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Summary: High Fidelity is Masterful
Review: This book effected me like only a true future classic could. The fusion of the young man's confusion with obsession with pop music and pop culture results in a very authentic feel. This could be a book about me, you, anybody.
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Summary: Sharp, Resonating, Relentless - and not just for bachelors!
Review: Hornby presents the reader with a protagonist so flawed, so aggravating, and so completely human that it's impossible to feel anything but empathy for him, despite recurring wishes to reach into the pages and knock some sense into him. This is a novel chock full of wit, heartbreak, humor, and agonizingly familiar situations. A delightful read.
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Summary: do people think your obsession is stupid?
Review: Good airplane reading for any single person who pours all of his or her energy into an obsession that the rest of society thinks is stupid. In Rob Fleming's case, the obsession is music. He and his friends won't talk to anyone who owns fewer than 500 records, who owns a Tracy Chapman or Beatles CD, or "who goes 'Woooh!' to the fade-out of 'Brown Sugar.'" His girlfriend Laura grills him: "There is no greater crime than that, as far as you're concerned, is there?" There isn't, for Rob, just as my friends get apoplectic talking to anyone who thinks Bill Gates or Microsoft invented anything.
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Summary: "High Fidelity" meet "Bartleby"
Review: I read the 1853 (yes, 1853) short story by Herman Melville named "Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall-street" the day before seeing the movie "High Fidelity." I am struck by the similarities between "Bartleby" and "High Fidelity." Both stories are about the boredom of dealing with records and copies of records. Both focus on the owner and his clerks. Both are about transitions:- In "High Fidelity", from youth/vinyls to adulthood/CDs - In "Bartleby", from rural/farm to urban/industry None of the reviews of this book that I have read have mentioned this relevance or "coincidence."
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Summary: Top Five Reasons To Buy "High Fidelity"
Review: 5. It's named after an Elvis Costello Song. 4. Nick Hornby perfectly nails the obsessed music fan's persona and shows how this obsession spills over into destroying and forming relationships. 3. Hornby's prose is like a good pop song --engaging, lyrical, instantly recognizable and memorable. 2. It's funny as hell. 1. It's not JUST funny as hell. It's original, insightful, and full of highly developed characters.
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Summary: Moderately amusing
Review: I bought this book with the expectation it would be as funny as the two Bridget Jones book. It is not. It was fun reading the various top five lists that the characters came up with for almost every situation. However the abortion of the girlfriend was a turnoff. I sold my book to the used book store for credit rather than reccomending it to anyone.
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Summary: Witty and wonderful
Review: A fantastic book, sections of which made me laugh out loud. This female reader thinks Nick Hornby writes well not only about men but about women too. Can't wait for his next one.
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Summary: See the film
Review: And read the book. I read the book first and still enjoyed the movie, and would even watch it again. I didn't miss the britishness of the book too much.
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Summary: A spot on "boys own manual " about record geeks
Review: This is now released as a movie I believe. I cannot say anything better than Tina B's review below. I can only add that I identified completely with the language and priorities of Rob even though I'm old enough to almost be his grandfather. Some things never change! The only difference is my music is jazz and classical. Rob thinks about what music he would like played at his funeral! How many of us have thought about that? I'm torn between PEACE PIECE by Bill Evans and MILESTONES by Miles Davis. Shades of THE BIG CHILL! Shades of ego-centric adolescents! Do all men remain boys at heart? HELP! It's extremely well written, and captures the language of record "geeks" well, but is no masterpiece. Excellent read for that long flight.
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Summary: The most remarkable book of the 90's
Review: I'll put this plainly: If you are male, probably between the ages of 25 and 40, then you MUST read this book. If you aren't, or if you are the partner of a male between the ages of 25 and 40 then you should also read this book. In fact, everyone should read this...period. I first read this book in 1995 and thought I had finally read a book written just about me - I felt special until I spoke to every other male friend who had read the book and insisted it had been written about them. This is a remarkable achievement and Nick Hornby should be hailed for writting such a universal book which gets to the heart of each of its readers personal lives. The film version doesn't hit UK shores till the summer - I trust it will be OK, but whatever, it will not change the fact that High Fidelity - the book, is one of the most important pop-fiction books of the past 10 (or more!) years.
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