High Fidelity Audiobook By Nick Hornby cover art

High Fidelity

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High Fidelity

By: Nick Hornby
Narrated by: David Cale
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From the bestselling author of About a Boy, A Long Way Down and Dickens and Prince, a wise and hilarious novel about love, heartbreak, and rock and roll.

“I've always loved Nick Hornby, and the way he writes characters and the way he thinks. It's funny and heartbreaking all at the same time.”—Zoë Kravitz

Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films; top five Elvis Costello songs; top five episodes of Cheers.

Rob tries dating a singer, but maybe it’s just that he’s always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think that life with kids, marriage, barbecues, and soft rock CDs might not be so bad.©1995 Nick Hornby; (P)1998 Putnam Berkley Audio Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins

Critic reviews

"I've always loved Nick Hornby, and the way he writes characters and the way he thinks. It's funny and heartbreaking all at the same time."—Zoë Kravitz

"As funny, compulsive and contemporary a first novel as you could wish for."—GQ

"One of the top ten books of the year."—Entertainment Weekly

"It is rare that a book so hilarious is also so sharp about sex and manliness, memory and music."—The New Yorker

"Mr. Hornby captures the loneliness and childishness of adult life with such precision and wit that you'll find yourself nodding and smiling. High Fidelity fills you with the same sensation that you get from hearing a debut record album that has more charm and verve and depth than anything you can recall."—The New York Times Book Review

"Hornby's seamless prose and offhand humor make for one hilarious set piece after another, as suffering, self-centered Rob ruminates on women, sex, and Abbey Road. But then he's forced to consider loneliness, fitting-in, death, and failure—and that is what lingers."—Spin

"Keep this book away from your girlfriend—it contains too many of your secrets to let it fall into the wrong hands."—Details

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All stars
Most relevant
There was a "ghost" of the narrator faintly through most of the recording. Also it seemed like there was a lot of white noise.

Poor audio quality / Great novel

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I purchased the book and used a credit for the Audible title, so I could read while at home and listen while in the car. I had no clue that the Audible version skipped entire sections. Very disappointed.

Not the full novel

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I am a Nick Hornby fan. I love this novel. unfortunately this audio book only contains about half the book.
I used a free credit to download it so I discrimination loses any money or anything but had I spent money on it I would have been mad.

This is only about half the novel

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The 'accents ' put on for other people's voices were very off putting and took away from the characters.
However the story shows great character development.

Good story

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Listening to Hornby's work is always time well spent. I was disappointed to hear that several good parts were omitted (that's the downside to "abridged").I was stuck in a massive heatwave while visiting relatives in Indiana. Nightly listens to this audiobook helped me forget about the blast furnace outside my hotel window.Next time I'll remember to pack my copy of the book, which I left at home on my nightstand.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I was not the biggest fan of the narrator. Yes, I understand that the book takes place in England (and not Chicago, like the film), but the narrator did the worst job of making up voices for the other characters. He should have just stuck with his own voice instead of holding his nose to create the voices of his fellow record store pals. Don't get me started on his Texas accent...

Could you see High Fidelity being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Already has!

Helped me cope

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