Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby ISBN: 1-57322-551-7 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: August, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (439 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One Of The Funniest Books I've Read In A Long Time
Comment: Anytime I tried to read this book in public, I got the strangest looks from people for laughing out loud.
Hornby captures the longing, ennui, humor and bitterness of the single male so perfectly, that every guy is bound to see some of himself in the lead character. The use of "Top 5" lists is a brilliant literary device. It advances the plot in almost every instance, while at the same time painting a complete and well-rounded portrait of the protagonist (and his friends). Plus, it's a fun way to start a debate with your own friends. The writing is sharp, the characters real and the plot engaging.
As a footnote, I think the movie did a wonderful job of adapting the book. The book is better, of course, but the film stays remarkably true to the spirit and letter of the original. There are entire passages from the book that are repeated in the script, which is very, very rare among adaptations.
Rating: 4
Summary: Funny, but don't expect nothing very deep
Comment: It's strange what happened with "High fidelity". Everybody talked so much about this book, saying it was excellent, intelligent, funny, etc; the movie was very good; most reviews at Amazon.com praised it as being an instant modern classic of the 90s. Well, I guess I was expecting too much, and, in the end, I was a bit let down.
In "High fidelity", Rob Fleming is author Nick Hornby's alter ego. Rob is in his mid-thirties; his friends, his girl-friends, a promising carrer, everything got stuck in his past. Now he's the owner of Championship Vinyl, a store that sells old albuns and records for rock-afficcionados, and his store is not doing so well. And, to top it all, his present girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for another man, older, hairier and who wears leather pants.
To face this separation, Rob starts to analyse what went wrong in his life. His mania is to make "Top 5 lists" of everything, and he tells the story in the book by reviewing the "Top 5 toughest break-ups in my life". Along with that, he reviews his relationship with his parents, with the only two co-workers at the store, and with an american folk-singer trying to make a career in London.
Nick Hornby writes freely, I felt his narration almost like a speech put into words, and that's nice. But Hornby created Rob as a too much bitter person, and sometimes I got tired of his winning and complaining about everything; that's why I didn't give "High fidelity" 5 stars.
What I think is good is that Hornby didn't attempt to analyse male life in the 90s too deeply (that was not the book's proposal, anyway). Hornby just exteriorized his own feelings and transformed them in this book.
Grade 8.1/10
Rating: 5
Summary: Loved the Movie, then Discovered and Loved the Book
Comment: The movie was set in Chicago or some large eastern city. John Cusack did a fabulous job capturing the sometimes obsessive, sometimes exasperated but always amusing main character. And the guys who played his store clerks were also fantastic.
Then, last summer, I discovered the book while staying in a rundown hostel in Camden, right where the book takes place. I had no idea the original was set in London, and it was fun to read it while wandering the very neighborhoods where it takes place.
For me, the different setting made it a lot of fun to read the book after seeing the movie. There were many similarities -- in fact, I could still picture John Cusack in my mind even though he's not British. And I could still picture the guys who played his clerks, too. But the different setting still contributed to my enjoyment of the book. (Although I often enjoy reading a book after having seen the movie, something which isn't always true the other way around.)
 |
Title: About a Boy by Nick Hornby ISBN: 1573227331 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: How to Be Good by Nick Hornby ISBN: 1573229326 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Songbook by Nick Hornby ISBN: 1573223565 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby ISBN: 1573226882 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: March, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title:High Fidelity ASIN: B00003CXGA Publisher: Walt Disney Home Video Pub. Date: 08 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $14.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
