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Published Sep 2009
416 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
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.
"Fans of High Fidelity, perhaps Hornby's most popular book, will enjoy this related take on the lives of the musically obsessed. A wise, witty, and bittersweet novel." - Booklist
"Hornby narrowly avoids a schmultzfest but leaves readers with too many questions...The author's deft humor is mostly absent...." - Library Journal
"Few can match the muted humor, lingering poignancy and depth with which Hornby limns his forgivably human characters." - Kirkus Reviews
"Pick of the Week" - Publishers Weekly
"A more treacly writer than Mr. Hornby would engineer new happiness for…these characters. But in its diffident way, Juliet, Naked is as candid as the unplugged music on 'Naked.' It knows its characters too well to lie about them." - The New York Times - Janet Maslin
"Nick Hornby's charming new novel about love and music, sounds like a song we've heard before, but who's complaining? After all, we always expect Bruce Springsteen to sound like Bruce Springsteen, and we want him to play 'Glory Days' over and over again. In the same spirit, Juliet, Naked echoes the melodies we know from High Fidelity, Hornby's breakout novel…about a lovelorn music fanatic. Nobody captures the zealous devotion and bizarre intensity of amateur music snobs better…He gently satirizes rockaphiles in a way that only endears him to them, and though this new novel will appeal to a broad audience for romantic comedy, anyone with a fading poster of Van Morrison will hum along, too." - The Washington Post - Ron Charles
This information about Juliet, Naked was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nick Hornby is the bestselling author of eight novels, including High Fidelity and About a Boy, and several works of non-fiction including his ground-breaking debut, Fever Pitch. He has written numerous award-winning screenplays for film and television including Brooklyn, Wild and, most recently, State of the Union.
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