Reader’s Corner: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You’ve got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention (I started with ‘Got To Get You Off My Mind’, but then realised that she might not get any further than track one, side one if I delivered what she wanted straight away, so I buried it in the middle of side two), and then you’ve got to up it a notch, and you can’t have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can’t have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you’ve done the whole thing in pairs, and ... oh there are loads of rules.
― Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel High Fidelity begins with an ending. Or, more accurately, it begins with Rob’s top five most memorable breakups. Now, Rob is a single thirty-five-year-old man running a failing record shop in north London. After being dumped by Laura, Rob contacts the top five ex-girlfriends who broke his heart. Through these calls, his conversations (and arguments) with friends, and some casual sex, Hornby creates a brilliant and entertaining exploration of love, life, music, and modern life.
Though the story follows a seemingly inconsequential storyline in the life of a seemingly inconsequential man, Hornby’s message soon becomes rapidly clear, showing how the selfish clash of fear of change and fear of permanence leads only to a loneliness permeating modern life. Bitterly hilarious yet self-absorbed, Rob’s narration is filled with subtle revelation, accepting the mundane and painting a drab yet almost comforting picture of urban ennui.