50 Books That Stayed With Me: 8 of 50
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Here’s part eight of the series, 50 Books That Stayed With Me. Without any further ado, let’s get to it.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
I have been doing this thing recently where every month or so I read a different book with a different friend. (Hi Sanjit) Yes, I realize that is essentially a book club, but let me have this. February’s book was High Fidelity. So yes, there is probably a fair share of recency bias here, but oh well.
I love writing that feels like someone is talking directly to you. Not performing. Not trying to sound important. Just thinking out loud in a way that is sharp and self aware and occasionally uncomfortably honest. That is what this book does. The voice is so controlled, so specific, that you forget you are reading and feel like you are being let in on something. It’s incredible writing.
The story itself is simple. Rob, mid thirties, record shop owner, recently dumped, decides to revisit his top five breakups to understand what went wrong and possibly mend his most recent relationship. That is it. A man gets left and begins excavating his past. No dramatic twists. No sweeping declarations. Just memory, ego, and slow realization.
And it is funny. Not quite laugh out loud funny, but the kind that keeps a quiet smile on your face while you turn every page. The wow, that is clever writing kind of funny. The wow, that is almost uncomfortably self aware kind of funny.
Rob is a child in a man’s body. Narcissistic. Selfish. Kind of a loser. And the book never really tries to fix that. It simply lets him be all of those things at once. The self awareness, the pettiness, the insecurity. Watching him revisit his past relationships stops feeling like gossip pretty quickly. It starts to feel more like watching someone slowly realize that the common denominator in all of them might be him.
Oh, and the lists. Everything in High Fidelity eventually becomes a top five list. Favorite songs. Worst breakups. Desert island records. Life, for Rob, is something to be ranked, curated, and endlessly reorganized.
At first it is just funny. The way every conversation can turn into a debate about music or taste or cultural trivia. But slowly you realize the lists are doing something else. They are a way of making sense of things that are otherwise messy. Heartbreak is confusing, but a ranked list feels neat. Memory is unreliable, but a list feels definitive. If you can categorize your past, maybe you do not have to fully sit with it.
And that is where the book becomes sharper than it first appears. Rob has spent most of his life confusing taste with personality, building an identity out of cultural knowledge. Even if Rob probably never quite realizes it, as readers we recognize that curating your life is not the same thing as living it.
Some books try to overwhelm you. This one disarms you. It makes you smile, a lot, and leaves you feeling strangely hopeful. I loved it.
And to end this article the only way one really should after reading a book obsessed with top five lists, here is mine: my Top 5 songs to listen to on a road trip with friends.
Don’t You Worry Child – Maybe it is just the 2012 nostalgia talking, but something by Swedish House Mafia or Avicii always feels perfect for a road trip.
Khaabon Ke Parinday – ZNMD bias? Yep.
Heat Waves – Something to be played in the latter half of the road trip, when everyone has settled in. Maybe a little tired, but still vibing.
Take Me Home, Country Roads – At some point this song will come on and suddenly the entire car is a choir. Mr Brightside works too.
Hot n Cold – Something by Katy Perry, Sabrina Carpenter, or Justin Bieber. The kind of pop you might claim you hate but secretly love. Mostly love, let’s be honest.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading. Which songs would make your list?