Love That Nick Hornby!
A “sort-of review” of Juliet, Naked
Man I love that Nick Hornby.
I love his British wit; I love his razor-sharp dialogue; I love how me truly makes me care about his characters; I love how I can always count on him for some laugh-out-loud moments and I love how readable he is.
Juliet, Naked is a fun read. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that the American character, Tucker Crowe, uses a handful of British colloquialisms that Americans just don’t use. I can forgive it though because he was able to make a morally bankrupt character extremely like-able and that takes talent.
What I am constantly impressed by is Mr. Hornby’s skill in creating multi-layered female characters. This is sometimes a challenge for male writers but Hornby is arguably the best in the game when it comes to pure texture with the women in his novels. Annie’s journey in this novel is nothing short of a metamorphosis and it was a pure treat to vicariously join her in her physical and psychological travels.
Some further examples of Hornby’s prowess in creating and developing female characters can be found in his novel How to Be Good where the entire novel is written in first person by Katie Carr. Also fans should definitely check out the film An Education, in which the screenplay is written by this blogpost’s hero. (Incidentally, the sketch of the character in An Education, coupled with Carey Mulligan‘s fearless performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for best actress.)
I’ll refrain from making pretentious overarching statements about the subtext of Juliet, Naked because that would be a disservice. After all, this is what the other Hornby novels are: A good read, a well told story and a piece of work that grabs your emotions.
The only thing I don’t like about Nick Hornby is that he just doesn’t write enough books. I’m one away from having read all of them and I’m putting off downloading the last one on the kindle because I just hate that feeling of having read a favorite author’s entire oeuvre and having nothing else left.
So if anybody reading this has any contact with Nick Hornby, tell him thanks for all he’s done and please go write some more books!
Don Theo III
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