Neurosis

High Fidelity
Nick Hornby, © 1995
fiction; 336pgs

Released in 1995, High Fidelity was Nick Hornby's first novel. My first notice of the book came via the film version (John Cusack, Jack Black) released in 2000. I've read it a few times in the past and decided to embark upon it again when I found it sitting under the bar at the Posse East.

For the past week I've been spending slow afternoons at the bar with Rob Fleming, the neurotic and cynical record shop owner. The force driving the narrative is a breakup. A compulsive list maker, Rob is forced to take stock of his life and his past. The story is woven for the reader with flashbacks (particularly through Rob's "Top 5 Breakups") as well as present action. It is, at times, tough to sympathize with Rob's somewhat shallow first person narrative. Though horribly self-centered and possessing a shamefully warped mindset, Rob is unflinchingly honest with himself in his self-examinations. The book perfectly captures one's ability to trouble themselves by over thinking. Even though this was my third or fourth time through the book, Hornby's prose is still fresh, hilarious, and affecting.

READ IT.