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A review by lindseysparks
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
5.0
I tend to think Hornby's novels make better movies than novels because of all of the dialogue and the light feel, but this is definitely meant to be a novel. Most of the story takes place in the characters' heads and it's told from several perspectives. He created people who felt real and were distinct - I hate it when an author writes from different perspectives but they all sound the same. I think Hornby would make a good writing teacher, or at least his works would. Read this to learn about perspective and inner monologues, his other novels for dialogue, his book reviews for how to talk about books without sounding pompous.
Despite being a fast, fun read this novel has a lot to unpack, which I guess makes sense because the book is partly about being a fan and unpacking a musician's lyrics and life. Duncan is obsessed with a singer and takes his partner along for the ride, then they end up meeting him and discovering a lot of their assumptions were wrong. There's a lot about art and what makes it real and how what you know of the creator impacts the art. There is also a lot about what it means to waste your life and what may seem wasteful to one person doesn't to another and even if you feel like you wasted time with someone or on something that doesn't mean that whole time was wasted. Then there was quite a bit about love and how you can't really love someone you don't know or spend any time with, even if that person is your kid or parent or whatever. This just felt so honest to me. Most people don't want to admit to that. You don't love someone just because they are related to you. You may feel an obligation to love them but unless you actually know them you can't really love them. I loved that Hornby didn't try to neatly wrap everything up and have everyone love each other at the end. Life is messy.
Despite being a fast, fun read this novel has a lot to unpack, which I guess makes sense because the book is partly about being a fan and unpacking a musician's lyrics and life. Duncan is obsessed with a singer and takes his partner along for the ride, then they end up meeting him and discovering a lot of their assumptions were wrong. There's a lot about art and what makes it real and how what you know of the creator impacts the art. There is also a lot about what it means to waste your life and what may seem wasteful to one person doesn't to another and even if you feel like you wasted time with someone or on something that doesn't mean that whole time was wasted. Then there was quite a bit about love and how you can't really love someone you don't know or spend any time with, even if that person is your kid or parent or whatever. This just felt so honest to me. Most people don't want to admit to that. You don't love someone just because they are related to you. You may feel an obligation to love them but unless you actually know them you can't really love them. I loved that Hornby didn't try to neatly wrap everything up and have everyone love each other at the end. Life is messy.