High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

As some of you may know by now, I'm not a book worm. I only read books if my girlfriend makes me. This is another one of her handouts. I enjoyed it enough to write about it here on Ciao, and of course recommend it to you all. Here we go……… ‘High Fidelity’ is a novel about a male character named Rob Fleming. He is a thirty-something male with a flagging career as well as a crap love life. He tells the story about his life, recounting experiences ...
...deals with questions asked by everybody about the meaning of life. The book is therefore very true to life and the character easy to relate to for male as well as female readers. A major issue covered in this book is the social and cultural values. The book concentrates on one character and his life. A man who just wants to be happy. I find that he represents British people, and our society in the 21st Century. He has few friends, he is unsuccessful ...

justme 27.11.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

“Look at all the things that can go wrong for men. There’s the nothing-happening-at all problem, the too-much-happening-too-soon problem, the dismal-droop-after-a-promising-beginning-problem, the failing-to-deliver-the-goods problem… and what do women have to worry about? A handful of cellulite? Join the club. A spot of I-wonder-how-I-rank? Ditto” It’s a hard life being a man, even the fun things in life are full of problems for us (hey, I may not ...
...us experience these problems – unless you are a monk). Part of our problem I guess us that we don’t talk about real life situations and our problems, we just go to the pub and talk about football, fantasy women - whereas women will chat to one another about their lives, loves, jobs etc… (Well that’s what FHM tells us anyway). So I guess not a lot of people understand just what goes through our tiny (blotto-ed in my case) minds… Well thank God that ...

scruff 06.12.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Hmmmm. I can't quite make my mind up about this one. I finally finished it last night, which was a bit of a relief to be honest because I have 6 books to read in the 3 weeks before I go home for Christmas! This book consists of music and relationships, so you will probably know straightaway if you want to give it a go. I got my copy for 70p from a charity shop, but the RRP is £6.99. The book follows a guy called Rob, who owns a record shop and has ...
...worse, she has moved in with the man who lives upstairs. Laura and Rob used to listen to his bed squeaking as he "entertained guests". Robe feels like a failure, every relationship he has had turned out badly and his social life consists of going to gigs with his two work mates, Barry and Dick. His shop hardly makes any money and he passes his time making top ten lists. He should come to DooYoo, he'd make loads of miles! After going to the cinema ...

MissDirect 25.11.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

...quotable novel of modern times. High Fidelity takes us into the life. Heart and mind of Sam a thirty-five year old ordinary bloke, with ordinary hang-ups and ordinary feelings. He grew up in an ordinary suburb and is in the middle of an ordinary break-up, and to be honest that’s about it… Nothing much happens in this novel, but it does not happen in such a readable way. The brilliance of this book is the truth at the heart of it. It hits home so ...
...Opinion? Need To Read. High Fidelity is the literary equivalent of the film "Singles" It's well observed, witty and left me feeling like I understood men a little more. The ending left me with that warm satisfied feeling but at the same time wanting to know what on earth happened next. My Advice? Get yourself a couple of cans of lager sit down then read it, read it, read it. I'm off to buy 'Fever Pitch'… ...

scorching 12.03.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

I've got to admit that I have a strange attraction to Hornby's books, not because they are particularly well-written and certainly not because they are about some super-original theme, but rather because for most of the time, whilst reading his books, we can relate closely with his characters that he obviously moulds so carefully. To me and many more, this is one of the joys of reading, seeing how different people react in situations that we ourselves ...
...that 'High Fidelity' is just like Hornby's other books. The book, which is written in the first-person, begins with Rob Flemming (the main character and your average chip off the old block) explaining to us his all-time, top five most memorable split-ups. These include both high-school sweethearts and the more serious adult kind relationships. It's easy to notice that there's a certain constant in all (but one) of these and that is.....yes you've ...

jeffe 12.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Okay, okay I confess I haven’t seen the film yet but if it comes anywhere close to matching up to the book it must be impressive indeed. This book is both insightful and amusing, and through first person narration develops some of the most believable characters I have ever read about. How does Nick Hornby succeed in doing this? He tells the truth, in almost every scene and in every character I could not help but to recognise similar situations ...
...found myself smiling or nodding in agreement to what I was reading. Interestingly enough, or perhaps I should say surprisingly, there isn’t really much of a story. The narrator of the story is Rob Fleming, a 35-year-old Londoner, who owns a failing record store. What most characterises Rob is that he is a normal everyday guy, admittedly he has a far greater knowledge of music than most and a penchant for making Top 5 lists of things, but he ...

Mercury 26.01.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Strange book, in many respects. There's no real story to it. Things happen, of course, but what actually changes? At the end, everything is pretty much as it was. The central character is Rob, a serial love-life worrier and occasional record shop owner. Fantastically anal about music and always fretting about something, yet with a good mind and clever wit, we all know someone like him. His girlfriend Laura breaks it up, plunging him into an abyss ...
...wonders about himself, about life in the 90s, whether one is complete without a partner, whether one is incomplete with a partner, and so on. It's very much a contemporary novel, focussing on concerns of the 1990s and beyond, and how we react in society to the mating game. His conclusion appears to be that it's all a load of rubbish, and then he ends back with Laura anyway. See, told you nothing much happened. Yet the things he considers are genuinely ...

AndrewDalton 06.09.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

...his book, a novel called High Fidelity. It's not about guys who are blokes, it's about guys who moved on from that or perhaps sideways - losers. And it's about pop music as a metaphor for life, but we'll ease into that bit slowly. High Fidelity is an anatomy of a Type. It is the life story of Rob - a loser, a static person - who owns a store in London that is a sort of Vinyl Museum. Who are his customers? "Young men, always young men, with John Lennon ...
...compiling. The plot of High Fidelity (such as it is, because the lives of guys like Rob don't have plots beyond "Nothing happens" and then "Some more nothing happens") centres on Rob being dumped by his girlfriend Laura. And yes, he makes a list of his top five breakups and finds that this one doesn't even rate. So why does it torment him so? The mystery of Laura leaving Rob is not so much that she leaves him as that she didn't leave him sooner. ...

Mohammed 26.07.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

...described inner male turmoil. High fidelity follows this mans angst through a few months and yes it does describe some of what blokes think, not all but some and it will make you chuckle in certain parts. Rob, the crisis man, however is not typical of all thirtysomething, men, true none of us ever grow up, but not many of us stay at Robs level. This was the first book of its kind and for that it scores on the originality front, but how many "crisis" ...

KingHerrod 12.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

Comments: This book actaully made me laugh out loud and caused an embarrassing situation on the undergrouond as people thought I was losing my head. I couldn't put it down and this is all due to Hornby's writing style and funny and quirky observations about the male psyche and its downfalls. I saw myself in this, I saw my friends in this, I saw every male in this character (well maybe not my dad). Hornby astutely looks at the world from the male ...
...a record shop owner. Excellent book, although the plot isn't very good, however it is meant to tell the story of an ordinary bloke like you or I and if you or I were to have our lives recorded in a book such as this the plot wouldn't be fantastic either. nevertheless, beautifully written. About the book: Rob,35, has been dumped by his girlfriend Laura and is immediatley sent into a spin of joyousness and sadness. You know the feeling when you split ...

aitchison21 31.01.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

...world dominated by "lad culture", High Fidelity is a refreshingly diffrent look at male oppinions on love, sex and relationships. The story concerntrates on Rob, owner of a camden recold shop, and the his exploring the emotions he feels after his break-up with his long-term girlfriend. The language realistically convays the guilt, confusen and remorse he feels, so that anyone who's ever been dumped can relate to the mood of the story. Nick Hornby ...
...tone at points, without ruining the overal atmoshere. The subtle musical refrances throughout the text also add an intresting touch, by reflecting on how Robs life is dominated by music. And as for the ending, it could be concived as a happy one, though not in the conventional sence you may expect. ...

vanessa 21.07.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

This book could quite easily be about me, and I think this is why this book is so popular amongst men - they can see themselves in it. It is all about Rob, who is failing at everything, his girlfriend leaves, his business has never done well. So he goes through all his old girlfriends to try and find out where he has gone wrong. He tries to figure out if he is sas because of music, or if he listens to music because he is sad. It's quite a good point, ...

hugon 26.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

"High Fidelity" is the second Hornby book I've read, "Fever Pitch" being the first. I really, really enjoyed "High Fidelity", so much so that I very nearly started reading it all over again as soon as I had finished. To give a quick bit of background about the book: Rob owns a record shop that is just about surviving. He has two employees (Dick and Barry) and they stand around at work talking about music and making Top 5 lists. Rob's girlfriend, ...
...and he is devastated. To try to put his (love) life into perspective he tracks down his five previous loves to find out what went wrong and why. He tries to find out why he is what he is. The book moves at a leisurely pace and is very easy to read. I can identify with Rob and hung on every word on every page waiting to see what was going to happen to me in the end. I'm not 35 years old, I don't own a record shop and I haven't been dumped recently, ...

adamdavid 06.03.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

This is a blokey book, but not as blokey as some. Scared of committment, blah, blah. People seem to regard committment as some kind of disease, or its avoidance as some kind of religion. The crix of this book seems to be the characters using each other to create ever more elaborate ways of getting out of the last relationship. When will somebody write a book which celebrates the imperfection of relationships - we are all different - and just lets ...

Saturn 14.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

...because I loved it. High fidelity is my favourite of all three of his books. Rob is the main character. Typical guy, scared of committment etc. terrified of women and very aware of their power to manipulate men. I wanted to give him a big hug most of the time and just tell him that I understand. By the end I felt like I knew him well and I was going to miss him, I hope he comes back one day. If you are always on the look out for a good read then ...

ladylip 10.08.2000 (31.12.2000) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of High Fidelity - Nick Hornby