Take a photo of a barcode or cover
maria_rb 's review for:
Juliet, Naked
by Nick Hornby
Reading Nick Hornby, for me, is often hit or miss. I love some of his books and don't love the others. This one was filled with philosophy about aging, what it means to be a reclusive celebrity, what it takes to analyze one's life, and whether one is better off living a mediocre life as a fan, or a mediocre life as a celebrity. I love the depth of the characters, their sardonic tones and the use of irony to examine their lives. Good humor and an interesting plot kept me engaged throughout.
An interesting side note is that the book examines the notion of narrative and the meaning of life:
The truth about autobiographical songs, he realized, is that you had to make the present become the past, somehow. You had to take a feeling, or a friend, or a woman, and turn whatever it was into something that was over, so that you could be definitive about it. You had to put it in a glass case and look at it and think about it until it gave up its meaning, and he’d managed to do that with just about everybody he’d ever met or married or fathered. The truth about life was that nothing ever ended until you died. And even then, you just left a whole bunch of unresolved narratives behind you. He’d somehow managed to retain the mental habits of a songwriter long after he’d stopped writing songs. And perhaps it was time to give them up. –Nick Hornby
P.S. It doesn't hurt that this was one I listened to and the narrators' voices match the characters well.
An interesting side note is that the book examines the notion of narrative and the meaning of life:
The truth about autobiographical songs, he realized, is that you had to make the present become the past, somehow. You had to take a feeling, or a friend, or a woman, and turn whatever it was into something that was over, so that you could be definitive about it. You had to put it in a glass case and look at it and think about it until it gave up its meaning, and he’d managed to do that with just about everybody he’d ever met or married or fathered. The truth about life was that nothing ever ended until you died. And even then, you just left a whole bunch of unresolved narratives behind you. He’d somehow managed to retain the mental habits of a songwriter long after he’d stopped writing songs. And perhaps it was time to give them up. –Nick Hornby
P.S. It doesn't hurt that this was one I listened to and the narrators' voices match the characters well.