High Fidelity: A Novel

High Fidelity is more of a guide book than a novel. The relationship between men and music is a metaphor for everything that matters: football, baseball, alcohol, work. If you haven't had the neuroses over women and career yet, you will. "I've come to the conclusion that my guts have sh** for brains..."

So I've been looking forward to reading the last chapter of Nick Hornby's brilliant novel all night. I read several pages after work in the parking lot of my office building but thought I'd save the last few pages for the couch, for tonight, for now. I just realized that the copy I own is missing the second to last page!! Bloody hell! I got the copy from my neighbor's yard sale last year--it was 50 cents and I didn't check every page to make sure they were there--and I would go over and pound on their door begging for a refund or the missing page if they still lived there.

Anyone know of a pdf version floating around cyberspace? Don't know if I can hold off to go to my local library to check out the book. Pages 321 and 322 in the Riverhead Books paperback would be extremely helpful, the one with the day-glo orange cover. Or a scan of the last chapter that begins with, "Before the band comes on..." would suffice. I'm gonna post this on IMDB and a Hornby fan's blog too. Please reply here or at my own blog at [...]. Thanks and cheers. If you come through, I'll make you a mix tape.

High Fidelity is a movie I have enjoyed watching numerous times so I decided, finally, to read the book from which it was made. Nick Hornby's spare, clean, descriptive prose without a single unnecessary word, had me hooked from the first page. After finishing the book I ordered a few of his other books, read those, then re-read High Fidelity. It is a book that will stay in my permanent library to be read again and again.

It took a lot longer for the book to come than I had planned, and it came in a manila folder with no padding. It wasn't damaged, however, and the pages were intact. I would probably buy books from a different seller next time.

I have a big problem finding books that hold my interest - I finish about 1 out of 5 of them, but I indeed finished High Fidelity and found myself shirking what I should be doing in order to read.

High Fidelity is largely focused on the thoughts, feelings and remembrances of a Londoner in his mid-thirties who's been stuck for years at the same stage of life where everything revolves around music and relationships. The book was released in the mid-90's but really feels like early-mid-80's to me, smack dab in the vinyl/cassette era. I really identified, as I remember holding the same values, fears, and conflict about adulthood as Rob. Maybe a guy thing, but I usually don't have the patience for long passages that take place solely in the head of a character, but I really enjoyed the style and method of expression in High Fidelity. I wish I could read it again for the first time.