• High Fidelity

  • By: Nick Hornby
  • Narrated by: David Cale
  • Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (288 ratings)

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High Fidelity  By  cover art

High Fidelity

By: Nick Hornby
Narrated by: David Cale
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Publisher's summary

Winner, Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award

A New York Times Notable Book

Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store in London. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the clerks at his store who endlessly review their top five films (Reservoir Dogs...), top five Elvis Costello songs (Alison...), and top five episodes of Cheers (the one where Woody sang his stupid song to Kelly...). Rob tries dating a singer whose rendition of "Baby, I Love Your Way" makes him cry. But maybe its just that he's always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think (awful as it sounds) that a life as an episode of thirtysomething, with all the kids and marriages and barbecues and k.d. lang CDs that this implies, might not be so bad.

©1995 Nick Hornby (P)1998 Putnam Berkley Audio

Critic reviews

"Told in an engaging first-person voice that blends sarcasm with self-deprecating humor, High Fidelity presents a painfully funny take on love, music, and growing up." (Library Journal)

"Hornby's amazingly accomplished debut should definitely appeal to music fans (and snobs), but it's his literate, painfully honest riffs on romantic humiliation and heartbreak that make the book so special. A rare, touching glimpse of the masculine view of affairs of the heart." (Booklist)

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What listeners say about High Fidelity

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Quick but boring

Story is on the shorter side which is nice but was a struggle to get through so not as short as I was hoping.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

it's not the whole book

there are big parts of the book missing, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!!! it's only like 1/3 of the book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Terrible narrator

The narrator should never be allowed to do American accents. In fact, he wasn't able to differentiate the English characters very well either.

The book is fine, but skip the audiobook on this one. The bad narrator spoils it.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Great Story, Bad Narrator

The story is great, very similar to the movie. The narrator is not very enthusiastic and the recording quality is terrible.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Reader's voice and abridged version bummed me out.

Somehow missed that this was an abridged version. Can't find an unabridged copy. Sad. Sad.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Different than the book

Overall this audiobook wasn’t good. The reader skipped paragraphs, and I lost my place on the book.

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