Having just read High Fidelity when I first saw the posters on the Tube announcing the new Horby’s book I couldn’t wait to get home and do my Amazon book shopping. Having read it I am not as overwhelmed as I hoped I would be. It’s not as funny as High Fidelity and not as engaging.Juliet, Naked is a story of two people, Annie and Duncan, stuck together in a not the most exciting relationship of all, sharing a bed but not necessarily sharing their outlook on life. Duncan’s an obsessed fan of Tucker Crowe, an American singer who mysteriously disappeared years ago and didn’t record anything since. Annie is a museum worker who for fifteen years has been sharing Duncan’s obsession about Crowe but starts realising that there isn’t much more than this that they have in common.
It’s not the best book I read recently and not my Hornby’s favourite but there are some little jewels in Juliet, Naked that I enjoyed.
First one is Malcolm, Annie’s old fashioned and judgmental psychotherapist. Who is probably more dependant on her than she is on him given she’s his only patient. Malcolm could have done with some more wit but he made me smile as a character.
Another one is Gooleness as a place and the way Nick describes it. Only having lived in the UK for a couple of years I find this small seaside town atmosphere really fascinating. It’s not any seaside town, it’s an English seaside town that I’ve seen a few of and they all have a similar feel to them. Feel of remoteness and lack of freshness as if only old people lived there. The exhibition Annie is preparing is just one example of that. Nice one Nick!
It made me smile, it made me live in a seaside town for a few days, it showed me slightly different side of English life and that’s what I expect from a book. Will it stay in my mind for long? Probably not.
My rating: YYYYY
Dear Yoanka,
ReplyDeleteI have not read this particular book yet, but I finished one Nick Hornby book myself lately - "SLAM" - and was highly disappointed. In my opinion, Hornby tried to do what Frank McCourt did in my favourite book of all times "Angelas Ashes". Which is writing a book using language of the main character, a tennager. Seeing the world through his young mentality and views on the world. Exposing his naivety. Only... Neither the language nor the mentality of the main character were that interesting, to be honest. McCourt made me laugh and cry and I can go back to that book any given time, if only for the naive language of a four year old, while Hornby's "SLAM"... Well, I struggled to get to the end, I was so annoyed with his sixteen year old character.
All in all, I think "High Fidelity" was written about something Hornby loves. Music. And you can simply tell that. Now he's out of his element.
I haven't read Slam myself but by the way you describe it I've got a feeling that you getting annoyed by it might have been another of Hornby's tricks, similar to what he's done to me in How To Be Good. It's different emotions he plays on compared to McCourt, as real and human as cry and laughter.
ReplyDeleteThough in the end is getting annoyed the reason why we reach for a book? Probably not. But still, I think it's an art in itself isn't it - to annoy you, to react to it in any way.
Juliet, Naked has got the music touch to it too, similar to High Fidelity with the Tucker Crowe character but except for calling a few names here and there it's only there as if Hornby was trying to make it more familiar to himself...