High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby

I thought the movie was really great (by the way, when I say really great, I am actually using an euphemism here). It was one of those "you-don't-have-a-choice" type of situations and I had to read the book. So, ok, the first conclusion I reached was that this was another rare case when the movie is just as good as the book, but that doesn't mean that if you've seen it and liked it, I'm providing you with an excuse not to read. I feel that, in this case, movie and book complemented each other well and the sum of the parts is a lot more fun than each other alone.

Is it a 'chick' thing (movie or book) for guys? Whatever. A friend of mine bought the book for herself and was turned off by the whole typical guy point of view and put it down after a few tens of pages. I ended up as a the lucky inheritor of the controversial opus. I really loved the strong focus on music which is so tightly woven into the plot: the references to pop, the top-5 lists, the wit, the sarcasm, the angle on the male perspective of romance for 30-something musicheads. Well, maybe because I'm one of those (ahem, was at the time I read it), but that's besides the point.

The story takes you along Rob Fleming's love life as he grows up, experiences different (failed) relationships with women and attempts to figure out what was right and what was wrong. The writing style is relaxed and unpretentious, but, at the same time, it's a deep trip into the male psyche (whether you like it or not). Among the wit and sarcasm, there are some interesting truths about growing up and learning to deal with life, love and sex (isn't it all the same thing?).

Rob owns a music shop that is a stone throw's away from financial failure. There he hangs out with Dick and Barry, two other misfit-musichead types, playing music, playing around and playing with their lives in a Peter Pan Syndrome kind of way. When his current girlfriend leaves him, he embarks on this trip through his past relationships and attempts to revisit each one of them and find out what they were all about. In the process, he meets his old girls and is forced to see things within himself he neglected for long. Fun stuff, but also insightful. Good hot-and-sour soup for the male soul.

Talking about books that changed someone's life, this one changed mine. I felt so much in the main character's shoes that when I finished the novel, I got in touch with an old girlfriend just to see if there was something still there. I'm now married to her and we have two beautiful boys. Corny or what?