Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby

Juliet, Naked was one the suggestions that came up on the librarything site for Her Fearful Symmetry and I immediately got a copy from the local library. I got latched on to the book pretty fast ,  this being my first Nick Hornby selection, but, unfortunately my great enthusiasm fizzled out after the initial few chapters. But it did provide me some much-needed laughter after The Piano Teacher debacle.

Juliet, Naked starts off in a little English seaside town called Gooleness. Duncan, a man obsessed with the work of former singer and songwriter, Tucker Crowe, lives in Gooleness with his partner of fifteen years, Annie. Duncan who does not have much to show for his own life, spends it fervently spinning conspiracy theories about Crowe's life (or what there was of it from a different era), with a few of his internet buddies, Crowologists as they call themselves. As the story progresses, Annie and Duncan start examining the pointlessness of their relationship, where Tucker always seems to be lurking as an invisible presence.

Just when the reader starts warming up to the character of Duncan, he is completely pushed aside by Annie and the story starts to weave around Annie. Exit Duncan; Enter Tucker and then the reader cruises through parts of the U.S., following the life of Tucker. Duncan soon becomes a shadow while Annie enters centre stage, with her trivial crush on Tucker looming into something more dangerous and serious.

I found the character of Annie quite insipid and pretentious, exhibiting an intellect and taste for music that she very well did not possess. The Duncan/Annie pair did remind me of the  couple, Martin and Marijke from Her Fearful Symmetry, although M&M were far more interesting. If Nick had stuck to Duncan's character throughout the story, it might have made for an interesting book. The title and the beginning of the book seem to suggest some serious insights to be gained into the nature of relationships but these are soon reduced into banal trivialities. Just when the reader is about to give up on the book entirely, Nick tries to win back his/her interest with all the drama surrounding Tucker's enigmatic albeit colourful past.

All is not lost with the book as there are some places where the reader truly enjoys a good laugh. The chracter of Jackson, Tucker's son, soon wins over one's heart and as with any child, one is taken in by his innocence and the hundred questions he keeps firing back at adults.

Juliet, Naked is definitely not a great book, but might be a safe bet for that long flight haul.

Book Rating - 3/5

Book Stats:-

No. of Pages:- 249; 

Year Published:- 2009; 

Publisher:- Penguin Books

Book Setting:- UK, US; 

Reading dates:- 26/Mar/2010 - 27/Mar 2010

Similar book(s) that you might be interested in:-

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

Do you have a flair for some thrilling action and high drama? The Patriot's Club - Christopher Reich, my next review, is just what you are after.

The Piano Teacher - Elfriede Jelinek

The Piano Teacher, a book that was made into a movie, one that had received so many rave reviews over the years, a book that was part of the 1001 Book List, written by a Nobel Prize laureate, Elfriede Jelinek. These were definitely compelling reasons to peruse the book and I decided to plunge straight into it. Maybe it was the hype surrounding the book, maybe my own expectations were quite high, but in the end the book just left me feeling cold and unmoved.

The protogonist, Erika, as the title suggests is a Piano teacher in Vienna, living with her over-ambitious mother, a mother who delights in dreaming and pushing her daughter ahead, while being resigned to her own failure. The mother-daughter pair are involved in a constant love-hate battle. Erika resents the thought of being burdened by her mother and yet she is most comfortable in her mother's presence. The story, or whatever there is of it, trudges along rather slowly, much to the annoyance of the reader, trundling along with Erika and her lustful adventures with her student, Walter. 

The Piano Teacher is a translated work, but surprisingly the language is very powerful and resonates well with the character of Erika. Unfortuantely, even the beauty of language is soon lost on the reader, because language alone cannot make up for lacks of a good story or structure in the background.There is no direct speech anywhere in the book, which is quite unusual for a work of fiction. Erika, being the central character, is depicted as a selfish, lustful with her petty whims and fancies, atypical of most books.  The love affair between Erika and her student Walter, transfused with music, in the backdrop of Vienna would have charmed the reader but their lustful consorting only leaves one feeling disgusted.

The Piano Teacher, lacking the vitality of a contemporary collection or the beauty of a classic can be safely tossed aside. 

Book Rating - 2/5

 Interesting books part of the 1001 Books List that you may want to read:-

Atonement - Ian McEwan

The God of Small Things - Arundhathi Roy

Sadly this book has been a letdown but I hope to have some interesting review coming up shortly about Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby.