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Summary: A gift to everyone in the thirties!
Review: This book is the funniest I read for years! Nick Hornby's story of a man with an unique lack of overview does not make you laugh because of the witty writing-style or because of the main-characters confusing and self-centered view of his life and the opposite sex. It is funny because it is written by a man who knows about fanatism and how to loose control (known by everybody who read Hornby's Fever-pitch!) and thereby is able to tell how jerky and laughable people in the thirties look when they still think they are the epi-center and is not able to move out of that area. Yeah, the main-character is a pain-in.......and maybe the story is shallow but the best laugh is the laugh you get when you recognize something, if not hidden inside you, then at least around you
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Summary: Tops the Costello tune, even! One of the best from England.
Review: This book scared me, humoured me and amazed me in its initial appearance of complexity but ultimate obvioiusness. I cannot recall a time when an authour has so acurately captured the thoughts, feelings and fears of the male mind in all its irrelevantly shallow glory. This was a book that made me step back and take a look at the priorities of my life, and like Rob, wonder where exactly the music fits in. Hornby is a GENIUS of the laid-back psychoanalysis, whether it seems apparant now or not.
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Summary: DEEPLY SHALLOW
Review: But I liked it. It's worth reading, well written, gritty and depressing, funny sometimes, full of mental conflict and music I've never heard of... maybe Hornby tried a little to hard to be kool (and I no how to spell it the write way) and I hate the main character so much I cringe and spit on the pages. Sometimes the most enjoyable books have the most annoying narrators, but praising Hornby is probably just encouraging him to stay on the limiting guy-writing train that is so shallow you feel deeply about it. Everytime I finish books like these I make a new vow of celibacy, but I don't know how long that'll last. It's a big paradox. The narrator's whining is highly attractive (KICK MYSELF NOW!)
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Summary: By far one of the top five books I read last year.
Review: Reasons: 5. A music shop in London as the setting - the land where music is born. 4. Passion for the music overwhelms the main characters being, even more than football (Fever Pitch) 3. His life is analysed in the most meaningful of all soundbites. Not to trivialize the moments in his life but to show him it's always been worse at another time. 2. F#!$*%g Hilarious. 1. Articulates the meaning behind a man making a mix tape for a woman.
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Summary: This genre has found its new King
Review: I picked up "High Fidelity" from the Modern Lit section merely because of the title, reminding me of a great Elvis Costello song. How appropriate!Although I would never hail this as literature, and I will concede to the earlier (and only one I saw) negative comment that the narrator is self-obsessed, this is, hands down, the most enjoyable read of my life. Only one other book, "Straight Man" by Richard Russo, comes close. Not surprisingly, that book is also lorded over by an utterly self-obsessed individual. Personally, part of Hi-Fi's charm is IN the self-obsession of the narrator, because he's just so darn good at it! In fact, I ENJOY the ceaseless slant he offers not only on his views, but also on the lives of those around him. And ANY book which starts off the way this book does would've had me handing over money for it immediately anyway. Give the first 10 pages a whirl. If you find nothing humorous about them, then walk away none the worse for the wear. But if you like what those pages offer, this book could be one of the most moving and enjoyable relationships you can have with mere paper and ink.
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Summary: You may see yourself in the mirror
Review: A pop-culture kick in the pants for we that grew up in the 70's and 80's. The straight man's alternative to the Oprah's book club type selections. No crying here, all laughs.
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Summary: Funny, Insightful, Well Written
Review: An often hilarious, witty well written book. Most of all, it is pure entertainment. I highly recommend it. Along with FRIED CALAMARI, one of the most entertaining books I've read in a while.
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Summary: cute but essentially shallow
Review: It's easy to read and mildly amusing, but all these devotees of "High Fidelity" should read some classic literature before they start gushing about its deep insight into the male psyche. At least, I was bored by yet another first person pathetic male rant of a book (reminded me of "Independence Day"). I used to think that baby boomers were far and away the most self-obsessed, but in this book X'ers are giving them a run for their money....
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Summary: More than a record collection
Review: This novel isn't about pop culture, steeped as it is in it. Countless musical references hold the narrative's events together and serve as setting, in that we're not given a whole lot of the kind of descriptive passages you find in most other novels. But we know what record stores and apartments like Rob Fleming's look like. This novel really is a coming-of-age tale as the 35-year-old, single, British narrator turns the corner into adulthood. It's as simple as realizing that people are about more than their record collections and as complicated as navigating all the emotional turns that Rob's heart takes in his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend. Throughout, Rob is analyzing himself, winking at the reader as he describes one shallow, obsessive act after another. It doesn't come off as tedious navel-gazing, either; Hornby handles it quite deftly. I don't read enough contemporary fiction to place the novel properly among its contemporaries or to spot many influences, but Kurt Vonnegut (who's name-dropped here) is an obvious antecedent, and all the better for it. The chapters are short (35 of them in 323 pages) and the type is set on wide leading, so the act of reading is helped by the book's physical makeup as well as Hornby's engaging style. The dialogue is wonderful, and it plays off the first-person narrative beautifully. He drops in some wise observations that you have to admire. Plus, I should mention: It's really funny.
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Summary: Funny, and wonderfully self-depreciating
Review: A great book, the intertwining of pop culture throughout made it a very human book. It shows how not only music and movies affect us but how they affect everyone around us. The story of the relationship between Rob and Laura is bitersweet. Everytime Rob makes another attempt to regain Laura you want him to succeed, no matter how illogical the plan. All in all a great book that reads fast.
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