High Fidelity (novel)

High Fidelity

First edition
Author Nick Hornby
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Publisher Victor Gollancz Ltd
Publication date
1995
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 253 pp
ISBN 0-575-05748-3
OCLC 32237794
Followed by About a Boy

High Fidelity is a novel by British author Nick Hornby first published in 1995. It has sold over a million copies[1] and was later adapted into a feature film in 2000 and a Broadway musical in 2006. In 2003, the novel was listed on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[2]

Plot summary

Rob Fleming is a London record shop owner in his mid-thirties whose girlfriend, Laura, has just left him. At his record shop, called Championship Vinyl, Rob and his employees, Dick and Barry, spend their free moments discussing mix-tape aesthetics and constructing desert-island, "top-five" lists of anything that demonstrates their knowledge of music.

Rob, recalling his five most memorable breakups, sets about getting in touch with the former girlfriends. Eventually, Rob's re-examination of his failed relationships and the death of Laura's father bring the two back together. Their relationship is cemented by the launch of a new purposefulness to Rob's life in the revival of his disc jockey career.

Also, realising that his fear of commitment (a result of his fear of death of those around him) and his tendency to act on emotion are responsible for his continuing desires to pursue new women, Rob makes a symbolic commitment to Laura.

References

  1. Knowles, Joanne (2002). Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. Continuum Contemporaries. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 76. ISBN 9780826453259.
  2. "BBC - The Big Read". BBC. April 2003. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
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