A typical Nick Hornby book
By Alice / Spinebreakers Crew
Annie has been with Duncan for 15 years and it seems as though the only thing the couple have in common are their feelings about a singer/songwriter called Tucker Crowe. But after flying all the way from England to Minneapolis to look at a toilet (that allegedly held some importance to the musical history of Tucker Crowe) Annie begins to think about where her life is heading and, more importantly, where it has been for the last 15 years. And when a new acoustic version of Tucker Crowe’s most famous album ‘Juliet’ comes out (Juliet, Naked) a difference of opinion finally splits Annie and Duncan’s failing relationship for good.
Tucker Crowe, the cement that seems to have held together Annie and Duncan’s relationship for all these years, hasn’t fared much better than since the glory days of his early success. When he decides to e-mail Annie about her poor review of his latest album, he realises that she’s just about the only person in the world who really does understand him as an artist but mainly as a person. It is a story about love, music, humour, tragedy and obsession. But most of all it is a story about unhappy, lonely people and how they can find each other.
Have you ever listened to a song specifically to try and find the deeper meaning? Did you repeat it over and over again, thinking each time that you’ve struck gold and worked out exactly what the songwriter was going through each second of the song? Juliet, Naked is a difficult book to explain because it could be interpreted in so many different ways. Some people may just read it and think that it was a good, funny, light-hearted story, whereas others might try to dive deeper into the writing to find hidden meanings behind the story. I think this is very clever because that’s basically what the story is about and a clear message I got from reading the book is to try not to over-analyse things, and sometimes just take them for what they are.
Duncan’s obsession with Tucker Crowe means he is always trying to dive into Crowe’s mind to find out what he really meant by some of the things he did or the lyrics he put into his songs. But what he doesn’t quite realise is that he’s getting everything wrong. It’s like at the beginning of the book, when Duncan and Annie fly all the way out to Minneapolis to see a toilet that allegedly had some relevance to Tucker Crowe’s musical decisions. It turns out that nothing happened in that toilet all those years ago. It’s sad really, because the reason behind Duncan’s obsession is that he doesn’t really have a grip on his own life, and somehow he thinks that by idolizing a washed-up singer he can sort things out - but he can’t, well, not through that method anyway. It’s certain links like this between the characters that I really liked in Hornby’s writing, it’s witty in an ironic sense but it’s also slightly sad.
I really liked Juliet, Naked because it is a typical Nick Hornby book. It’s a sad but funny take on a failing relationship. It might not be a “literary masterpiece” but it’s a very well written, clever book that won’t fail to affect everyone who reads it in some way or another.