Scan barcode
A review by frasersimons
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is difficult to rate because the movie occupies a part of my identity as one of my all time favourites. There’s the nostalgia of reading and at once hearing the best lines of the film, and also realizing that if I did not have Cusacks’ delivery of the lines, I might actually have missed a lot of the depth and cadence that makes it resonate with me. Did I love this book simply because it was another way to consume the movie? I really don’t know.
Rob, though, I find to be relatable as well as a cautionary tale. Having watched the movie as a teenager, emotional maturity was something still somewhat foreign to me. Every relationship I’ve ever been in, literally, has had me wonder if I’m being like Rob. Insecurities are real in your 20s. Had I been in my 30s and still been like Rob, though, I’d have really been worried; for good reason. It speaks to a lot of things, and some people just hate Rob so much they don’t like the movie or the book. But, kind of like Fight Club, you aren’t supposed to look to Rob for enjoyment or inspiration. You see a very human experience that unearths issues men of a certain age in a certain society tend to embody, and tries to explore them as best it can, through the lens of someone embodying them, unfiltered. And with the complexity of music thrown in.
The book can’t truly live up to the movie, in my mind, simply because it doesn’t have access to music. The songs are imprinted in my brain for all time, in a way that no book can ever do. Books become indelible in an entirely different way. Because music is so integral to the experience though, in a real way, the book cannot live up to it.
Even if it is the millennial male Sally Rooney experience I have wanted for a long time. And I think it is. I don’t think my brain has what it takes to animate Rob and Laura without the movie. I needed to be educated on them first in order to see that life first. I’m the kind of reader that wants the internal nature of why they say the things they do, rather than extrapolate their personalities from it. I don’t want to fill in those blanks, I want to know everything. You don’t get that from a very solipsistic narrator like Rob. He doesn’t even understand himself, which is what makes it so funny. I can’t help but have wanted more than I had access to from the movie. This doesn’t have that. Most of the best lines, even the internal, is voiced in the movie. Yet I still really enjoyed reading it, if only to prompt my memories of the movie.
What a useful review this is, eh?
Rob, though, I find to be relatable as well as a cautionary tale. Having watched the movie as a teenager, emotional maturity was something still somewhat foreign to me. Every relationship I’ve ever been in, literally, has had me wonder if I’m being like Rob. Insecurities are real in your 20s. Had I been in my 30s and still been like Rob, though, I’d have really been worried; for good reason. It speaks to a lot of things, and some people just hate Rob so much they don’t like the movie or the book. But, kind of like Fight Club, you aren’t supposed to look to Rob for enjoyment or inspiration. You see a very human experience that unearths issues men of a certain age in a certain society tend to embody, and tries to explore them as best it can, through the lens of someone embodying them, unfiltered. And with the complexity of music thrown in.
The book can’t truly live up to the movie, in my mind, simply because it doesn’t have access to music. The songs are imprinted in my brain for all time, in a way that no book can ever do. Books become indelible in an entirely different way. Because music is so integral to the experience though, in a real way, the book cannot live up to it.
Even if it is the millennial male Sally Rooney experience I have wanted for a long time. And I think it is. I don’t think my brain has what it takes to animate Rob and Laura without the movie. I needed to be educated on them first in order to see that life first. I’m the kind of reader that wants the internal nature of why they say the things they do, rather than extrapolate their personalities from it. I don’t want to fill in those blanks, I want to know everything. You don’t get that from a very solipsistic narrator like Rob. He doesn’t even understand himself, which is what makes it so funny. I can’t help but have wanted more than I had access to from the movie. This doesn’t have that. Most of the best lines, even the internal, is voiced in the movie. Yet I still really enjoyed reading it, if only to prompt my memories of the movie.
What a useful review this is, eh?