Let's eat Grandpa!

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby, narrated by Bill Irwin, Ben Miles, and Jennifer Wiltsie

Read: because I enjoy Hornby’s work (Audible, 416 “pages”, originally published September 2009)

Rating: 8 out of 10 (finished 8/30/10)

Synopsis: After cult musician Tucker Crowe vanished from the public eye 20 years ago, his small but devoted fan base built up a mythology around his oeuvre and the people and places associated with his storied life. Self-appointed Crowologist Duncan has indoctrinated his girlfriend, Annie, on the wonders of Tucker, but when Annie fails to recognize the genius of a newly released version of Crowe’s classic album Juliet, their 15-year relationship quickly crumbles. Meanwhile, Duncan’s glowing first review is increasingly de-bated, while Annie’s deconstructive essay posted on the same Web site earns her a clandestine e-mail correspondence with the reclusive musician.  Through brisk dialogue and quick scene changes, Hornby highlights each character’s misconceptions about his or her own life, and though Duncan, Annie and Tucker are consistently ridiculous and often self-destructive, they are portrayed with an extraordinary degree of sympathy.

Overall Impression: There is something about Nick Hornby’s writing that is just so…oh, I don’t know…digestible. It’s delicious and it’s filling and it makes you want more. Juliet, Naked — like many of Hornby’s books — delves into the lives of some fairly normal people with fairly normal problems, and it centers around one big theme — regret.  All three of the main characters look back at their lives and wonder if everything they’d lived up until now had been wasted. And because that’s something that many people struggle with, this book ends up being very relatable, even if the characters are very different from the life you’ve lead. Still, while it’s tinged with that gray British dreariness, it’s not at all a sad tale — in fact it’s very sweet in places. There’s quite a lot of hope at the end.

The best part about the book is that I ended up truly caring what happened to all of the characters, including the hapless cheating Duncan. Hornby has a lot of compassion for each of his characters, no matter how many stupid decisions they’ve made, or no matter how many people they’ve hurt. How often does that happen? How about never.

The narration was great as well, with three different readers playing the three different main characters. The only misstep was that guy who read the Tucker Crow part floundered when it came to a British accent. It sounded more like he had a mouthful of marbles.

Pros: Wonderful, relatable, broken, humble, redeemable characters. I loved and empathized with them all.

Cons: There was something about the side plot with the two soul dancers that I didn’t care for. It all felt a bit unnecessary.

Other books I’ve read by Nick Hornby (all read before I started blogging reviews): About a Boy, High Fidelity, A Long Way Down, How To Be Good, and the Polysyllabic Spree  

Other blogger opinions: books i done read, my books my life, and S. Krishna’s Books