A few opinions on Nick Hornby

I found a couple of reviews of Juliet, Naked today and I wanted to share them. The first one is a favourable review, and the second, less so:

Baby Got Books

New Dork Review of Books

(and, of course, my own review).

I enjoyed the book greatly, as did BGB, but it is interesting that both of us seemingly found it difficult to explain what the book was about in one sentence. I am somewhat relieved to learn that it is not a personal failing that I was not able to sum this book up in a sentence (or, heaven forbid, six words). Is this a problem of the book? Of Hornby? Certainly not. The answer is that Nick Hornby writes about characters - this book is about two people who are involved in a, yes, highly convenient plot for our benefit. When a writer writes primarily about interesting characters involved in a seemingly uninteresting story, it is often difficult to explain why such a book is so great. Yet the book is indeed great.

Looking back on Hornby's other novels, the same is true. Can you sum up High Fidelity in a sentence? Or How to Be Good? Long Way Down has a fairly straightforward plot, but the characters are still quite strong. And An Education, though containing a thoroughly enjoyable story, is brilliant because of the great character brought to life by Carey Mulligan. So we all love Nick Hornby because of his characters, and the choices they face, and the same is true of Juliet, Naked. I tried to sum up the review further, but, alas, I cannot. I can only simply say that Nick Hornby is a terrific writer and Juliet, Naked proves that point once again.

P.S. watch Nick Hornby interviewed at the Oscars! 
 

Review: Juliet, Naked

I'm going to ignore the obvious questions about timeliness and push on with the review as though it is still October, or at least early November. What helps is that I saw a rerun of The Hour with Nick Hornby as George Stromboulopoulos's guest. Great interview!

Nick Hornby's Juliet, Naked is an endearing work of escapist-quotidian fiction: the characters are everyday-types, and the story, though certainly unique, is not fantastical. Yet reading Juliet creates a place in your mind where even the most criminal of characters would be pleasant over a pint or two. In this case, antagonist Duncan is a whiny twerp but not by any stretch of the imagination is he a malevolent character. You cheer for Annie and Tucker above others, true, but you also cheer for everyone else. And everyone wins, in the end, including the reader.

Duncan is a major Tucker Crowe fan, perhaps the biggest in the world, and Annie, as his girlfriend, is number two by default. Duncan's infatuation with Crowe has become bigger than the artist himself, who created his own myth by disappearing from the public sphere abruptly 20 years earlier and leaving everything else to endless speculation. The novel starts with Annie and Duncan in the U.S., travelling to "sacred" Tucker Crowe spots - the Minnesota bar where he apparently made his last public appearance, his Bozeman, Montana childhood home, and, most crucially, the San Francisco home of Julie Beatty, the namesake of the artist's best and last album, Juliet. It all adds up to an intensely emotional experience for Duncan, and an eye-opening one for Annie, too: she sees Duncan as he is, a hopeless fanatic more attached to a legendary musician than his girlfriend of 15 years.

The story really gets started when Annie listens to a version of Juliet demos about to be released publicly for the first time (The album is called Juliet, Naked). The problem isn't that she listens to the album, but it's that she listens to the album before Duncan gets a chance to - it's an unspeakable breach of trust in his mind, and when she doesn't like the album that he considers sheer brilliance, well, it's all downhill from there. For Annie, however, it's all upside - she gets a chance to change her life, to "get back" those 15 wasted years. But things keep coming back to Tucker Crowe, and when she finally meets the iconic musician, perhaps the irony was too much to resist.

Hornby's writing is a smart as ever in this one. He shows his music chops, creating a love letter to both fans and fanatics of great music. Perhaps only slightly better, however, is his skill at writing about relationships. As in every of his books prior to this one, his depiction of warts-and-all characters and relationships is as appealing as his knowledge of music (his work on An Education is further proof of this). Overall, Juliet, Naked is an great read and should be read by every guy who's ever been in a relationship with music. Five solid gold records out of five. 

UPDATE: If you haven't already heard, Nick Hornby is nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Writing (Adapted Screenplay). Watch the results on March 7th. Go Nick!

October's Pick: Juliet, Naked

So the book reviews are few and far between lately. However, you can expect that I will post reviews about a number of books I've read lately, including Year of the Flood, The Time Traveler's Wife, Fables, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and our wayward book club selections A Prayer for Owen Meany and Inherent Vice. Although neither has made it to my "Already Read" section on Facebook, I will get to them soon enough. For now, however, I am reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I have also not forgotten about October's book club pick. As everyone may or may not already know, one of my favourite authors is Nick Hornby. As everyone may or may not already know, Nick Hornby has a new book out. Thus, without really needing to explain myself further, Juliet, Naked will be October's book club selection.

I encourage all members to stay the course and maintain the discipline that has propelled us this far: don't give up on Owen Meany, get to Pynchon asap, and revel in the rare treat that is provided by anything writtenby Nick Hornby.