as a group of school bullies, and with the “leader” of them, Kira. Nory exemplifies her curiosity and creativity when she shares stories about many things from Death Watch Beetles in a church to cows with sharp pointed teeth in her dreams, which she doesn’t like. Reading this story was a delight and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who feels like Nory every once in a while.

-Ali Kerns

In the book __The Everlasting Story of Nory__ by Nicholson Baker, the reader is thrown directly into the world of 9 year old Eleanor Winslow, or Nory for short. This vignette style of writing presents countless anecdotes and dreams from Nory’s daily life, painting a visual picture of an outcast from America going to school in England. To escape from her somewhat lonely life, Nory is an avid dreamer and she lets random occurrences lead her train of thought in all directions. Each of these dreams has a hidden meaning Nory befriends Pamela, who is the “target” of all the other boys and girls. Nory realizes that Pamela had never done anything wrong, and she is brave to stand up against the majority to do the right thing. She is therefore even more set apart from the rest of her class. She is constantly teased because she was previously an American and is excluded because she is a friend of Pamela. However in the end, Nory’s friendship triumphs over her impression and she finally has her first best friend in England.

Reading this book, I was surprised in the fashion the Baker chose to describe Nory, using vignettes. However, this method of writing kept me enraptured and kept me from getting bored. Every chapter presented a new and interesting story that could relate to many previous chapters. These individual stories each told me more about Nory and helped me understand her more. I would recommend this book and anyone who has not yet discovered vignettes or the unorthodox writing perspective of a nine year old. I enjoyed this book and would probably read it again if I had the chance. -Jack Cahill

In Nicholson Baker's __The Everlasting Story of Nory__, we follow a nine year old girl, Nory, through every day life. The girl's experiences at the school she attends where she is an outsider relate to her fresh take on life. She is unique in the way she sees the world and it is expected that the children at school would fear her, and bully her for being different just as the world is xenophobic and bullies the homosexual and various other different types of people from themselves. Nory's subconscious is expressed through a steady flow of stories she constructs and dreams she has. Because the book is in third person, it is difficult to identify if the information endlessly offered to the us (the reader) are strictly Nory's thoughts or Baker's, when in fact her thoughts are a reflection of Baker in many ways as she is his creation, and so it amazes me how he created something so foreign to him as a nine year old girl. - Lillian Saul