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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Loved this book. If you liked High Fidelity, then pick this one up.
I enjoyed this book and laughed out loud several times. That said, I thought the ending fell far short of the beginning. And, while the book is supposed to be about three characters - Duncan, Annie and Tucker Crowe - it dissolves into a book about two of the characters. Once more, I wanted more of a resolution than I got. Definitely not my favorite of Hornby's books, but funny just the same.
This was a totally unique novel for me, I have not read any plot even remotely similar to this one.
We begin the book with Annie traipsing after her boyfriend Duncan as the trek across America in search of place of significance to a rocker Tucker Crowe, who has withdrawn from public life.
What strikes me about this is the fact that Norman and Annie are not late teenagers or even in their early twenties. They are middleage! That struck me as odd and interesting.
Almost right away, we see Norman makes some choices that would give any rational person pause, I began to feel a little sympathy for the plight of "stars" having people feel this entitled to know your personal business is a bit much.
Meanwhile Tucker Crowe is off living a rather simple life.
The way Annie and Tucker's paths cross could seem far-fetched but it is possible in the age in which we live.
This book was very interesting and I found myself spending a good deal of time examining the charachters. I decided that these charachters were as flawed as many human beings, some (Norman - in my opinion) more flawed than most.
There is something about Tucker that I really cannot respect. However, I did respect his honesty. Even when his honesty shows him in a negative light.
Sometimes, I have read books and regretted the waste of my time. This was definitelty not one of them. I found this book interesting from start to finish. This book is definitely worth the read.
We begin the book with Annie traipsing after her boyfriend Duncan as the trek across America in search of place of significance to a rocker Tucker Crowe, who has withdrawn from public life.
What strikes me about this is the fact that Norman and Annie are not late teenagers or even in their early twenties. They are middleage! That struck me as odd and interesting.
Almost right away, we see Norman makes some choices that would give any rational person pause, I began to feel a little sympathy for the plight of "stars" having people feel this entitled to know your personal business is a bit much.
Meanwhile Tucker Crowe is off living a rather simple life.
The way Annie and Tucker's paths cross could seem far-fetched but it is possible in the age in which we live.
This book was very interesting and I found myself spending a good deal of time examining the charachters. I decided that these charachters were as flawed as many human beings, some (Norman - in my opinion) more flawed than most.
There is something about Tucker that I really cannot respect. However, I did respect his honesty. Even when his honesty shows him in a negative light.
Sometimes, I have read books and regretted the waste of my time. This was definitelty not one of them. I found this book interesting from start to finish. This book is definitely worth the read.
A great book for the disillusioned music lover who believes that art is greater than the ordinary people who make it. I have liked all of Hornby's books, but this one especially--mostly because of the ending which is decidedly not neat and tidy, but somehow perfect. It's laugh-out-loud funny in spots and includes enough weirdness to feel very real.
It started okay. The plot was a bit depressing at times and boring but the writing was good. About halfway through, I got really bored all of a sudden. It just got too hard to care about the three main characters and their dismal lives filled with lost chances and disappointment. It also seemed to be trying to drive across a point about people and the way they view musicians as geniuses and/or gods, when really they're just normal people.
So, typical Hornby I guess. Just not the best Hornby.
So, typical Hornby I guess. Just not the best Hornby.
Aún recuerdo la primera vez que supe de la existencia de Nick Hornby. Fue en casa de un amigo guionista, en La Coruña. Leí la contraportada de “Cómo ser buenos” (que aún no he leído) y me llamó la atención. Fue el inicio de mi romance, aún presente, con los novelistas anglosajones.
Como cualquier romance, hemos tenido nuestros más y nuestros menos. Diría de hecho que más que romance es una relación comprometida, de larga duración. Confío en los creadores de ficción del Reino Unido y Estados Unidos, hay algo en su estilo que me cautiva.
Así, Hornby juega con ventaja, porque es de los novelistas que leo con predisposición al “me va a gustar”. Juliet, naked no es una obra maestra, en el sentido de que no hay grandes frases o personajes inolvidables, pero tiene algo llamativo. Probablemente la sutil reflexión sobre la creación, sobre la interpretación de esa creación y sobre cómo idealizamos a quienes crean. Pero también se trata de una novela de prosa prolija, bien hilada, que sabe llevar de un sitio a otro.
No es una obra maestra pero es una novela entretenida y bien escrita en la que Hornby demuestra lo evidente: sabe lo que hace. Lo sabe muy bien.
Como cualquier romance, hemos tenido nuestros más y nuestros menos. Diría de hecho que más que romance es una relación comprometida, de larga duración. Confío en los creadores de ficción del Reino Unido y Estados Unidos, hay algo en su estilo que me cautiva.
Así, Hornby juega con ventaja, porque es de los novelistas que leo con predisposición al “me va a gustar”. Juliet, naked no es una obra maestra, en el sentido de que no hay grandes frases o personajes inolvidables, pero tiene algo llamativo. Probablemente la sutil reflexión sobre la creación, sobre la interpretación de esa creación y sobre cómo idealizamos a quienes crean. Pero también se trata de una novela de prosa prolija, bien hilada, que sabe llevar de un sitio a otro.
No es una obra maestra pero es una novela entretenida y bien escrita en la que Hornby demuestra lo evidente: sabe lo que hace. Lo sabe muy bien.
I really liked what this book had to say about art, inspiration and interpretation...
Nick Hornby has a knack for writing characters that he likes to think are quirky and flawed but loveable that invariably turn out flawed and loathsome. This is more of the same except at least the characters are essentially left for dead at the end and Hornby realises that just because someone knows something about music (in the context of the book, not in reality) that doesn't necessarily make them a great person.
Hornby has been a plague for the last fifteen years and must be stopped. More to follow elsewhere.
Hornby has been a plague for the last fifteen years and must be stopped. More to follow elsewhere.
It kind of peaks at the beginning and the last quarter is almost horrendous. But it still manages to be entertaining. At the very least, it encourages me to finally read *High Fidelity*, with the hope that it'll be more like the beginning of this one.
This is the first book I finished using Apple's iBooks application, but that's not an option at the moment here on Goodreads.
As an aside, there are little distinctions between iBooks and the Kindle app that make reading on each one very unique. Kindle allows the user to reverse the screen from black writing on a white background to white writing on a black background, which I find easier to read at night in the dark. iBooks doesn't do this, but one can change the brightness level. It's a similar effect, but harder on the eyes than Kindle's method. However, iBooks has a built in dictionary, something the people at Amazon say will be included soon. iBooks also possesses more intuitive and far-reaching annotation tools than Kindle. While Kindle does let the reader highlight sections of text, iBooks gives the reader the option of also adding post-it style notes along with the highlighted portion. Finally, the landscape mode in iBooks showcases an aesthetically pleasing double-page spread, as if the user were looking at an open book, while Kindle merely stretches text over the length of the screen. Ultimately, the most important part of a book reading app is the number of books available, and right now, Kindle blows iBooks out of the water. However, given the choice between the two, I always like to pick the iBooks app because of the color on the screen and the annotating ability.
HOWEVER THIS HAS NOTHING DO WITH Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby, DOES IT?
Nick Hornby is an author I've always enjoyed, even when some of the books themselves peter out disappointingly (How To Be Good and A Long Way Down, I'm looking at you). He has a way of writing about music and irresponsibility that's incredibly relatable. Juliet, Naked takes its title from a new release by a reclusive Nick Cave-type of musical artist named Tucker Crowe. At first, the book appears to be about the loser fanboy, Duncan, who worships Crowe, but the novel instead focuses on the fanboy's fed-up girlfriend, Annie, and her interactions with the former indie (...?) rock star. This was the correct move on Hornby's part because Duncan is insufferable and the more time spent with him, the worse the book would have been.
But since it's not about Duncan, the story is incredibly enjoyable and really feels like Hornby's most mature book, and not just because he's dealing with characters that are older than his usual fare. Sure, there were older characters in A Long Way Down, but since Hornby strictly focuses on Annie and Tucker here, they become fully realized beyond anyone else in his previous novels.
One of the coolest aspects of the book is how Hornby explores the relationship between an artist, his or her work, and the person that appreciates the art. Every year in one of my classes, I'll have a student complain that there is no way an author could have possibly meant for a symbol to have so much meaning or for a theme to really be intentional. It's always a struggle to tell them how little an author's intention matters. There is a distinct possibility that an author did not intend for an object in the book to be a symbol, but the work can be interpreted in such a way that the symbol is now there. Whether discussing a piece of writing or a piece of music, once it leaves the creator's hands and is out in the world, it no longer belongs to the originator. Art belongs to the world and some people are going to find meaning in it that was never intended to be there. Just because the artist never meant it to be there doesn't invalidate the interpretation; it merely opens up the conversation.
Hornby explores this theme in a really beautiful and elegant way towards the end of the novel, and I honestly wish he had spent more time on it because it feels a little underdeveloped. IRONY!
As an aside, there are little distinctions between iBooks and the Kindle app that make reading on each one very unique. Kindle allows the user to reverse the screen from black writing on a white background to white writing on a black background, which I find easier to read at night in the dark. iBooks doesn't do this, but one can change the brightness level. It's a similar effect, but harder on the eyes than Kindle's method. However, iBooks has a built in dictionary, something the people at Amazon say will be included soon. iBooks also possesses more intuitive and far-reaching annotation tools than Kindle. While Kindle does let the reader highlight sections of text, iBooks gives the reader the option of also adding post-it style notes along with the highlighted portion. Finally, the landscape mode in iBooks showcases an aesthetically pleasing double-page spread, as if the user were looking at an open book, while Kindle merely stretches text over the length of the screen. Ultimately, the most important part of a book reading app is the number of books available, and right now, Kindle blows iBooks out of the water. However, given the choice between the two, I always like to pick the iBooks app because of the color on the screen and the annotating ability.
HOWEVER THIS HAS NOTHING DO WITH Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby, DOES IT?
Nick Hornby is an author I've always enjoyed, even when some of the books themselves peter out disappointingly (How To Be Good and A Long Way Down, I'm looking at you). He has a way of writing about music and irresponsibility that's incredibly relatable. Juliet, Naked takes its title from a new release by a reclusive Nick Cave-type of musical artist named Tucker Crowe. At first, the book appears to be about the loser fanboy, Duncan, who worships Crowe, but the novel instead focuses on the fanboy's fed-up girlfriend, Annie, and her interactions with the former indie (...?) rock star. This was the correct move on Hornby's part because Duncan is insufferable and the more time spent with him, the worse the book would have been.
But since it's not about Duncan, the story is incredibly enjoyable and really feels like Hornby's most mature book, and not just because he's dealing with characters that are older than his usual fare. Sure, there were older characters in A Long Way Down, but since Hornby strictly focuses on Annie and Tucker here, they become fully realized beyond anyone else in his previous novels.
One of the coolest aspects of the book is how Hornby explores the relationship between an artist, his or her work, and the person that appreciates the art. Every year in one of my classes, I'll have a student complain that there is no way an author could have possibly meant for a symbol to have so much meaning or for a theme to really be intentional. It's always a struggle to tell them how little an author's intention matters. There is a distinct possibility that an author did not intend for an object in the book to be a symbol, but the work can be interpreted in such a way that the symbol is now there. Whether discussing a piece of writing or a piece of music, once it leaves the creator's hands and is out in the world, it no longer belongs to the originator. Art belongs to the world and some people are going to find meaning in it that was never intended to be there. Just because the artist never meant it to be there doesn't invalidate the interpretation; it merely opens up the conversation.
Hornby explores this theme in a really beautiful and elegant way towards the end of the novel, and I honestly wish he had spent more time on it because it feels a little underdeveloped. IRONY!