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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i thought the main character was a whiny man, not my favorite
An excellent sick-day read. Dickhead narrator, I quite liked it though.
All I want to do now is listen to records and make a bunch of top five lists. This book would probably crack a few of them.
First read in 2002, re-read in 2013. (changed my rating from 4 to 5 stars)
What a classic! Now that I'm 11 years older and closer to the narrator in age, I can say I probably enjoyed it more this time around. It wasn't just about the cultural references, there was a lot to be said for Rob Fleming's life struggles, his aspirations and his dilemmas. Even if I'm not a 35 year old man!
(edição portuguesa cheia de gralhas e com segmentos de tradução muito duvidosos. Perdi as ilusões quando a Dusty Springfield foi chamada de O Dusty Springfield, pelo menos 5 vezes....)
What a classic! Now that I'm 11 years older and closer to the narrator in age, I can say I probably enjoyed it more this time around. It wasn't just about the cultural references, there was a lot to be said for Rob Fleming's life struggles, his aspirations and his dilemmas. Even if I'm not a 35 year old man!
(edição portuguesa cheia de gralhas e com segmentos de tradução muito duvidosos. Perdi as ilusões quando a Dusty Springfield foi chamada de O Dusty Springfield, pelo menos 5 vezes....)
slow-paced
I liked this book, which has similarities to the other Hornby books I have read (About A Boy & Juliet, Naked), but all the way through I was thinking that I liked the others more. I believe this is Hornby's first novel, but the three books that I have read have a similar protagonist, a thirty-something male, pretty much avoiding responsibility in love and work. There is also music as a part of the story and his life.
Rob's live-in girlfriend has just left him. He reviews the top 5 other girls/women who have dumped him, even contacting them. Rob is also the owner of a marginial record store. Rob likes to make lists of this top/bottom 5 of various things.
The book was an easy, enjoyable read, parts made me laugh, but the ending really made it for me.
"The difference between these people and me is that they finished college and I didn't (they didn't split up with Charlie and I did); as a consequence, they have smart jobs and i have a scruffy job, they are rich and I am poor, they are self-confident and I am incontinent, they do not smoke and I do, they have opinions and I have lists." (198)
"But tonight, I have to confess (but only to myself, obviously) that maybe, given the right set of peculiar, freakish, probably unrepeatable circumstances, it's not what you like but what you're like that's important." (280)
Rob's live-in girlfriend has just left him. He reviews the top 5 other girls/women who have dumped him, even contacting them. Rob is also the owner of a marginial record store. Rob likes to make lists of this top/bottom 5 of various things.
The book was an easy, enjoyable read, parts made me laugh, but the ending really made it for me.
"The difference between these people and me is that they finished college and I didn't (they didn't split up with Charlie and I did); as a consequence, they have smart jobs and i have a scruffy job, they are rich and I am poor, they are self-confident and I am incontinent, they do not smoke and I do, they have opinions and I have lists." (198)
"But tonight, I have to confess (but only to myself, obviously) that maybe, given the right set of peculiar, freakish, probably unrepeatable circumstances, it's not what you like but what you're like that's important." (280)
I never did finish this book. I don't know what it was, I just couldn't get into it. It feels like if I would have read this book when it first came out I probably would have liked it, but now...meh. Maybe someday I'll try again, then again maybe not.
I spent a lot of the novel being vaguely irritated by Rob, the narrator and main character. It's clear he acts out of some degree of depression, which in a way is real enough to appreciate, but it doesn't make for an overly exhilarating read. Maybe it's something to do with British humor and, if so, I've clearly missed out on being entertained by it. But the ending absolves the story in a way, to the extent that I can say I liked it!
Personally, I felt no kinship with this narrator whatsoever, however I was intrigued by his story. I was never really sure if I wanted him to "win," because in my mind he didn't deserve to. However, he kept me feeling sorry for him as well, as it seemed the world itself was passing him by in his record store. In spite of everything, I was happy with the ending of the book and the way it left room for interpretation, as well as improvement in the main character.