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Summary: Top 5 Reasons to Read this Book....
Review: High Fidelity has one of the best opening chapters I've read. Rob Fleming is recently single and making a list: The Top Five women (in chronological order) who've broken his heart. It's an incredible way to begin a novel and Mr. Hornby has you instantly hooked. And as you are drawn deeper and deeper into the main character's life, the lists abound: 'Top 5 Side One Tracks of All Time' (does Beethoven's 5th symphony count?), 'Top 5 80's Movies with Molly Ringwald' (did Molly Ringwald even make 5 movies in the 80's?), and on ... And the entire time, the reader is slowly let in on the secret: Rob Fleming is thirtysomething, owns a record store, and has no life.Make no mistake about it - though this is an intensely amusing and very well written (not to mention very British) novel, you will not necessarily like the main character. Hopefully, you'll also not be able to relate to him in too many ways. You will, however, be intrigued. You will laugh, question, and wonder. And then, you'll finish, take a step back and think "This better not happen to me..."
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Summary: The Slacker's Bible
Review: High Fidelity is written entirely in the first narrative. As such the reader is embroiled with the thoughts, emotions and nuances of its protagonist, one Rob Fleming. At 35, Rob is clearly at the crossroads. An avid record enthusiast, he owns a none too successful second hand record store; his mother wonders when he will ever find a 'real' job. Laura, his partner of three years has just walked out on him. So what's a guy to do, he composes a top five list of his most memorable breakups. Analysing what he did wrong and asking himself are all relationships merely reoccurrences of earlier ones ? In short Rob comes across as a rather self indulgent lazy slacker, whiner or loser (take your pick) who would rather reorganise or recategorise his massive record collection then face up to his fear of intimacy and failure to commitment. Sounds familiar ? Rob appeals to males over thirty as the everyman one can identify with who has experienced all sorts of situations, dilemmas and miscommunications with women. High Fidelity ultimately is a novel about transition and redemption. Rob is a guy who has been undergoing a twenty year transition from adolescence to adulthood, something that does not sit well with him. He realises almost too late that relationships carry responsibilities and with that a certain level of maturity has to be attained. Love him or hate him with his incessant whining, endless top five lists and his inability to 'see the forest for the trees', Rob eventually earns our endearment. His one redeeming feature is his honesty about his faults. Yes he admits he has made mistakes and many of them, but he is learning perhaps ever so slowly and albeit the hard way. The Verdict: High Fidelity is a good but not great (as the critics would have you believe) novel. However it is not just a book for guys. Women reading this book may gain some information in the way of the insights, secrets, obsessions etc into how males think and then again they may conclude we are all losers. High Fidelity although certainly well written is essentially a narrative of observations coupled with humour and the occasional dose of wit without too much analysis. This coupled with Hornby's ability to relate and empathise with the reader is perhaps why he is so popular.
Rating: 
Summary: so truthful it's embarrassing
Review: This is the first book that I've ever read that completely romanticizes OCD. Every character is flawed to perfection and Rob is alarmingly recognizable. High Fidelity is for every man that has loved and lost (a woman or his ambition). Definitely on my desert island top 5.
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Summary: Typical modern British writing
Review: This novel is in the same vein as the Adrian Mole and Bridget Feilding stories; simple observation dressed up as literature. The book is amusing, but remains on the level of a simple statement of facts (or observations) and never analyses any of them. I draw an equivalent between this and easy listening music, literary Dire Straits, to maintain the pop metaphor of the book. Lots of froth, but little or no beer.
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Summary: The most hilarious piece of literature i've ever read!!
Review: This book was funny, whimsical, amusing, comical, jocular and entertaining! The Oxford Dictionary defines the word 'funny' this way: funny: adj (-ier, -iest) 1. causing amusement, laughter, etc. It would take a great deal of research to find a book that suits this description more. However amusing the content is, the book also has very serious aspects within... you'll have to read it for yourself to enjoy it the most.
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Summary: after 3 years, High Fidelity still seems funny & wonderful
Review: Looking on the book cover, I realised that the first time I read High Fidelity was exactly 3 years ago...has it been that long? anyway, when I heard that a movie based on High Fidelity was coming out, I pulled it off the shelf again, & managed to spend 2 more laugh-filled days with Rob, Laura, & especially Dick & Barry. And of course, all the time I was reading, it was as if I had the radio tuned on to some old, really cool, rock radio station. At some point I actually put Bruce Springsteen on the cd player, which provided the perfect background music for the book. So, to put it in a nutshell: High Fidelity a) makes you laugh out loud & b) has a lot to do with music. Rob is the narrator, a kind of nice guy, drifting on & on in a job as the owner of a small, dusty record shop in London. With him, in the shop, are 2 other people that work there, Dick & Barry. People who know more about second hand records, bootlegs & obscure little rock bands, than they do about what's going on right next to them. As for Rob, he's kind of disillusioned, he has an enormous record collection, is not though as far gone with music as Dick & Barry...and has just broken up, after 3 years, with Laura. She has just moved out, actually. The rest you'll read about. High Fidelity is just this: an ordinary story of an ordinary guy. But it's extremely funny, extremely well-written, and...well, it makes you think you're listening to music in your head even when the radio is not on. I, for one, ran to the cd player & dug out one of my oldest Bruce records, which I hadn't listened to for ages. High Fidelity surely will make you feel nostalgic & a little sentimental about your favourite music. You'll also find yourself somewhere in its pages. And, last but not least, you'll laugh out loud, & not just once, but lots of times. Those are the reasons I loved High Fidelity the first time round, & that's why I loved it again now, 3 years later.
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Summary: good!
Review: one of the better books i have ever read.
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Summary: Sonic Death Monkeys Rule
Review: If youve always dreamed of owning your own record store and know your music, then this is the book for you. Ive seen the movie, but like it best in its intended English setting and characters. It probably made sense to make a U.S version to save us all from Hugh Grant anyway. Youll soon start doing your own top 5 lists and wonder how Barry really did intend doing "accoustic" versions of German synthesiser bands of the 80's. A great laugh ,especially if you grew up through the 70's and 80's and a good way to reflect on a life that may not be going to plan.
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Summary: Loved the movie but the book.....
Review: I loved the film High Fidelity starring John Cusack. It was witty, funny, enjoyable and engrossing. So I bought the book thinking that a book is also better than the movie, especially when the book came first. At first it was enjoyable, very similar to the movie, but the I came upon many scenes that had been left out of the movie, and for good reason. By the time I had gotten two thirds of the way through I had gotten so sick and tired of it that I had to put it down. In the movie you liked and hated Robert, but in the novel you just hate him. I could barely relate to his bleal outlook on everything, and many of the "humorous" lines which appeared in the movie and the novel didn't have the same feeling in the novel, the came off as sad sayings of sad people, not as abnormal sayings from abnormal people, which in essence is better than the former. It was in whole a dissappointment.
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Summary: Moving, Honest, and a learning curve
Review: I have only recently seen the film and read the book. To be honest there is much to praise about it but also there are critisisms. Rob can be selfish and self pitying, but thankfully he starts to realise that before the end, and secondly there seems a time when the plot is just grinding along. That said most men can identify with at least one aspect about Rob I tend to make lists for one), and it is a timely reminder that the end of the road to true happiness does not lie in the arms of a sexy woman or in our favourite songs. Hornby also has a brilliant style of writing, hence the 4 stars
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