Juliet, Naked

Starred review from July 13, 2009
Hornby returns to his roots—music, manic fandom, messy romance—in his funny and touching latest, dancing between three perspectives on fame: a sycophantic scholar, an appreciative audience member, a fabled singer-songwriter who can't see what all the fuss is about. After cult musician Tucker Crowe vanished from the public eye 20 years ago, his small but devoted fan base built up a mythology around his oeuvre and the people and places associated with his storied life. Self-appointed “Crowologist” Duncan has indoctrinated his girlfriend, Annie, on the wonders of Tucker, but when Annie fails to recognize the genius of a newly released version of Crowe's classic album Juliet, their 15-year relationship quickly crumbles. Meanwhile, Duncan's glowing first review is increasingly de-bated, while Annie's deconstructive essay posted on the same Web site earns her a clandestine e-mail correspondence with the reclusive musician. Soon, their exchanges grow more personal; given that Tucker lives in an American backwater and Annie resides in a remote English town, both view their e-mails as a safe flirtation until the dissolution of Tucker's latest marriage and a crisis with one of his several neglected children brings him to Annie's side of the Atlantic. Through brisk dialogue and quick scene changes, Hornby highlights each character's misconceptions about his or her own life, and though Duncan, Annie and Tucker are consistently ridiculous and often self-destructive, they are portrayed with an extraordinary degree of sympathy. Tucker's status of Dylan by way of Salinger allows for an intriguing critique of celebrity fetishization and of the motives behind the eccentricity that comes along with fame. Obviously, this is a must-read for Hornby's fans, but it also works as a surprisingly thoughtful complement to the piles of musician bios and memoirs.

August 1, 2009
British woman finds herself in an intimate e-mail relationship with the obscure'80s rock star her music-obsessed ex idolizes.

Annie can understand liking American singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe. After all, his masterful breakup album, Juliet, is one of her favorites. The problem is that her longtime live-in boyfriend Duncan (an older, sadder version of Rob in Hornby's High Fidelity, 1995) lives and breathes Tucker Crowe, to the exclusion of having an actual grown-up life. After 15 years, Annie realizes she has wasted her childbearing prime tied to a man who feels more passion for a reclusive musician than he could ever muster for her. Duncan then makes it easy for Annie to kick him out by cheating on her with Gina, a new performing-arts instructor at the school where he teaches. In the meantime, Annie has inadvertently begun a web correspondence with Tucker himself, who finds her through an astute post she leaves on one of Duncan's geeky fan sites. The years have not been kind to Tucker, who lives in suburban Pennsylvania with his young son. His life bears little resemblance to the legend that has grown up around his disappearance more than 20 years earlier. Their meaningful exchanges awaken feelings in Annie that she had nearly given up on, while also giving her a vicarious thrill over one-upping Duncan. Tucker likes her too, finding her wit and kindness refreshing after years of chasing models. Living in a sleepy English seaside town, Annie has little hope of actually meeting her correspondent, but when a family drama brings Tucker to London, she sees an opportunity for adventure—and more. Tucker arrives, personal baggage in tow, and what happens next transforms both their lives in ways they could not have anticipated.

Few can match the muted humor, lingering poignancy and depth with which Hornby (A Long Way Down, 2005, etc.) limns his forgivably human characters.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 15, 2009
Fans of Hornby's light but filling "High Fidelity" will be excited to learn of his return to a pop culture-infused story about mucked-up modern romance. Nearing middle age in a dingy English seaside town, Annie pines for children but has no future with longtime boyfriend Duncan, who channels all his passion into a web site dedicated to an obscure American singer/songwriter named Tucker Crowe. Change comes, "kerblam!", when Annie posts a brilliant pan of "Juliet, Naked", a stripped-down version of Crowe's breakup masterpiece album. Duncan, bored and threatened, cheats on Annie; Crowe, now fiftysomething, living in obscurity in rural Pennsylvania, and depressed about messing up his upteenth relationship, begins an email flirtation with Annie. Fast-forward to London, where our transatlantic correspondents meet after Tucker is summoned there to attend to an estranged daughter after a miscarriage. VERDICT Hornby narrowly avoids a schmultzfest but leaves readers with too many questions about what happened between Annie and Tucker. The author's deft humor is mostly absent in what boils down to a well-intentioned rejection of Cupid as panacea that seems to have overwhelmed its creator. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/1/09.]Heather McCormack, "Library Journal"

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2009
Hornbys characters may be marinated in melancholy, but theres always a ray or two of hope. He brings together a compelling, original cast in this sweet and sorrowful tale of rock n roll and love on the rocks. Tucker Crowe is a has-been American musician, destined to fade into obscurity save for a handful of devoted listeners. Scholar Duncan Thomson is one of the loyal (a Croweologist, as it were). Duncans dedication to his musical hero far exceeds his interest in his significant other, Annie, who wonders whether the 15 years shes spent with Duncan in a bleak English seaside town have been the biggest mistake of her life. The release of an acoustic version of Crowes best-known album, Juliet, sparks an e-mail correspondence between Tucker and Annie, and the two strangers revel in a candor each is able to exercise for the first time in their lives. Annie starts to see her relationship with Duncan for the dead-end that it is; Tucker begins to acknowledge his failures both as a musician and father (he has children from several different women, mostly models, wouldnt you know?). Englishman Hornby, whose many best-selling and award-winning books include A Long Way Down (2005), is a master at rendering romantic relationships, particularly those that seem broken beyond repair. Fans of High Fidelity (1995), perhaps Hornbys most popular book, will enjoy this related take on the lives of the musically obsessed. A wise, witty, and bittersweet novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)