Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby

Juliet Naked, written by Nick Hornby is the story of a forty something nerdy man who is obsessed about his idol, American singer-songwriter named Tucker Crowe. The basic plot of the book Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby is really inviting and enticing. The husband wife duo of Annie and Duncan has been in a stuck marriage for 15 years, mostly because there is another person present in the relationship as well.

Crowe Disappears

The American singer songwriter disappeared from the public view after releasing his album Juliet. Duncan is obsessed with that star, even though he has never recorded anything or appeared in public. Despite all this, the 40 something male fans of the star have become even more obsessive about him. Duncan runs a website for the fellow fans of the star and it has a section for latest news as well, though there has been no news in the section for the last 20 years.

Crowe Reappears

The situation changes when an advance copy of Juliet, Naked, a new album by the same artist reaches Duncan, he feels as if he has been transported to heaven. Instead, Annie gets to the album first and Duncan is furious because she listens to it first. Duncan posts an ecstatic review of the album on the website, though his wife is more objective in her review. She posts something which can at best be called a less adulatory review. She feels irritated by the unquestioning worship of his idol from his one track husband.

Surprising

Surprisingly, she gets an email from Tucker Crowe himself, and while it comes as a surprise for Annie, the readers are no less surprised. Throughout the novel, the readers get the feeling Tucker Crowe would never reappear again. The way the author analyzes the way the fans think and behave is brutally honest, especially the joke when Annie says her husband knows more about Crowe than Crowe himself. Annie says she has accepted Crowe more like a disability in her relationship, she couldn’t be clearer.

Disappointed

The way Tucker Crowe inhabits the mind of Duncan is so convincing, when the readers actually read about the real Tucker Crowe in the supermarket, they feel disappointed or dejected. This is precisely why Nick Hornby is writing about this point. He says the idols are only as big as they are projected on the mind. The fact that Tucker Crowe doesn’t believe in his own status is not new or interesting. It’s expected. The way the author has explained the singer-songwriter’s disappearance from the world is also slightly unconvincing.

Unexpected

One thing you have to give credit the writer Nick Hornby for, is his ability to steer clear of the predictable path all the time throughout the novel.