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.
This book didn't make any impression on me. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it.
The story weaves between the lives of three people. Annie is a curator of a small museum in a small British seaside town. Duncan is Annies boyfriend of 15 years and Tucker Crowe is a reclusive singer-songwriter whom Duncan is obsessed with. It starts out with Annie following Duncan around America to landmarks of Tuckers career. You can soon see their relationship is not ideal. When Crowe releases a new cd things start to really crumble with Duncan and Annie. Then, because of a review written on Duncans website, Annie and Tucker start their correspondence. From there Hornby tells a story of love, loss and regrets.
The story is mediocre and reads very much like the script of a British romantic comedy. I could actually picture certain actors playing some of the characters (Hugh Grant anyone?). It has a lot of humor in it and the charcters are well developed but once the lives of Annie and Tucker intersect it gets very boring. Where there should have been a climax and could have been a lot of great interactions it just fizzled out. I read the book fairly quickly which says something about Hornbys writing. It was lacking, though. It was a book with not a lot happening.
It was a quick, humorous read, but not one I can gush about and recommend to others.
3 out of 5 stars.
BUY IT HERE: Juliet, Naked: a novel
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