Thursday, November 5, 2009
In his new novel, Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) captures the complicated essence of human relationships, whether those relationships are with family members, lovers or with music. And ultimately, Hornby shows how sometimes the three can intertwine in unexpected ways.
The novel’s driving force, a man named Tucker Crowe, is a fictional American singer-songwriter whose music was renowned in the 1980s (via his hit album Juliet) but has since fizzled because of his mysterious withdrawal from fame and society. Crowe’s sudden disappearance leads to much speculation on the Internet and several Crowe enthusiasts, including Duncan, Crowe’s biggest fan, spend as much time online theorizing about Crowe’s current life as they do living their own lives.
Tucker Crowe has as much of an effect on Duncan’s life as Duncan’s girlfriend of 15 years, Annie, and Duncan’s misplaced passion for Crowe takes a wrong turn when Crowe releases a new album called Juliet, Naked. Duncan renders the release extraordinary while Annie finds it unimpressive and dull. The rift in their relationship is deepened because of their opposing feelings regarding the new album, and each of them turn to other people for understanding as well as the love they’ve missed out on for the past 15 years. Annie’s realization that Duncan can only ever love Crowe leads her down a surprising path, one made all the more interesting when Crowe himself appears, accompanied by the messy, imperfect life he’d been hiding for 20 years.
Hornby’s writing is incredibly relevant; he writes from the perspective of a man living in the 21st century, a world of online dating, chat-room conspiracy theories and out-of-control, obsessive fandom. Hornby explores questions about life and love through his characters, who feel as though they’ve wasted large portions of their lives and don’t know how to get those portions back.
And just when the story seems too straightforward or bare, Hornby’s exploration of human relationships and the way music can interfere with or be a part of those relationships livens it up and makes Juliet, Naked an overall refreshing read.
Three out of four stars.
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Comments
goldbaker88 (anonymous) says...
I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Excellent writing!
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November 18, 2009 at 8:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )