Juliet, Naked

By: Nick Hornby

Narrated by: Bill Irwin

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

From the beloved New York Times best-selling author, a quintessential Nick Hornby tale of music, superfandom, and the truths and lies we tell ourselves about life and love.

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 10 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.

©2009 Nick Hornby (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"Charming... Nobody captures the zealous devotion and bizarre intensity of amateur music snobs better.” (The Washington Post)

“Hornby seems, as ever, fascinated by the power of music to guide the heart, and in this very funny, very charming novel, he makes you see it matters.” (The New York Times Book Review)

"Rich and perceptive." (The Wall Street Journal)

What a fun book!

I'm so glad I discovered the offbeat humor of Nick Hornby. I even laughed when I tried to describe it to friends. What fun!

What Fun!

New to this medium, I wondered when I would find an audiobook that would make me laugh uncontrollably in public. Juliet, Naked is it. Juliet, Naked is the title of the catalyst of the story, an unreleased album.

This is a character driven book and author Hornsby has a real talent for capturing modern relationships, dialog and character. If while listening, a fallible and lost Annie, Tucker or Duncan you actually know doesn't spring to mind, then you probably are one of them. Each of these engaging and human characters will have you rooting for them to 'get it together'.

Although the great Bill Irwin (look him up, you'll probably think "oh, man- Is that his name? I love that guy!) is listed as the narrator, there are actually three fine narrators: one for each of the main characters. I wasn't certain how this would work, preferring a single narrator, but it fits perfectly with the structure of Hornsby's story, enhancing the listening experience.

I'm reserving 5 stars for experiences that blow my mind; listening to Juliet, Naked was only absolutely wonderful.

Entertaining And Well Done Audiobook

My first Hornby was a mislabeled abridged version of High Fidelity and the abridgment made it abominable. This one is read in three voices, two male and one female, and the vocalizations are excellent.

The only thing that detracted was the mispronunciation of the word 'urinal,' which the female narrator pronounced you-righn-all (with a long 'i' in the middle).

The book is a solid read and I find the character interactions to be very well done, and indeed, the introspection that is related throughout moves the arc of the story along quite well.

Juliet Naked-Could'a used her

If you could sum up Juliet, Naked in three words, what would they be?

So what happened?

What did you like best about this story?

These characters are not for everybody, but they were for me. I fell in love with Annie and so badly wanted her to find a lover. I've known Tuckers and they are like dynamite. Recovering alcoholics can go either way and they usually do. My irony. If you are the nurturing type, then once you connect with a characters or several of them, what you want most is to know they ended up okay. I truly believed this lovely story was headed that way. It had everything. For romantics like me, the slowly, awkwardly-developing love story was just what I look for and enjoy. And, I enjoyed it very much.

Which character – as performed by Bill Irwin – was your favorite?

Annie was my favorite. I loved Annie. Annie had paid her dues and was long overdue for her rewards. She suffered 15 years of the insufferable Malcom, was out of the relationship, opportunity presented itself and, well, we don't know what happened. I am not tolerant of books that start slowly. There is no excuse for it usually. You can hook the reader on the first page. I was an hour into this book, maybe more, and was ready to put it down for good. Then it got good and I listened to it practically straight through. I am not tolerant of books that end badly either. I am not talking about a disaster. I am talking about something akin to watching a movie when you were a child and with 15 minutes to go, your mom sends you upstairs because, well just because. It's late, or something. So, now my mom doesn't send me to bed, I want to know and feel I have the right to how it ends. Anyone who can get the significance of the Blog comments at the end perhaps knows somthing I don't. I didn't get it. So, it is a very good story, nicely told and narrated that starts painfully slowly and then finishes before the end. It's regretable. I am not anything like a novelist, but I feel could have satisfactorily ended the story better in one of about ten different ways, Annie is single and loves Tucker. Tucker is single and loves Annie. Anybody have any ideas here?

If you could take any character from Juliet, Naked out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I loved Annie and would go to dinner with her. If I had a choice, I'd like to go to dinner with Tucker. I imagine most people would.

Any additional comments?

In the previous comments, the book can be summarized: a great story, great character development, but starts hopelessly slowly and ends about one to two chapters too soon.

Being Famous isn't always Glamorous.

This book is in three different points of view and i thoroughly enjoyed it. Each of the characters are going through the story with their own dilemmas and you find a way to connect with each of them. This is a story about Music and how it impacts. It also addresses a question many of us have to ask ourselves at one point in our lives. What do we do about all the wasted time? How much weight do people, events and accomplishments hold in those 'wasted' years? I loved this book.

I found it after following the trail beginning with Nick and Norah's Infinite playlist, then Love is a mix tape and now i am on a search for the next book.

I highly recommend spending a credit on this download.

Fantastic

Wow. Every part of this production was superbly done. The narrators were amazing. They really drew you into the story. It was like a play. I was completely enveloped in the story. Usually I do all sorts of things when I listen to audiobooks, but I really couldn't bring myself to do much else, I was so taken away by the story. It was just wonderful. It was like being a kid again.

modern day romance sometimes isn't....

The newest penned novel by Nick Hornby was worth the listen, as much as any of his earlier stories (About a Boy, A Long Way Down, etc.) have been...and in that same quirky, "hip" way. It's a current day story for folks born in the 60s that mirrors current day life, technology and thought process. Anglophiles and music lovers rejoice. The reading is good, the accents and voices get a bit odd when other readers take the lead and "do" the characters that they are speaking to, but overall, a very nice alternative to songs on my ipod for a week of commuting. Now back to Radiohead......

Interesting difference--book vs movie

I saw the movie Juliet, Naked last year and really liked it. Totally my kind of movie. The movie took the book and expanded the plot's ultimate conclusion. I like where the movie went and am equally satisfied with the book stopped. I super enjoyed the dual narration of a male and a female narrator. I love that Nick Hornby books always have a music theme of some sort.

Unfortunately the movie is better

Rarely do I like a movie better, but this time it’s no contest. Darn it

Do I like anyone in this story?

Starts slow, finally pulls you in and then you realize you don't really understand or like any of the characters. Maybe a "love story" only men can appreciate?