High Fidelity (original 1995; edition 2000)

Rob Fleming may or may not be my spirit animal. ( )

"Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"
Ich habe zuerst die Verfilmung mit John Cusack gesehen, und danach habe ich mir erst das Buch gekauft. Das war mein erstes Buch von Nick Hornby, und ich dachte es war besonders cool wie der Autor, die Themen Liebe(Anfang und Ende) und Musik verbunden hat. Aber es gab noch etwas das mir sehr gut gefallen hat: die Top-5-Listen. Ich bin ein Fan von solchen Listen. Sie begrenzen uns. Nur fünf Lieder, nur fünf Beziehungen oder nur fünf Sänger.
Die Geschichte handelt von Rob, einem jungen Mann der gerade Schluss mit seiner Freundin gemacht hat. Rob liebt Musik und kennt sich sehr gut in diesem Feld aus. Er besitzt ein kleinen Plattenladen und hat starke Ansichten darüber, was anständig ist und was nicht. Beziehungen sind aber nicht gerade seine Stärke. Tatsächlich ist er überhaupt nicht sicher, ob er sich nach den vielen Enttäuschungen auf eine neue Beziehung einlassen will. Er zeigt uns diese "Post Break-up" Gefühle und Gedanken. Wir, als Frauen, denken, dass Männer sind stärker. Nick Hornby hat uns gezeigt, wie Männer mit Trennung umgehen.
Also, das Buch ist in einem gewissen Sinne eine Liebesgeschichte, sowohl süß und unterhaltsam. Einfach toll geschrieben! ( )

I remember watching the movie a long time ago, when I was a teenager, and being stuck with the idea of making top 5 lists and talking a lot about music. Musical knowledge was really something to show off. And I loved John Cusack (I still do) and his way of talking to the camera. But I think mostly I was delighted with the idea of building a soundtrack for my own life, just as Rob does, and I always remembered "High Fidelity" as exactly that: music.

Having read the book, although music plays a central role, it's not what the story is all about. This is about relationships, about being 30-something, but especially it is about how life turns out to be different from what our 20-year-old-something used to believe, how to deal with the fact that things don't happen like in movies, that love can be very different from what one expects it to be. It's about not being sure, and maybe that's what touched so many people, so many 20 and 30-year-olds that just don't know what to do with life.

The book is not so great as I expected it to be (I think I expected John Cusack to pop out in front of me) in terms of narrative, but it sure does have some great moments - I mean, really great.

Anyway, I believe it to be a worthy read for all of us young ones, this weird generation. ( )

Nick Hornby is da bomb! Seriously. He's funny, astute and while one might think they are reading a straight-forward, comedic tale, there are some fairly deep assessments going on within. Some moments made me laugh out loud and some moments, all too relatable, made my heart hurt. Also - Hornby's book totally made me have an awesome dream about John Cusack and that can never be a bad thing. Ever. ( )

This Sunday's New York Times had an essay by a woman telling why she prefers "guys" to "men." She would like Rob Fleming, the protagonist of [b:High Fidelity|285092|High Fidelity|Nick Hornby|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1195236004s/285092.jpg|2961887] -- at least when she didn't feel like kicking him. Rob is 35, owns an unsuccessful record shop (though he does have two employees), and spends a lot of time making up Top 5 lists of records, movies, and of course, women he's dumped or been dumped by. The latest in the last category is Laura, who's just moved out as the book begins. Hijinks ensue and all's well that ends well.

Some people might wonder why this book made it onto the Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone must Read list, and the same people might wonder why [b:Bridget Jones's Diary|227443|Bridget Jones's Diary|Helen Fielding|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J5NZ2MJ4L._SL75_.jpg|3185154] is on there too. I don't have a problem with either the "chick lit" or "lad lit" genres if they're well done, which these are. If one purpose of reading novels is to allow us into someone else's world and increase our knowledge of the human condition, both these books do that. )Odd, or maybe not, that both feature lists rather heavily! I quite enjoyed this book and now I think I might take a look at the film.
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