This book is the definition of guy chick lit. You get to enter the world and the inner workings of the male brain from the main protagonist Rob. He isn't perfect and he owns that (sometimes) it's hard to resist someone who can find faults in himself, and he is pretty flawed. He explores the reasons why he has so many failed relationship. Is it him? Yes and no..but he does get dumped a lot which makes for many amusing moments when he contemplates his life and where he's going by searching out the answers to his broken down relationships, mainly about his recent breakup with Laura. In the mix are his two sidekicks Dick & Barry fellow music lovers who condense life into top 5 lists. This book is fun, fresh and entertaining the fact that this is set mostly in a record store is the icing on the cake with lots of music pop references to keep me thoroughly entertained.

Rob Fleming is a thirty something London record store owner who has just lost his girlfriend Laura. Rob recalls his five most memorable break ups and then proceeds to get in touch with these girls in order to find out why they all ended up leaving him. Over at Championship Vinyl, Rob and his employees Dick and Barry spend their time demonstrating their vast music knowledge and constructing top five lists for every situation imaginable.

I really loved the movie High Fidelity, one of my favourites for a long time. So I’ve always meant to read the book and I finally got myself a copy. I devoured the book, faster than I expected. The book and the movie are very similar with not many noticeable differences, I was really happy about that. Problem with seeing the movie first is the fact that I keep picturing John Cusack, Iben Hjejle and every character. The only character I couldn’t remember was Ian and I imagined Peter Serafinowicz instead of Tim Robbins.

The only Nick Hornby movie I’ve read prior to High Fidelity was Juliet, Naked and I really didn’t get on to well with it. I was worried that I might have similar problems with this novel. Likely everything think I loved about the movie, comes from the book. The quirky nature, the themes and all those top five lists. Makes me want to watch the movie all over again. Weird but I prefer the movie, John Cusack is a great actor and I think it works better with the aid of audio and visual stimulation.

The thing I loved High Fidelity is the whole self-discovery plot. Rob Fleming begins the novel telling us about his top five breakups and how Laura didn’t hurt him as much as the others. This leads him to contact these five women and find out why everyone leaves him. What he discovered was the opposite and he learns more about himself than expected. The novel ends with not happiness but a deeper understanding of himself and what he must do to achieve a better life.

His love is so centred around his passion for music; he has to learn how to balance his life better. For music lovers, especially those who have an understanding in 80’s and 90’s music should appreciate this novel. For a romantic comedy, Hornby has this unique way of taking the genre that’s demographic is women and writing it with the male reader in mind.

If you liked the movie, then I’m not sure you really need to read the book. If you loved it, like I did then why not experience it in its original format (it’s like the Vinyl vs. CD debate). While it is very similar to the movie it was an enjoyable experience, one I would repeat sometime. It is a short novel so there is no real reason not to read it, except the movie is less time consuming.

This book originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...

Leggero e divertente senza essere mai banale o scontato, questo libro è quanto di più accattivante e gradevole si possa sperare di incontrare nel corso delle proprie incursioni nel mondo della lettura.
La trama è scarna, ma viene arricchita e movimentata da una inesauribile vena ironica, dalle brillanti trovate del protagonista e da una schiera di personaggi bizzarri e imprevedibili.
Bob Fleming ha una vera fissazione per la musica pop, tanto da averne fatto il proprio mondo, la propria forza e il proprio rifugio: oltre ad essere proprietario di un negozio di dischi che costituisce la fonte delle sue incerte entrate economiche, possiede anche una collezione privata, che riordina ogni volta che si trova in crisi e costretto a fare il bilancio della propria esistenza. Sono i brani che ama a scandire i momenti più importanti della sua vita, inoltre è in base ai gusti musicali che giudica le persone che incontra.
Anche l’allucinante meccanismo di catalogare tutto sulla base di top-five (film, canzoni, ma anche eventi e persone) è una forma di difesa, come per stabilire un controllo sulla realtà enumerandone e classificandone le componenti.
Inutile sottolineare che questo individuo egocentrico e stravagante si fa amare fin dalle prime pagine, perché le sue passioni e le sue manie, il suo egoismo e le sue insicurezze sono quelle di tutti noi, adulti cresciuti per necessità ma eterni adolescenti per vocazione nel più profondo del cuore.

High Fidelity is one of my Top 5 All-time favourite movies.

(And not only because it's a Cusack movie).

Strange then, that I didn't realise for a few years that it was based on a book, and embarassing that I didn't realise, 'til I picked it up, this year, that it was a British book. Shame on me.

Rob Flemming is a 30something Record store owner, whose life has hit a bit of a rut. He spends his working day (in a store which has very few customers), hanging out with his social misfit employees, making up Top 5 lists about records. Then he gets ditched by his girlfriend Laura. At first he's feeling pretty freed by it, back to his batchelor ways, doing whatever he likes; playing his records up loud. But soon he's depressed again. He makes his 'Top 5 breakup' list, and goes back to revisit each ex-gf to find out what it all means, why is he doomed to fall in love and be dumped repeatedly. Through it all he's constantly trying to win back Laura from the hated hippy Ray.

I know at first glance, a book like this can seem somewhat shallow in premise, but it's hidden gem like that.

And it's hard to think that a book about a 30something depressed bloke born 15/20? years before me.. could be relevent to me, but I constantly find it totally relevent, maybe that says something about me, or maybe it's just an awesome book.

I love the first person narritive in this book. Rob's point of view interspersed with 'Top 5' lists, flash backs, reminiscing, little anecdotes and ponderings. And his internal voice is just so perfect, he's clearly a flawed character, but that's what makes the realism. These little bits like; describing the way Laura got stuck in the door on the way out, and he had to faff around - no dramatic cliches, it's just real and honest. I also love the unsure, questioning way he likes to make semi-profound statements about the way things are, but then turn back on it at the end of the statement.

See, Laura? You won't change everything around like Jackie could. It's happened too many times, to both of us; we'll just go back to the friends and the pubs and the life we had before, and leave it at that, and nobody will notice the diffecence, probably.

I think the best thing for me, about this book. Is that it's a great break from reading (as I so often do) hundreds of fantasy romances, where the 36 year old single woman finally meets the handsome rich vampire of her dreams and everything is magical and perfect.. well this book is for everyone who is depressed, and hates their life, wishes they worked somewhere else, wishes they were with someone else, but knows there is nothing magic about to happen to save them from it. It's about reflecting on your life and realising that if you're always wishing for a fantasy, if you're always wishing for the all-time number 1 life of your dreams, you might miss that you're ACTUALLY perfectly happy where you are with plain old (but really just as nice) number 5 on your top 5 list.


So.. how well did this book translate from book to screen? Well the movie removed some of the more uninteresting scenes, changed Rob's last name, and moved the setting from London to Chicago. In order to change it to an American setting, very little was messed with. Simply switch every intstance of the word 'Bollocks' for the word 'Bullshit', make Marie deSalle black (because being american in america doesn't make her unusual anymore), and change a few of the place names and a couple of the song references. But as far as I'm concerned the translation from book to movie was still near perfect. Am I biased because I watched the movie first? Possibly. But if you watched the movie and never read the book, I will still respect you in the morning.


When I review one of my rare 5 star books, I know I can never do them justice. I can't write a perfect synopsis, I can't pick a perfect quote, I can't even spell perfectly. But maybe since this is a novel about not being being perfect, maybe that's okay. All I can say is, I loved this book.

dite quello che volete..... a me è piaciuto!

Recommended to: girls i have dated/am dating/will date, guys doing the breakup dance

"sex is about the only grown-up thing i know how to do; it's weird, then, that it's the only thing that can make me feel like a ten-year-old"


"so maybe what i said before, about how listening to too many records messes your life up... maybe there's something in it after all. david owen, he's married right? he's taken care of all that, and now he's a big-shot diplomat. the guy who came into the shop with the suit and the car keys, he's married too, and now he's, i don't know a businessman. me, i'm unmarried - at the moment as unmarried as it's possible to be - and i'm the owner of a failing record shop. it seems to me that if you place music (and books, probably, and films, and plays, and anything that makes you feel) at the center of your being, then you can't afford to sort out your love life, start to think of it as the finished product. you've got to pick at it, keep it alive and in turmoil, you've got to pick at it and unravel it until it all comes apart and you're compelled to start all over again. maybe we all live life at too high a pitch, those of us who absorb emotional things all day, and as a consequence we can never feel merely content; we have to be unhappy, or ecstatically, head-over-heals happy, and those states are difficult to achieve within a stable, solid relationship. maybe al green is directly responsible for more than i ever ralized.
see, records have helped me fall in love, no question. i hear something new, with a chord change that melts my guts, and before i know it i'm looking for someone, and before i know it i've found her. i fell in love with rosie the simultaneous orgasm woman after i'd fallen in love with a cowboy junkies song: i played it and played it and played it, and it made me dreamy, and i needed someone to dream about, and i found her, and...well, there was trouble."


over christmas break i became mildly obsessed with the idea of music as the nexus of everything important. i read a bunch of books about music, watched cameron crowe movies, played guitar, sang in the shower; it was super self-indulgent and i loved every second of it.

i read this between midnight and sunrise. i kept intending to stop so as not to waste all the goodness in one night, but i couldn't let it go. i liked it so much that i actually rented the movie again later that same day, which i realize is slightly ridiculous.

sometimes a really good movie adaptation makes the book seem unnecessary, and i think this is one of those for a lot of people. i've always loved the movie, but the book has the added bonus of british charm, and more dialog and flashbacks.

despite the fact that the book is light and fun, i think it does tackle some real issues, and honestly at that. it will ring true to the guys of the personality that it's written about, and to the women who have to put up with them.

Lukiessani tätä ajattelin ala-asteen opettajaani, joka sanoi, "kolmikymppisenä ei oikein tiedä, mitä on. Toisaalta ei ole enää nuori, mutta ei ole vielä tullut keski-ikäiseksi. Sitä sitten on". 10-vuotias minä ei tietenkään sisältöä käsittänyt, mutta lentävä lause jäi mieleeni. Tämän kirjan karmeat, vuosiksi riippumaan unohtuneet, märät rätit muistuttivat minua siitä, sillä kirjassa on jotain hirvittävän kolmikymppistä. Siis minua, vaikken halua myöntää sitä.

Päähenkilö on surkea, sosiaalisesti kömpelö ja niin kiinnostunut pikkumaisista, merkityksettömistä asioista, että se sotkee ihmissuhteita. Kirja toi mieleen monta absurdia sattumaa elämäni varrelta ja monta unohtunutta nimeä, joita olisi huvittanut tirvaista heidän tullessa mieleeni. Toisin sanoen, kevyt romaanillinen uskottavasti kirjoitettuja, surkeita henkilöhahmoja jotka roikkuvat suhteissa, levykaupoissa ja keikoilla koska eivät muuta keksi ja joiden olisi pitänyt tajuta kirjassa tajuamiaan asioita jo 10-vuotta aikaisemmin.

Tartuin tähän puhtaana väliviihteenä, jonka kaverini lykkäsi käsiini, mutta ehkä hetki oli oikea, koska vaikuttavuus oli taattu. Hyvä kirja lurjuksista, joita me kaikki olemme.

Great at the beginning. Loses some steam in the middle. Crashes and burns in the end. This book is as tasty as a regular Wonka's Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight but don't expect any golden ticket inside.

2.5 / 3 ⭐️

Дуже НЕ подобається головний герой. Не відчуваю до нього ні симпатії, ні співчуття, ні розуміння. Відчуття, наче прочитала якусь нудну статтю в газеті.

the main character would have a reddit account if he was alive right now

"Comunque mi ritrovo a pensare di nuovo a quella storia della musica pop, se mi piace perché sono infelice, o se sono infelice perché mi piace. Vorrei tanto sapere se quel tipo l’ha mai presa sul serio, se è mai stato seduto in mezzo a un mare di canzoni che parlano di…di… (dillo, amico, dillo) …beh, d’amore. Giurerei di no"

Rob Fleming è un trentenne squattrinato che vende dischi in vinile di seconda mano in un piccolo negozio di Londra.
Quando la sua ultima fidanzata Laura lo lascia per l’inquilino del piano di sopra, si rende conto di essere un vero perdente in amore
Abituato a divertirsi con i suoi amici Barry e Dick, a stilare liste dei dischi preferiti e a scambiarsi cassette piene di compilation, Rob decide di catalogare cosa gli ha impedito fino ad ora di vivere una storia d'amore bella e duratura .
Fa un elenco delle cinque ragazze che lo hanno più ferito dai tredici anni in su e decide di rintracciarle per capire perché l’abbiano mollato

Cosa c'è che non va in lui?
È un eterno adolescente, e solo lo il tempo e la disillusione, gli daranno una parvenza di spiegazione.
Rob rientra nella categoria di trentenni poco sistemati, senza moglie né figli, che vive il presente a suon di musica, la sola cosa che abbia davvero preso sul serio nella vita .
(Nel libro ci sono quasi duecento riferimenti musicali, tra pop, rock e blues)

In Alta Fedeltà, sotto l'apparenza della leggerezza, c’è il racconto di un’esistenza passata a incasellare tutto e c’è il marchio di fabbrica di Nick Hornby: l'umorismo unito allo spirito di osservazione con cui l’autore descrive una generazione piuttosto fortunata ma paradossalmente persa e immatura, smarrita e sola, il tutto cullato dalla seconda passione di Hornby , la musica
Gli stati d'animo di Rob strappano sorrisi ma non lo rendono sempre simpatico, specie quando lo fanno scivolare nell’autocommiserazione.
Nick Hornby ha creato un protagonista che non smette di auto rassicurarsi, empatizza poco e dribbla le responsabilità ; preferisce guardare sé stesso attraverso gli altri e il loro il successo, nel goffo tentativo di compensare
l’eterna insoddisfazione e la sensazione di aver sprecato le occasioni belle
Salvo accorgersi di colpo che il futuro immaginato non esiste e che crogiolarsi nelle insicurezze è una scusa per non crescere

John Cusack è stato un ottimo Rob Fleming nella versione cinematografica di Alta Fedeltà interpretando benissimo le inquietudini del protagonista sullo sfondo di una bella e vibrante Londra

Coinvolgente la versione Audible interpretata da Federico Zanandrea

Hands down, Nick Hornby is one of the funniest writers around. His witty, quick-as-a-punch dialogue and sly observations about people handle difficult situations make his books a joy to read. You can rip through High Fidelity in two days. You're dying to know if and how Rob will come to his senses about love and togetherness. You want to get to the bits where his clueless employees at the vinyl record store say and do completely unexpected things. And you want the book to become a (good) movie! Hornby is like a delicious candy bar--you want to savor every bite. But when it's gone, it's gone.