High Fidelity

One sentence synopsis... Lovable loser Rob Fleming (Gordon in the movie and Brooks in the TV show) recounts his desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable heartbreaks - and predictably learns life lessons along the way. .

Read it if you like... Hornby has a knack for making not-so-standup guys likable (see his other novel's main characters in ‘About a Boy', ‘A Log Way Down', ‘Fever Pitch', ‘Slam', need I go on...) so if you're looking for a clever, charming, but irresponsible man child these books are for you. Always funny but also the same formula again and again. .

Dream casting... honestly the movie (staring John Cusack) and the new Hulu shoe (staring Zoe Kravitz) nailed it. This is the rare case of the film/show being better than the book. Mostly because they scrap the last few chapters which slog down the rest of the novel.

I first read this book over a decade ago and I remember really loving it. When it was picked for my book club, I was worried that it had only appealed to my younger immature self and that I would be turned off by it now.

Turns out upon a re-read, that was not the case. Maybe I just haven't matured as much as I thought since then, but I really loved this once again.

The way Hornby writes these suspended adolescent characters (which I believe he basically has in all his novels) just works for me so well. The POV character Rob is really just a loser; he is lazy and stubborn, and his actions (or inaction) often cause hardships for those that are important in his life (including himself).

But he is keenly aware of this. He has a pretty decent moral compass, he just chooses not to follow it (at least most of the time). He's a Peter Pan, he peaked in his personal happiness in early college and doesn't want to move beyond that point in his life. He thinks that latching on to things like judging others music collections or sleeping with different women will give his life more meaning, but deep down he knows that he needs more and is afraid of that change.

This is an extremely male adolescent book and definitely won't appeal to everyone, but I just find it to be very honest and I emphasize with the character even though he sucks and I would dislike him in real life. There is core emotional truth here for me and just a perspective on male responsibility and growth that I really value.

Looking forward to discussing this one!

I liked it much better than the movie because it is fuller, more fleshed-out about why things are happening and what people are feeling. The fun and silly stuff from the movie is still there, and still funny, and somehow better because of the balance with the emotional stuff.