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justie 's review for:
High Fidelity
by Nick Hornby
HOT TAKE™: The hulu series of High Fidelity is the best iteration.
I watched the show and loved it so much, I decided to give the novel a shot, despite not really caring for the Nick Hornby books I've read in the past. I do think this was better than others I've read by him, but I still was not super sold, and don't necessarily think I would've liked the book alone if I had read it before the movie/show.
As a music nerd who who's super into making Top X lists for everything, I went into this assuming that Rob was either A. Me, or B. My soulmate. I hope to god he is neither. Rob was selfish and mopey and self-deprecating in a very dull way. My 4- and 5- star books are usually ones where I either love or loathe the protagonist (there are obviously some exceptions here), and while I disliked Rob, he wasn't interesting enough for me to hate him.
One of my main issues with the story was that Rob seemingly did not develop at all as a character. He'd have minor epiphanies here and there about his behavior, but overall the progression kind of fell flat for me.
While I couldn't connect with Rob, or any of the characters really, I didn't struggle to get through the book. It was an interesting enough story that I still wanted to know what would come next, and whether Rob and Laura would ultimately end up together. Note: I definitely did not root for that to happen, because Laura seemed pretty cool and successful on her own. At least one full star in my opinion is attributed solely to the line: "What came first, the music or the misery?" A true highlight of the novel.
Overall, not a bad read but not a great one either. I think I just had much higher expectations for it.
I watched the show and loved it so much, I decided to give the novel a shot, despite not really caring for the Nick Hornby books I've read in the past. I do think this was better than others I've read by him, but I still was not super sold, and don't necessarily think I would've liked the book alone if I had read it before the movie/show.
As a music nerd who who's super into making Top X lists for everything, I went into this assuming that Rob was either A. Me, or B. My soulmate. I hope to god he is neither. Rob was selfish and mopey and self-deprecating in a very dull way. My 4- and 5- star books are usually ones where I either love or loathe the protagonist (there are obviously some exceptions here), and while I disliked Rob, he wasn't interesting enough for me to hate him.
One of my main issues with the story was that Rob seemingly did not develop at all as a character. He'd have minor epiphanies here and there about his behavior, but overall the progression kind of fell flat for me.
Spoiler
Basically, he threw himself a lil fit and lucked himself back into his relationship with Laura, and then continued his f-boy behavior, because he learned nothing.While I couldn't connect with Rob, or any of the characters really, I didn't struggle to get through the book. It was an interesting enough story that I still wanted to know what would come next, and whether Rob and Laura would ultimately end up together. Note: I definitely did not root for that to happen, because Laura seemed pretty cool and successful on her own. At least one full star in my opinion is attributed solely to the line: "What came first, the music or the misery?" A true highlight of the novel.
Overall, not a bad read but not a great one either. I think I just had much higher expectations for it.