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A review by hobbes199
The Big Rewind by Libby Cudmore
1.0
Review first published at If These Books Could Talk.
High Fidelity. That was a thing wasn’t it? Hugely successful, and incredibly influential, the novel by Nick Hornby spawned a movie and countless imitations.
Now, apparently, we need a ‘High Fidelity for Women’, and ‘The Big Rewind’ unfortunately, does neither the inspiration, women, or music fans in general, any favours.
Basically:
- Jett is a pretentious wannabe music journalist, leeching off her grandmother’s rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. She hates hipsters, despite being one and surrounding herself with them.
- KitKat lives upstairs. She’s ‘alternative’ because she has strange hair and deals in pot brownies.
- KitKat is murdered -her body discovered by Jett when she tries to return a wrongly delivered mix-tape. Death by rolling pin. How very hip.
-Jett spends the novel ‘investigating’ KitKat’s death at the request of her sister. She gets incredibly involved and emotional about KitKat’s death despite hardly knowing her, making her basically one of the ‘grief tourists’ she lays into so viciously early on.
-One of the ways Jettsticks her nose in investigates is by looking through the victim’s collection of personal mixtapes, tracking down as many as she can to have a good nose about. This triggers Jett’s own feelings of ennui about her past love life and her present, causing her to seek out old flames. And the reader to realise what a crashing bore the main character actually is.
-Jett wants to have her cake and eat it too – moping about ‘the one that got away, while claiming to be hot to trot for another. Yes reader, she’s one of those.
-Sid is the poor bastard who has to deal with ‘Little Miss Indecisive’ on a daily basis, and the subject of her lust. Naturally he’s oblivious until the final act. And very stupid. As are most of the men involved.
-There are other characters, but they’re really too one-dimensional, flat and boring to bother with. Honestly…struggling to remember any of them right now.
-I’ve seen cigarette papers thicker than this plot. The ‘crime/mystery’ element is non-existent until the final part of the ‘The Big Rewind’ and no matter how much Cudmore may elude to the crime genre in her title, this is no Marlow. The ‘perp’ is obvious from their introduction, and procedures are full of faults. Not sure how much research was done into the P.I. trade or sting operations, but, put it this way, if the case ever got to court, it’d get thrown out on so many technicalities, even Nelson & Murdoch (Avacados At Law) couldn’t get a successful conviction.
-‘The Big Rewind’ is the book equivalent of a Bond movie. Jett doesn’t just go to a shop. Oh no! She goes to ‘Trader Joes’. Regularly. We’re bombarded with mentions for clothes, make-up, and all sorts of bollocks it’s like sitting through a commercial break every few chapters.
-Oh. There’s music. Lots of it. Whereas Hornby delicately wove his musical loves and those of his character Rob throughout High Fidelity, Cudmore smashes you around the head (probably with an advert emblazoned rolling pin) at every turn. Subtlety is not in play here. If you came to read this novel having lived in Antarctica, with limited music knowledge, then you may be impressed, or informed.
-Actually…fuck it…they’ve probably got internet somewhere in Antarctica, so I’d hazard a guess that even the bloody penguins know that The Smiths recorded ‘This Charming Man’.
-Jett is a judgemental arsehole. If she doesn’t like/agree/understand it, then it’s the worst thing to happen. Inpaying homage to ripping off ‘High Fidelity’ Cudmore has lost the very essence of the book: music is subjective, an emotional, heart-felt, awe-inspiring thing that evokes memories, painful and joyful, that go beyond the boundaries of almost any other medium other than literature. This is a character who wants to be a journalist? Gimmie a break!
-Less said about the sniggering ‘heehee’ attitude to her boss’ thing for female underwear the better. Seriously. Quit.
-Having one POC does not mean you have to bring up the subject of their skin colour as often as you mention Trader Joes. It also does not excuse all the other judgy bullshit.
I had high hope for this, genuinely I did, but it’s let down too quickly into the narrative by shoddy characterisation, silly plot elements, and that aforementioned patronising and judgemental tone.
I’m not sure the publishing world needs a ‘woman’s High Fidelity’, as hey, you know, we kinda read it already, enjoyed it, and then moved on. ‘The Big Rewind’ is a confused, direction-less novel that certainly doesn’t bring out anything in the reader other than a distinct hatred of Trader Joes.
High Fidelity. That was a thing wasn’t it? Hugely successful, and incredibly influential, the novel by Nick Hornby spawned a movie and countless imitations.
Now, apparently, we need a ‘High Fidelity for Women’, and ‘The Big Rewind’ unfortunately, does neither the inspiration, women, or music fans in general, any favours.
Basically:
- Jett is a pretentious wannabe music journalist, leeching off her grandmother’s rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. She hates hipsters, despite being one and surrounding herself with them.
- KitKat lives upstairs. She’s ‘alternative’ because she has strange hair and deals in pot brownies.
- KitKat is murdered -her body discovered by Jett when she tries to return a wrongly delivered mix-tape. Death by rolling pin. How very hip.
-Jett spends the novel ‘investigating’ KitKat’s death at the request of her sister. She gets incredibly involved and emotional about KitKat’s death despite hardly knowing her, making her basically one of the ‘grief tourists’ she lays into so viciously early on.
-One of the ways Jett
-Jett wants to have her cake and eat it too – moping about ‘the one that got away, while claiming to be hot to trot for another. Yes reader, she’s one of those.
-Sid is the poor bastard who has to deal with ‘Little Miss Indecisive’ on a daily basis, and the subject of her lust. Naturally he’s oblivious until the final act. And very stupid. As are most of the men involved.
-There are other characters, but they’re really too one-dimensional, flat and boring to bother with. Honestly…struggling to remember any of them right now.
-I’ve seen cigarette papers thicker than this plot. The ‘crime/mystery’ element is non-existent until the final part of the ‘The Big Rewind’ and no matter how much Cudmore may elude to the crime genre in her title, this is no Marlow. The ‘perp’ is obvious from their introduction, and procedures are full of faults. Not sure how much research was done into the P.I. trade or sting operations, but, put it this way, if the case ever got to court, it’d get thrown out on so many technicalities, even Nelson & Murdoch (Avacados At Law) couldn’t get a successful conviction.
-‘The Big Rewind’ is the book equivalent of a Bond movie. Jett doesn’t just go to a shop. Oh no! She goes to ‘Trader Joes’. Regularly. We’re bombarded with mentions for clothes, make-up, and all sorts of bollocks it’s like sitting through a commercial break every few chapters.
-Oh. There’s music. Lots of it. Whereas Hornby delicately wove his musical loves and those of his character Rob throughout High Fidelity, Cudmore smashes you around the head (probably with an advert emblazoned rolling pin) at every turn. Subtlety is not in play here. If you came to read this novel having lived in Antarctica, with limited music knowledge, then you may be impressed, or informed.
-Actually…fuck it…they’ve probably got internet somewhere in Antarctica, so I’d hazard a guess that even the bloody penguins know that The Smiths recorded ‘This Charming Man’.
-Jett is a judgemental arsehole. If she doesn’t like/agree/understand it, then it’s the worst thing to happen. In
-Less said about the sniggering ‘heehee’ attitude to her boss’ thing for female underwear the better. Seriously. Quit.
-Having one POC does not mean you have to bring up the subject of their skin colour as often as you mention Trader Joes. It also does not excuse all the other judgy bullshit.
I had high hope for this, genuinely I did, but it’s let down too quickly into the narrative by shoddy characterisation, silly plot elements, and that aforementioned patronising and judgemental tone.
I’m not sure the publishing world needs a ‘woman’s High Fidelity’, as hey, you know, we kinda read it already, enjoyed it, and then moved on. ‘The Big Rewind’ is a confused, direction-less novel that certainly doesn’t bring out anything in the reader other than a distinct hatred of Trader Joes.