Now a Hulu TV series starring Zoë KravitzFrom the bestselling author of Funny Girl, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down, a wise and hilarious novel about love, heartbreak, and rock and roll.Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life … relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films; top five Elvis Costello songs; top five episodes of Cheers.
Rob tries dating a singer, but maybe it’s just that he’s always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think that life with kids, marriage, barbecues, and soft rock CDs might not be so bad.
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It’s been awhile since I read this, but I recall loving it– especially the Top 5 Lists. Way better than the movie (even though I love John Cusack).
I absolutely loved this book.
Incredibly well written in the first person. Rob and his girl friend Laura and his friends Barry and Dick all leapt from the page. The very honest portrayal gave me an amazing insight into a neurotic thirty something male. Now I know how they think I’ll never look at them in the same way again.
Terrific story telling skills when there wasn’t really a story, other than what happened when Laura left. And yet a real page turner.
The book was ridiculous and serious, happy and sad, tedious and interesting along with predictable and surprising
I have never laughed as hard and as often while reading a book. Brilliant! Hilarious! Virtually every page had a line or passage that had me laughing out loud and unable to breathe.
Hands down, Nick Hornby is one of the funniest writers around. His witty, quick-as-a-punch dialogue and sly observations about people handle difficult situations make his books a joy to read. You can rip through High Fidelity in two days. You’re dying to know if and how Rob will come to his senses about love and togetherness. You want to get to the bits where his clueless employees at the vinyl record store say and do completely unexpected things. And you want the book to become a (good) movie! Hornby is like a delicious candy bar–you want to savor every bite. But when it’s gone, it’s gone.
High Fidelity is a novel by Nick Hornby, first published in 1995. Narrated in first-person, High Fidelity is a novel about love, breakups and personal growth.
Rob Fleming spends most of his time at Championship Vinyl, his record store, with his two employees/sidekicks. During their spare time, they make “desert island” top-five lists. Likewise, when Laura leaves him at the beginning of the story, he makes a list of his top-five most painful breakups, or as he puts it, those that helped him write his ensuing love-stories. At this time, you really feel sorry for him, but as you keep on reading, you find out, there are certain key parts of his story he has left out.
Throughout the story Rob finds himself stuck in his life. He’s not happy about his job, he’s not happy about not having Laura in his life, although he cannot pinpoint the reason why at first. Rob totally loses it when he finds out Laura is in a relationship with Ian, their former neighbour. At this point, he decides to look for those top-five ex-girlfriends to try and find out why all his love stories have ended sadly for him. He feels that he’s destined to be left. Along this journey, he realizes that’s not the case, he learns about himself, and after the death of Laura’s father, things start to pick up. He begins to understand himself better, and tries to make things right for him and the people around him. Rob is in his mid-thirties and knows that some things have to change for him to be happy, keeping his options open will not do him any good in the long run.
Although Rob is usually in a black mood, he narrates the story in a humorous, self-deprecating tone, with the right amount of sarcasm and cynicism. He has a selfish way of perceiving things, which can become annoying, especially towards the end. But it’s also at this point when he tries the hardest to let go of these feelings in order to let new ones in.
Hornby does a very good job of creating Rob’s voice, filling his seemingly random rambles with references to books, movies and music that really help the reader get the complete picture. Rob might not be the most reliable narrator but he manages to warm up to the reader. It is very easy to end up rooting for him in spite of his immature, childish and self-centered ways.
All in all, I think it is a very fun read, so entertaining it gets almost impossible to put down. It’s the kind of book that has you smiling and even laughing out loud more often than not.