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1. Yuda says:

   December 1, 2009 at 9:31 pm

   This review is from: Juliet, Naked: a novel (Hardcover)

   All you really need to know about Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby’s latest, is
   that it doesn’t disappoint. It’s really, really good, and it may even
   replace High Fidelity as my favorite.

   The main characters are Annie and Duncan, a middle-aged couple, and Tucker
   Crowe, an aging musician in retirement. Annie and Duncan have a
   relationship-ending fight about the quality of Tucker Crowe’s new album,
   and Annie begins a correspondence with Tucker Crowe himself.

   Juliet, Naked is about Regret. Big, mid-life crisis level Regret — grief
   and anger at the too-quick passage of time, of wasted opportunities. It’s
   about the realization that one has not Done Enough, or Done the Right
   Things.

   This may sound unappetizing. But one of the rare and great features of
   Nick Hornby’s writing is how he takes situations that would normally be
   dreary, such as a serious break-up (High Fidelity) or teenage pregnancy
   (Slam), makes these situations hilariously funny. His characters are
   self-aware about themselves in some ways, but not at all in other ways.
   These gaps in self-knowledge, and Hornby’s gentle handling of them, are
   exquisite in their subtlety and insight.

   This book reminded me: (1) Do the work you love, and (2) Strive to spend
   time with the people who (a) love you and (b) who you love in return.
   Which of us doesn’t need this reminder, always?
2. Anonymous says:

   December 1, 2009 at 10:24 pm

   This review is from: Juliet, Naked: a novel (Hardcover)

   I love this book. I love this book. I love this book.

   There, have I said it enough?

   This isn’t a spoiler review. If you want a plot synopis, by all means, move on.

   The story opens in a dreary British seaside town, in the current day. Our main characters are a late thirty-something couple. He’s a college professor and aficionado of a reclusive ex-eighties musician who reminds one of, well, Jandek, before Jandek actually started doing concerts. She is a museum curator, who is longing for a better life, and a child, somewhere a lot less boring.

   The book is full of lines like, “Where in the North of England could one find an unattached arts graduate? We went to North Bumblebee; supposedly there had been one there four or five years ago.” Much of this is howlingly, bitterly funny.

   If I tell you what happens, it will ruin the plot, so I’ll tell you what it’s not: this isn’t a continuation of, “High Fidelity”; it’s not a story about stoically finding happiness in what you have; it’s slightly anti-British–America looks like the place to be; its main thesis seems to be that leaving adolescence, and more importantly, having children, is the secret to long-term happiness.

   This is a lot about looking back, and ending what doesn’t work. For many Gen-X’ers in their late thirties, this may hit a little too close too home.

   So, if you were rooting for the commitment-phobic, rock musician obsessed guy in this story, um, well, not the book for you. If however, you are hopeful, family friendly (gack, did I just say that?), rooting for the woman looking for the baby, and possibly the aging very ex-rock star, then this is just grand.

   P.S. Some of the jokes may rely on familiarity with Northern England stereotypes. (If you’ve seen, “Hot Fuzz”, and “Kids in the Hall”, you should be fine.)
3. Huela says:

   December 1, 2009 at 11:19 pm

   This review is from: Juliet, Naked: a novel (Hardcover)

   Nick Hornby’s newest novel, Juliet, Naked, is about has-been musician Tucker, Duncan, the man who’s obsessed with him, and Annie, Duncan’s long-term girlfriend, who finds herself in the middle.

   Hornbyesque:
   - As always, Hornby puts a great deal of care and effort into constructing realistic, dynamic characters. I recently saw him at a reading, and I could tell how much he thought about each of them, even the most minor, like Annie’s friend Ros. He knows them, and has created them, as actual people.
   - Also character related, is the fact that everyone can connect to someone in the novel. Perhaps you’ve been been a crazed fan, someone who failed to reach their potential, or stuck in a dead-end relationship. Above all, everyone knows what it feels like to have made mistakes and want to fix them before it’s too late.
   - The sly wit reminiscent of High Fidelity and How to Be Good is once again present (I felt it took a bit of a hiatus in the last novel, A Long Way Down). Smart, British, biting humor.
   - Hornby writes with an intelligent simplicity- he respects his readers enough to realize that they don’t need three pages describing the dreary sea or the seaside museum Annie works in. He realizes they have brains and allows them the freedom to create their own pictures.

   But…
   - I feel Juliet, Naked slightly misses the bar raised so very high by High Fidelity, About a Boy, and How to Be Good.
   - I don’t want to give anything away, but I had a few issues with the ending. I realize the point (so don’t start lambasting me under the comments for “not getting it”), but I just didn’t appreciate it.

   Great read for those who love Hornby and those who are reading him for the first time. Also, if you ever get a chance to attend a reading I recommend you go.