We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Here I was bopping along through the first six or seven chapters of Juliet pleasantly ruminating on all things pop music and culture when all of a sudden both of the key relationships in the book have fallen apart and the plot-line has taken a fairly dark turn. I'm not feeling it - anyone else with me?
posted by The Blue Devil @ 6:57 PM
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
4 Comments:
I do not think Hornby ever really made it clear why Tucker's relationship to his wife failed. We never really go to know their story.
I await thoughts on the resolutions.
I agree, Someone. The relationship between Duncan and Annie seemed doomed from the start and Hornby spent plenty of room in the first few chapters sketching out in mostly humorous fashion why they were unsuited. But Tucker and Cat? That came out of the blue.
I'm up into Chapter Nine now and just got to the bit in which Tucker's friend Farmer John has just pulled the wool over the Crowologists' eyes with his impromptu performance. It strikes me that if Nick had focused on the dynamic between the website grouping and Tucker, it would be a more satisfying read. I've never read a book about the incestuous nature of a discussion board and it's a topic ripe for parody.
Nick seems to be working through some relationship issues in this one, much as Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi have in recent books. There's definitely a place for those kinds of books, but it's not something that I was really in the mood for right now.
I agree. I definitely saw the effects of Nick's marital breakup in the demise of these two couples. And I also wonder if Jackson doesn't echo some of the thoughts Nick himself was having when his parents split. I definitely thought that was the case with the boy in "About A Boy."
I thought the book started well poking fun at the blogosphere, but it does get a little dark at this point and it's not as satisfying.
Chapter 10: Brilliant segment about northern soul with Annie and Ros picking up a couple of lads in a pub and hitting an "all-nighter" down the local working men's club.
Gooner, have you ever heard of Dobie Gray's "Out on the Floor," which Barnesy describes as the "Northern Soul Anthem" on p. 216? If so, send it along, mate.
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