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    Juliet, Naked
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    Juliet, Naked
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    Juliet, Naked
    Audiobook8 hours

    Juliet, Naked

    Written by Nick Hornby

    Narrated by Bill Irwin

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From the beloved New York Times- bestselling author, a quintessential Nick Hornby tale of music, superfandom, and the truths and lies we tell ourselves about life and love.

    Annie loves Duncan-or thinks she does. Duncan loves Annie, but then, all of a sudden, he doesn't. Duncan really loves Tucker Crowe, a reclusive Dylanish singer-songwriter who stopped making music ten years ago. Annie stops loving Duncan, and starts getting her own life.

    In doing so, she initiates an e-mail correspondence with Tucker, and a connection is forged between two lonely people who are looking for more out of what they've got. Tucker's been languishing (and he's unnervingly aware of it), living in rural Pennsylvania with what he sees as his one hope for redemption amid a life of emotional and artistic ruin-his young son, Jackson. But then there's also the new material he's about to release to the world: an acoustic, stripped-down version of his greatest album, Juliet-entitled, Juliet, Naked.

    What happens when a washed-up musician looks for another chance? And miles away, a restless, childless woman looks for a change? Juliet, Naked is a powerfully engrossing, humblingly humorous novel about music, love, loneliness, and the struggle to live up to one's promise.

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 29, 2009
    ISBN9781101079645
    Unavailable
    Juliet, Naked
    Author

    Nick Hornby

    Nick Hornby (Maidenhead, 1957), licenciado por la Universidad de Cambridge, ha ejercido de profesor, periodista y guionista. En Anagrama se recuperaron sus tres extraordinarios primeros libros, Fiebre en las gradas: «Memorable» (José Martí Gómez, La Vanguardia); Alta fidelidad: «Con una importancia equiparable a lo que representaron para la juventud de su tiempo El guardián entre el centeno, de J. D. Salinger, o En el camino, de Jack Kerouac» (Enrique Blanc, Reforma); y Un gran chico: «Una lectura sumamente recomendable; un tipo que escribe de maravilla» (Jorge Casanova, La Voz de Galicia). Luego se ha ido publicando su obra posterior: Cómo ser buenos: «Un clásico de la literatura cómica. El humor y la mordacidad con los que Hornby se enfrenta a la historia no están reñidos con la penetración psicológica y la profundidad» (Ignacio Martínez de Pisón); 31 canciones: «Muy inteligente y ligero en el mejor sentido. Encantador también, ya lo creo» (Francisco Casavella); En picado: «Brillante novela coral de un autor de libros tan brillantes como modernos» (Mercedes Monmany, ABC); Todo por una chica: «Nick Hornby es capaz de levantar una de sus fábulas urbanas contemporáneas y de adornarla con la principal virtud de su literatura: el encanto» (Pablo Martínez Zarracina, El Norte de Castilla); Juliet, desnuda: «Dulce y amarga a la vez, muestra al mejor Hornby» (Amelia Castilla, El País); Funny Girl: «Fina, mordaz e inteligente... Una auténtica delicia» (Fran G. Matute, El Mundo), y Alguien como tú: «Encuentra su fuerza narrativa en la capacidad comunicativa de Hornby, en la calidez y la verdad con que retrata situaciones que todos hemos vivido o podríamos vivir» (Sergi Sánchez, El Periódico).

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    Reviews for Juliet, Naked

    3.5/5

    1,073 ratings91 reviews

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    • 2/5
      This reads very much like a classic Hornby. The writing, the same somewhat flat characters, the cliched scenarios, the same overly sentimental moralizing (but not as bad as his worst). I like Hornby, so it is certainly readable. But there isn't much to it. A problematic theme of the novel is characters using problematic metaphors. I guess Hornby is trying to achieve narrative authenticity (normal people don't normally devise brilliant metaphors), but having this pointed out over and over again gets old. > She had to concede, reluctantly, that there was another interpretation of recent events: the problem wasn’t the empty box, but the metaphor.
    • 4/5
      Re-read as an audiobook. Really great Hornby book with three distinct and interesting, suprising narrators.
    • 2/5
      God this was boring. Took me ages to finish it. I enjoyed other books by Nick Hornby and I was looking forward to this, but it didn't live up to expectations.
    • 2/5
      Unremarkable.
    • 4/5
      What a completely modern novel! "Every person is famous to 15 other people," Annie thinks at the end of the book, and in our contemporary, internet-centered society, this is undeniably true--and it is on that truth that the success of this novel rests. The idea of obsessive fans of the obscure indie artist banding together to trade conspiracy theories is all too familiar to anyone who's spent a bit of time on Livejournal, and Hornby's novel is relevant enough to be completely relatable on that level. The faux-Wikipedia pages, e-mail logs, and blog posts are a nice touch.I shouldn't have to say it--this is a Nick Hornby book, and there are certain qualities one comes to expect from this man's writing--the characters are well-constructed, multi-dimensional, and easy to sympathize with and understand even when one disagrees with their decisions. The novel is touching but not cheesy or overly "Hollywood"/"chick-flick." I'd call it a perfect rainy day read--engaging, well-paced, and with a satisfying (yet open enough for contemplation and discussion) ending. I've already got a list of friends I'm planning to loan this book to, posthaste.
    • 4/5
      Not Hornby's best but a still a lovely sad tale about misspent time. Touches lightly on questions of fraut relationship between artists and their fans, enough to both generate discussion but feel modest. Read in about 3 days and makes me want to complete his bibliography ("A Long Way Down" and "How to Be Good" to go).
    • 4/5
      Although not a Full Cast production, this story has 3 narrators to go along with the 3 voices and main characters in this book:
      - Annie who used to love Duncan.
      - Duncan who thinks he loves Annie, but is really obsessed with former rock star Tucker Crowe.
      - and Tucker Crowe - a washed up former rock star who is trying to find some purpose to his life.

      Hornby's magical touch creates 3 very realistic ordinary characters whose lives will make you laugh and also make you stop and reflect on your own life. Although his books often seem like storylines for future Hollywood blockbusters, they are enjoyable and easy to relate to. And, he is the featured lunch speaker at tomorrow's conference for Northern California booksellers - can't wait to meet him!
    • 4/5
      Very interesting take on over-enthusiastic fans and hipsters. I really enjoyed this book. It's definitely Hornby's best since High Fidelity.
    • 4/5
      Hornby, once again, does not disappoint. Hornby's skill at depicting totally disfunctional relationships is so great, I must believe he has had a few in his life....

      Juliet, Naked is for all of us out there who have ever been obsessed with a band, and possibly even put that band before our loved ones. After a cross-Atlantic trek to the mecca of Duncan's favorite band, Annie decides she's had enough wasting her life away. The two separate, but only after the lead singer of Duncan's favorite band (Tucker Crowe), has started to email Annie--and they find they have a lot more in common than either expected.

      Although the longest of Hornby's books that I've read, this is thoroughly enjoyable and a pretty quick read. His humor continues to stand out, and make something like the break up of a 15 year relationship seem pretty OK.
    • 5/5
      Well, it is about a couple. The guy is obsessed with a singer called Tucker. The story make you think about several things.1. What is it about relationship, that is more like habit than love. These two act like everyday normal boring couple. Yet there seems to be problem underneath it all.2. What a celebrity is from the eyes of fan, maybe very different with who this person is. This should not be news, but then it nicely illustrated in the story.3. Man who are normal, boring, could suddenly decide to fall for a new younger woman. It happened. But the man rarely think through of what it meant for him, and even less likely to think what it does to his current partner. And when there is consequence, they all act like common Hugh Grant character, that he has no idea how to deal with it. The second half, the once celebrity and singer Tucker finally got out and visit his daughter. This is just how this story goes in wrapping it all up. Some moments are good, and the characters is pretty much "alive". A good read, if you ever date someone just because you want to date someone.
    • 4/5
      I'm starting my review before I finish the book.

      Two random things that are influencing my enjoyment of the book. One: I put off reading this for quite a while since I used to date someone named Juliet and whenever I was looking for the next thing to read, the title seemed intrusive and creepy. I'm very happy that Juliet, Naked is the name of an album and not an undressed person. Second: Nick Hornby has a way of writing male characters that skewer many of my faults and things that I don't like about myself. He does it in a way that isn't shaming and helps me both laugh at myself and prods me to be a better person. It's a mitzvah and I'm grateful for his talent and work.

      As for the book itself: I'm enjoying the hell out of the first half, but I'm having trouble separating the book itself from the headspace that it puts me in. I think that is a sign of a successful book, but it also means that my experience of reading it will vary greatly from the experience of anyone reading this review. It is a novel that promotes introspection and introspection isn't something that always translates between readers.

      *******************

      At the end of the book, I'm enormously satisfied. Nick Hornby is a bard to middle-aged men. He very successfully exposes significant flaws in all of his characters and has the grace to keep them somewhat sympathetic characters though the process. I do wonder if his female characters ring as true as his male characters do, but I think that he does interesting things w/ Annie's voice in the novel regardless.

      The story moved to interesting places, the characters made signification progression as well, and the novel as a whole dealt with interesting and important themes. I think this was a huge success for Hornby.
    • 4/5
      What a completely modern novel! "Every person is famous to 15 other people," Annie thinks at the end of the book, and in our contemporary, internet-centered society, this is undeniably true--and it is on that truth that the success of this novel rests. The idea of obsessive fans of the obscure indie artist banding together to trade conspiracy theories is all too familiar to anyone who's spent a bit of time on Livejournal, and Hornby's novel is relevant enough to be completely relatable on that level. The faux-Wikipedia pages, e-mail logs, and blog posts are a nice touch.I shouldn't have to say it--this is a Nick Hornby book, and there are certain qualities one comes to expect from this man's writing--the characters are well-constructed, multi-dimensional, and easy to sympathize with and understand even when one disagrees with their decisions. The novel is touching but not cheesy or overly "Hollywood"/"chick-flick." I'd call it a perfect rainy day read--engaging, well-paced, and with a satisfying (yet open enough for contemplation and discussion) ending. I've already got a list of friends I'm planning to loan this book to, posthaste.
    • 4/5
      Subtle, smart and modern. Hornby gives these flawed people to you so clearly, his writing is so straightforward, that you don't realize how well-woven the story is until you're deeply involved.

      Petrea Burchard
      Camelot & Vine
    • 2/5
      This is mostly from a woman's point of view. Hornby should really stick to writing about men...
    • 5/5
      Every now and then I come across a book that gets me. You know, like a book that you have to talk to in the middle of a quiet bookstore cafe. You’ll be sitting there and you feel like you either have to turn to the person next to you and say, “Dude, you have to read this; it’s hysterical” or you’re just going to come right out and say, aloud, to the book, “You’re good, you”.I’ve read several good books, lately, but nothing that I felt needed to be proclaimed to my fellow bookstore sitters. That is, of course, until Juliet, Naked. It’s hilarious. I mean, a hands down, on the floor laughing, gigglefest. It might not be funny at all if you don’t know an obsessive music fan or two, anyone who participates in online chats or anyone who has ever been caught up in fan based hysteria.If you know a few, though, (I’m looking at you, rabid American Idol fans), it might just leave you tickled.Hornby’s novel straddles the Atlantic, following a pretty museum curator, her Tucker Crowe-obsessed nerd of a boyfriend and the myth, the legend, Tucker Crowe. (For anyone who’s watched the spectacularly cheesy CW show Gossip Girl, Crowe is a dead ringer for Rufus Humphry.) What starts as a simple enough, gray enough story about a mediocre relationship in a worn out seaside town in England, becomes a courting confusion worthy of Midsummer Night’s Dream.When Annie and Duncan call it quits after 15 years, thanks to many factors but a large one of which is Duncan’s obsession with Crowe, it sends their lives in two depressingly downward spirals. Annie’s is snagged upward, though, by a chance internet encounter with the one and only Tucker Crowe.Between washed up relationships, washed up singers and washed up sharks, the story zigzags through watery England and Midwestern America, dragging Duncan, Tucker, Annie and a pack of illegitimate offspring and ex-wives along for the ride.Hornby’s dialogue and inner monologue are both to die for. On first pass, they seem stark and realistic but, on second glance, they have that post-post-modern edge that makes everything absurd and witty. I’m terrified to read anything else by Hornby for fear that it will be of the same formula but I might just risk it for laughter’s sake.
    • 4/5
      A light, sometimes humorous, and mostly entertaining read about an aging, profligate rock star who has become a recluse, and his small band of hardcore fans.I suppose really what it’s about is wasting time, as we see the rocker (Tucker Crowe) rue the decades spent in sweatpants watching daytime TV and drinking, the silliness of his rabid fans dissecting every aspect of his albums and interviews, speculating wildly about him, and making pilgrimages to places in his life, while not having enough of one of their own, and a woman (Annie) whose been living in an unsatisfying relationship with one of these fans for 15 years, despite her desire for ‘more’, including children.It’s also about the dangers of obsession, but at the bottom of it all, there is a sympathy expressed to the foibles of hardcore music fans, and to those falling in love. Annie strikes up an improbable correspondence with Tucker Crowe, and I love this line that describes what it progresses to: “She didn’t know who or what she had fallen in love with, but she was as lost and dreamy and helpless as she’d ever been in her entire life.” Easy reading, not incredibly deep, but you could do worse.
    • 3/5
      Hornby always hits the uncomfortable spot. describing his books to others they often sound very bland and everydays-y. they are not. they capture the drudge and soul-searching and inspiration that happens in everyday lives with compassion tinged with self-mockery.

      this brilliant piece is about a reclusive one-hit album wonder -one Tucker Crowe- who stumbles about life doing nothing but hanging out (i can’t really use the word raising) with his youngest son until he meets Annie via email who is the girlfriend of Duncan, a person who has deconstructed every line and space, every note, and each tempo change in that album for more than 15 years.

      the first part of the book looks at Crowe from the point of view of Duncan and Annie. the former with the fervor of a scholarly stalker, the latter with the mild contempt of a more reasonably socialized person.

      The latter part of the book involves the ironically delicious twist of Tucker Crowe and Annie together. Kind of. Duncan’s uber-knowledge is demolished and reality sets in. kind of.

      I don’t want to say it was a “great” book but it certainly was entertaining, endearing, and even thought-provoking on some levels. As much as the book discusses failed and failing relationships and flawed humans, it turns out to be a “feel good” book. Nothing flashy or shocking or epiphanic, just a nice story with some likable people and a bit of irony.
    • 3/5
      I went into this book thinking "Who would Hugh Grant play in the movie adaptation" and who would play all the other characters. I’ve settled on Emily Blunt for Annie, Hugh Grant as Duncan and Tucker Crowe to be played by Jeff Bridges. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun reading this book; it just fitted so well as an English Rom-Com and I enjoyed every minute of this book. There is no great depth to this book but it was a pleasure to read.
    • 2/5
      super-depressing. why am i reading this? hornby's tendency to be really hard on his male characters sometimes seems like honesty, but here it just feels like the one guy is a punching bag. maybe it's me, but i can't help thinking hornby loathes his own character, which makes the book less interesting to me. i guess i want to see the character's flaws in the larger context of his humanity, to have some compassion for someone i might not like. i appreciate a light touch, but i'm bored (and here actually pained) by caricature, if that makes sense.
    • 5/5
      4.5 stars
      I really enjoyed this one. Nothing terribly specific, I just know I liked it because I never switched to the radio instead, I was sorry when I arrived home, and I was always happy to get back in the car. (I listened to it in the car, if that's not obvious.)
      Good humour, interesting characters -- Annie and Tucker. It was light compared to most of the stories I've been reading, but not frivolous or sex/love-crazed. There was some real discussion about life and meaning and such.
      Could have done without the stupid therapist Malcolm, though. He was infuriating. Why did she keep seeing him? (I know the book explains it, but I didn't buy it.)
      In this audio, I liked that there were different readers for the three different characters. It certainly helped remember whose POV I was getting.
    • 3/5
      (This review contains spoilers.)I never understood Annie. "Most of the time, she was happy to have made it under the barbed wire that surrounded secondary education and out into the world." Why is it that when she considers her wasted years, she is so quick to blame her relationship with Duncan, and so unreflective as to her choice of career? And were those years really wasted, or was she basically happy teaching? Or, was she so busy being unhappy with her career that she didn't notice how unhappy she was with Duncan? Or, maybe he was nice to have around when she was miserable teaching, but once she escaped, she had time to notice how annoying he was. That makes a lot of sense, actually; but she never realizes it herself, and I don't get why she is so sure a baby is what she needs, instead of different work, new challenges. There are some interesting themes in this book regarding leisure time. When teaching was taking all Annie had to give, perhaps it was a relief to come home to Duncan, talk about music, watch a DVD; just as a day off in Gooleness was a relief to the working class of 1964. But when she had loads of leisure time, she was dissatisfied with him. For her, culture was an escape, not an end to itself like it was for Duncan.So, these are possible explanations for Annie's situation. But they are not in the text. Or, if they are, they are buried really deep. It feels like something crucial is missing from her part of the story. I can't reconcile her desperation for a baby with the fact that she was in a 15-year relationship with somene who probably would have impregnated her, if she had asked. In the end, Tucker finds inner peace, Duncan seems happy enough, but Annie is miserable because she craves a man and a baby. Ugh.Tucker and Duncan, on the other hand, were believable. And I appreciated Tucker's insights into absent fatherhood. When he encounters his absent children, he's just not interested: They don't belong to him, they never did; he never asked for them and he never wanted them. He barely thinks about them, because they're not in his life. He doesn't see himself in them. That is how it is for almost all absent fathers, I am sure of it, but it was pleasing to see my suspicions validated, if only by a fictional father. A lot of the reviews say this book is about regret. But it is also about how you have to let go of regret to move forward. Duncan does it first, when he says to Tucker, I know I blew it with that Naked review, and I know you think I'm inadequate as a person, but I value Juliet more than anything else I have ever heard; so, thank you. He reaches Tucker, and so his move past regret to action, minor though his regrets and actions may seem to us, paid off for him, and also helped Tucker. And I think Tucker really did get something from seeing all his kids in one place, although not what Lizzie wanted him to get. He saw that he never wanted them, and didn't want them now. He lets go of all of it, maybe. Leaves it all behind as he flies away. What about Annie? She walks out of her therapist's office, presumably because she's ready to stop rehashing the past and move forward. Is that making the best of a bad job, like Malcolm said? Or once she lets go of the past, will she have some great ideas for the future?
    • 4/5
      on ipod touch.

      enjoyed this in that uncomplicated way I enjoy old screwball comedies.
    • 5/5
      By far the best Hornby novel I have read. It's wryly funny, as you'd expect, but it also is more mature. These are not the young, selfish people of so many of his other books, making mistakes, acting like children and being selfish -- and worst of all, knowing they are doing these things and not caring enough to change their behavior. The characters of Juliet, Naked already have made the major mistakes of life. This book is about people straightening out, making amends, smoothing the road, and hoping for something better than they have, and perhaps what they deserve, from past behavior. The characters shared some of my anxieties and sadness about life, and therefore, I also related to them more than past books. This book has real heart and tenderness, and the characters earn both the positive and negatives that they get. -cg
    • 4/5
      Nick Hornby always makes me laugh ... and I always recognize myself and my family in his characters.
    • 3/5
      This is my first Nick Hornby novel in several years (the last would have been Slam and A Long Way Down, which I read in relatively close proximity to each other), and while I still enjoy Hornby's work, I'm finding myself spotting the tropes that are starting to become a little too repetitive: grown men in arrested development, women looking for fulfillment, an obsession with a cultural hobby that both fills and reveals a critical void in the lives of its practitioners. In no way is it a bad story, but Juliet, Naked just doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table - except, perhaps, to elucidate Hornby's growing pessimism toward modern culture and the virtual world in which so many of us choose to drift away our lives (says the woman reviewing a book on the internet!). I don't actually disagree with him, but it can get a little wearying trying to care about these washed-up characters, each of whom fundamentally realizes that their lives have not mattered - and that there may not be time or energy left to do much of anything about it. That's certainly a catalyzing message for the reader, but at 8 CDs of narrated audiobook, it's an increasingly tough slog to the (by a certain point, inevitable) conclusion. Hornby treats his characters and situations honestly, which is entirely to his credit, but I do find myself wondering if he only has variations on this story to tell.
    • 4/5
      This book had a lot going for it. A good premise. Unfortunately the last few pages really brought it down. I left feeling as though the characters were rather two-dimensional and like the ending was rather a cop-out. Still worth reading, but maybe closing before the end?
    • 4/5
      Annie is concerned that the long-term relationship she has with Duncan is just an existence and not really sure she hasn't wasted the last 15 years of her life. Broody and still childless she is getting to a stage where she is asking herself some big questions. So when a disagreement over the merits of a release of a studio sessions and demos album by their favourite reclusive musician culminates in obsessive fan Duncan seeing someone else Annie thinks it's time for change, especially when Tucker Crowe, the artist, e-mails her and agrees with the review she wrote. Tucker himself is coming to the end of another in a long string of failed relationships, 5 kids by 4 different women (and 2 of those were twins) tells it's own story, and is also at a turning point in his life. No new music for twenty years and now living off the generosity of another soon to be ex-partner he doesn't know what to do with himself or his 6 year old son, Jackson. More or less pushed into it, he finds himself packed off to London to see one of his estranged daughters who has just lost a child of her own. As soon as he arrives though he has a mild heart attack and said daughter thinks the thing to do would be to get all his family together to help him recuperate. This is the last thing Tucker wants and so prevails on Annie for an escape route to her hometown of Gooleness, a faded Northern seaside resort that has certainly seen better days.This book is a wry look at obsessive behaviour of fandom and the myths they create to idolise the artists they adore and how the internet has enabled their passion as much as it is about the relationships of the people involved. There are some very funny moments which caused more than just a smile though I think the audience for this novel is somewhere around the middle-aged rather than a younger crowd as we can resonate more with the characters involved.
    • 5/5
      This book sets up a great plot, which unfolds in a delicious way. I reread one of the key scenes a couple of times, I enjoyed it so much. You get a fair bit of what's going on in the main characters heads which really adds to the story. It strays onto vaguely similar territory to High Fidelity with an obsessive music fan, but is up to date with what the way the internet enables such fans to connect with each other.The ending is very satisfying without being stupid or trite.
    • 4/5
      Once again Hornby does an outstanding job with a woman's voice. Great story with some nice modern touches (email, online forums, iPods). Strangely, he seems to leave the male characters lacking. It was a very fast read - I finished it in a day's worth of traveling and airport waiting. Juliet, Naked is much lighter than, say, A Long Way Down but it also includes some great musings on music and pop culture, with Hornby's characteristic sense of humor. Recommended and if you like this one, check out his book How to be Good, which has a stronger female protagonist and even goofier men.
    • 4/5
      Tucker Crowe mysteriously walks away from rock n' roll while touring with his successful album, Juliet.  For twenty years, he's hidden away, living a recluse life.  All that's left are a group of dedicated aficionados, who people the Internet, parsing his lyrics and analyzing his life and music for other influences.  Chief among these is blogger Duncan, considered a Crowe expert.  Duncan also teaches at a small community college in Gooleness, a dilapidated English seaside town, where he lives with his girlfriend, Annie. Annie finds their life together every bit as shabby and tired as their town.  The novel opens as Duncan receives a soon to be released acoustic CD, Juliet, Naked.  Atwitter over this first news and music from Crowe in decades, Duncan immediately posts a glowing and rhapsodic review on the main Crowe website.  Annie, hardly a cultist, puts up her first post on the site, taking an opposite but thoughtful view.  Amazingly, Tucker Crowe himself emails her, starting a relationship that moves from 'pen pals' to ... Hornby's tale resonates on many levels, touching on parenthood, relationships, redemption and fulfillment (or lack of it.)  For me, more thought provoking was his riffs on the role of music and art for the artists and the audience.  Readers of High Fidelity and About a Boy will know that this is not unfamiliar ground for Hornby.  The references to Bruce Springsteen I found particularly telling - related to a Boss fanatic, and having read the fanblog, Backstreets, I know firsthand the extremes to which his followers go in wringing every last ounce of meaning from his every utterance and lyric.  Tucker Crowe's album, Juliet,  has been misinterpreted completely beyond it's orginal intent.I'm sure that this isn't just a musical phenomenon.  In college English Lit courses, as professors droned about hidden meaning and imputed tenuous influences, I often wondered if  Shakespeare or Keats actually considered any of this.  More importantly, though, does it matter? Does art need an audience to be art? Once art is bequeathed to the audience, what role does it play in adding to it's meaning and import?  Heady stuff to ponder.  Thanks Mr. Hornby for the thought provoking and entertaining book.