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I read a couple of Nick Hornby books, and here is what I thought:
A Long Way Down
I almost read this in one day. I found to book to be very witty and darkly humorous. It manages to tap into a range of emotions without getting overly sentimental and mushy. The four narrators meet on top of a roof on New Year's eve, and all are planning to jump. Obviously, since they are narrating, they do not do so. But a weird sort of family relationship develops between them.Over a range of time we get to witness the changes in their lives, but Hornby avoids being too optimistic. This book is a great read if one doesn't mind narrators who are very flawed.
High Fidelity
To be honest, I was kind of disappointed with Hornby's first and perhaps best-known book. If I would have read this first, I probably wouldn't have bothered with anything else he wrote. Not that the book is bad, but the self-absorbed, boring narrator really got on my nerves. He owns a record store and his girlfriend breaks up with him. The book chronicles his efforts to deal with the break up (and the sort of why-does-every-relatipship-go-wrong midlife crisis that results) and attempts to get her back. I expected it to be funnier, I guess. Also, the music refrences make sense, but they get a bit tedious.Maybe if I were British I would've gotten it more. I guess I just didn't feel a connection to any of the characters.
A Long Way Down
I almost read this in one day. I found to book to be very witty and darkly humorous. It manages to tap into a range of emotions without getting overly sentimental and mushy. The four narrators meet on top of a roof on New Year's eve, and all are planning to jump. Obviously, since they are narrating, they do not do so. But a weird sort of family relationship develops between them.Over a range of time we get to witness the changes in their lives, but Hornby avoids being too optimistic. This book is a great read if one doesn't mind narrators who are very flawed.
High Fidelity
To be honest, I was kind of disappointed with Hornby's first and perhaps best-known book. If I would have read this first, I probably wouldn't have bothered with anything else he wrote. Not that the book is bad, but the self-absorbed, boring narrator really got on my nerves. He owns a record store and his girlfriend breaks up with him. The book chronicles his efforts to deal with the break up (and the sort of why-does-every-relatipship-go-wrong midlife crisis that results) and attempts to get her back. I expected it to be funnier, I guess. Also, the music refrences make sense, but they get a bit tedious.Maybe if I were British I would've gotten it more. I guess I just didn't feel a connection to any of the characters.