High Fidelity

 

By Nick Hornby

First published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz, 1995

Publisherd in Penguin Books 2000

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- Summary:

 

The story is about a man called Rob. He lives in London with his girlfriend Laura in a loft which is full of CD’s and LP’s. Explanation: He is the boss of a little record shop called Championship Vinyl. His two freaky employees and Rob play games all day long; for example, they make top five lists of the best black musicians or the best guitar solo in a song. Because of that the shop is not running too well.

 

The story begins with Laura breaking up with Rob. Because  of that Rob thinks about his old relationships and why they have not worked out. So he starts to analyse his feelings and Laura` s feelings.

 

When he finds out that Laura has got a new boyfriend Rob freaks almost out. Her new one is an old neighbour of theirs, Ray. Rob remembers how Laura and himself lay on the bed at night and listened to Ray having love affairs and how they made jokes about him.

 

He starts calling his other ex-girlfriends to ask what went wrong and he asks Laura why she does all that. So we come to know that Laura had an abortion and that Rob once cheated her.

 

As Rob sleeps with a singer, he feels very successful.

 

He still wants to get back together with Laura and keeps phoning her, but Ray tells her to forget him. Ray also goes to Rob and talks with him. He tells Rob that he should leave Laura alone and that she feels better now, without him.

 

But as Laura’s dad dies, things change. She phones Rob. She asks him to come to the funeral. There he tells her that he feels so sorry about all that has happened between them but Laura does not want to listen to him because she is too tired to fight. So Rob leaves. As he is waiting at the bus stop she comes and forgives him. They get back together.

 

As a confirmation of his new behaviour, Rob manages not to bother Laura with a reporter who interviews him because of the shop. He realises that what he has with Laura is real and good and that he does not need any other women or affairs.

 

 

 

 

 

- Opinion:

 

I think that this book is an un-cheesy love story about an unfaithful man who is never happy with what he has. Rob needs confirmation in everything and cannot accept his own live.

 

I liked the alternation between interpretation of music they make all the time and the sadness of the love of Rob to Laura. To read how Laura cannot leave Rob alone but cannot be back with him either, is fascinating: She phones him a few times and never refuses him much. When he wants to ask her something she always comes round.

 

I think Nick Hornby is a genius. How he can write such a story without it getting boring. I like the words Mr. Hornby uses, the adjectives he uses to describe a person or a situation. It is easy to read and funny to see how an adult man thinks and acts. He goes through a funny development, from an uncertain, or rather disconcerted man, to one who knows what love is and what a relationship is made of and how rewarding it is.

 

I liked it very much and I recommend it to everyone to read.

 

 

 

 

- Comparison to the movie:

 

In the movie Rob is not such an arrogant man who would cheat is girl-friend. He is the poor boy who always gets dumped for nothing.

 

Otherwise the movie is really close to the book and it is a two hour experience I would not like to have missed.

 

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