A Life

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Judul: High Fidelity
Penulis: Nick Hornby
Penerbit: Riverhead Trade
Halaman: 323 halaman
Terbitan: Agustus 1996

It has been said often enough that baby boomers are a television generation, but the very funny novel High Fidelity reminds that in a way they are the record-album generation as well. This funny novel is obsessed with music; Hornby's narrator is an early-thirtysomething English guy who runs a London record store. He sells albums recorded the old-fashioned way—on vinyl—and is having a tough time making other transitions as well, specifically adulthood. The book is in one sense a love story, both sweet and interesting; most entertaining, though, are the hilarious arguments over arcane matters of pop music.

Hornby's first novel, an international bestseller and instantly recognized by critics and readers alike as a classic, helps to explain men to women, and men to men. Rob is good on music: he owns a small record shop and has strong views on what's decent and what isn't. But he's much less good on relationships. In fact, he's not at all sure that he wants to commit himself to anyone. So it's hardly surprising that his girlfriend decides that enough is enough.

Review

It was an up and down with this book.

Perkenalkan Rob. Seorang pria 35 tahun, pemilik sebuah toko musik dengan pemasukan yang ngos-ngosan, tanpa lingkaran pertemanan yang baik, dan pacarnya baru saja meninggalkan dia untuk pria lain.

Walau terdengar merana, sebenarnya semua masalah Rob datang dari dirinya sendiri. Dia DO dari kuliahnya, tidak berusaha menjaga pertemanannya, seorang music snob, dan juga seorang tukang selingkuh. Perselingkuhannya membuat pacarnya menggugurkan kandungannya, anaknya dengan Rob.

Rob bisa disimpulkan dalam satu kata: menyebalkan.

Satu-satunya redeeming quality yang Rob miliki adalah: dia lucu. Interaksinya dengan kedua pegawai di tokonya cukup memancing tawa. Pemikirannya juga banyak yang menggelitik. Semisal pandangannya tentang musik pop:

People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss.

What came first – the music or the misery? Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?

Tapi pada akhirnya, semua kelucuan itu ada batasnya. Lama-kelamaan saya merasa capek dengan semua lelucon dan daftar 5 besarnya Rob (5 besar musik, film favorit, band, dll). Sampai kadang saya melewati kalau sudah muncul daftar 5 besar itu.

Kesimpulan: buku dengan pembuka yang menarik, pertengahan yang antara menarik dan menyebalkan, serta akhir cerita yang cukup saya suka. Rob beruntung karena ada Laura, pacarnya yang dia selingkuhi, karena Laura masih mau kembali bersama Rob dan membantu Rob memperbaiki hidupnya.

Dua setengah bintang. Pembulatan ke atas.

Buku ini untuk tantangan baca:
- 2014 New Authors Reading Challenge


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