HIGH FIDELITY by Nick Hornby

High fidelity by Nick Hornby

The book begins with Rob listing up his top five split-ups, which really hurt, to Laura. Laura's and Robs relation is at the end, because Laura finishes with him. He tells Laura, that she can't break his hearth, because they're both to old to make each other bad.

Top five split-ups:

His first split-up was Alison Ashworth:

Alison was one of Rob's best friends. Both were between twelve and thirteen. They were always together and played games together, but one day she kissed him. His relation with her lasted only for six hours (3 times for 2 hours -> after school, kissing), because then he saw her kissing another guy and he finished the relation ship with her. He felt very miserable and didn't know where to go or how to behave with this humiliation.

His second split up was Penny Hardwick:

Penny was a really nice girl, always nice dressed, good marks and Rob's parents really liked her. They were together for some months, but then Rob finished with her, because she didn't let him touch her breasts.

Then Rob went out with a girl called Kim and Penny with Chris Thomson. Chris is a guy, who gets everything from everyone. One day Chris comes in smiling and tells Rob that he has shagged Penny (after one week). Rob believes him and is very depressed.

His third split up was Jackie Allen:

Jackie was the girlfriend of Rob's friend Phil. Rob met Jackie the same time, while she was having a relation ship with Phil, so Jackie and Rob had to meet in secret. Rob didn't really enjoy that and after some time Jackie tells Phil about Rob. Rob is very angry and never talks again to Rob. Rob has to search for new friends .

After some time Jackie and Phil are reunited and in school nobody likes Rob.

His fourth split up was Charlie Nicholson:

Rob met Charlie at the tech. She was the girl he ever wanted to meet, tall, good looking, exotic, . The good thing, so he thinks, is that she really likes him. But all the time in their relation he thinks, that she'll go away with one of her colleagues from the tech, and surely after some time this happens. She meets a guy called Marco and finishes with Rob. Rob is very sad and wants to kill Marco. He thinks that Laura has finished with him, because he wasn't as creative as Marco.

His fifth split up was Sarah Kendrew:

After Rob's relation with Charlie he feels very lonely. Sarah feels also very lonely and her boyfriend has finished with her too. Both are together, because of the fact, that they had lost their partner. They swear to be together forever, because they don't want to be lonely or be left by someone again. But then Sarah meets a guy called Tom and finishes with Rob.

After all that heartbreaks Rob meets Laura.

Chapter One:

Laura leaves Rob in the morning. Rob is very angry and goes to work in his record shop, which is called "Championship Vinyl". He works together with two colleagues, who are called Dick and Barry. Both are real music freaks, Dick collects all tapes he can get and knows many albums. Barry is a macho, who makes fun of other people, but so he sells records very good. Barry always makes top five list of everything, e.g. top five records from ., and so Rob and Dick do so too.

This day Barry has brought a tape with his top five songs with him, but Rob explodes when he hears "Walking on sunshine", because he is so depressed because of Laura. Dick, Barry and Rob have a quarrel. When Rob comes home he puts on the Beatles and relaxes.

Chapter Two:

Rob feels good alone in his flat. He feels free, e.g. because he can smoke in his flat. But there are so many things in his flat, which remind him of Laura. Also a bottle of wine, which she has bought. He opens it and drinks the half of the bottle. Then Rob's Mum rings him on the phone and Rob tells her that Laura has left him. She cries and is very sorry for him, but he says that live doesn't end and that he'll find another girl to marry and be lucky. After that Laura's mum calls and Rob asks her if Laura is at home, but she isn't. Rob asks her if Laura could call him back.

Chapter Three:

Rob is in the back of his shop, when he hears how Barry is unfriendly to a customer. He tells Barry to be not unfriendly to his customers, because the shop isn't so good at the moment, that they can loose any customer. In the evening Rob reorganizes his record collection, what he always does in moments of emotional stress. At Laura's time he has organized his records alphabetically, now he organizes them after the time he has bought them.

One Morning Johnny comes into the record shop and grabs some albums. Johnny is a drunken Brit, which comes into the shop every few days and Rob has to throw him out.

Barry, Dick and Rob have a quarrel. Rob is very unfriendly to Barry, because Barry mentioned Laura (he doesn't know about their split up), and Barry runs out of the shop. Rob tells Dick that Laura has finished with him and asks him to tell that Barry and say that he is sorry about the quarrel.

Chapter Four:

Dick and Barry take Rob out to Harry Lauder, because they're sorry for him. The Lauder is a big pub with bad tasting drinks. Tonight there's a singer called Marie LaSalle, who had come to England, because the people here like her music. One of her songs makes Rob cry and so he fells in love with Marie, but also thinks about Laura. He doesn't know what to do, to take Laura or Marie. In the break he buys a tape of Marie and has a short talk with her. Barry and Dick tell her that Rob has got a record shop and she says that she'll visit him.

When Rob comes home there're two messages on his answering machine: one from Liz, Laura's friend, who says that he's sorry for him; and one message from Laura, who says that she needs some things from him.

Chapter Five:

In the morning Rob calls Laura. She wants to take up some more underwear from Rob's flat on Saturday when he is at work. Rob wants to talk with her about there relation, but she hangs up with tears. Then Rob calls Liz and she says that she's very sorry for him, and that she doesn't like Laura's new Ian-guy.

Mary comes to the record shop and buys some albums. She invites all three to come to the White-Lion to her gig. She writes them on the guest list, so that they can come for free.

When Rob comes home, there's a letter for Laura and a TV licence for Mr I Raymond in the post. Then he knows, who Ian is. Ian is his neighbour, who lives upstairs. Ian has always made loud noises when having sex and Laura and Rob laughed about it, but now Rob thinks that Laura has gone, because she thinks Ian is better in bed than Rob. He thinks about his sex with every women he ever had and thinks the best sex he ever had was with a girl called Rosie. During the night Rob has a dream of Ian and Laura, and Marco and Charlie having sex.

Chapter Six:

Rob gets a call from a woman from Wood Green, who want to sell some good albums. He visits her at her house and finds the best records he ever saw in his life. He asks her how much she wants, but he thinks he couldn't ever pay it. She says that she wants 50 pounds for it. Rob thinks that this was a joke, but she tells him that this are the albums of her husband, who is in another country with a younger girl and needs money. And she wants to hurt him, because he meets another woman. But Rob is sorry for that man and buys only on record and gives her 10 pounds for it.

In the evening Rob, Barry and Dick drive to the White Lion in a cab and have to pay 20 pounds. Rob really likes the gig from Marie, and doesn't cry (only fills a little angry). Rob drives back home very early and Barry and Dick stay a little longer with Marie and a guy called T-Bone.

The next day Rob comes to work late and Dick has taken a message from Liz. She asks Rob to call her back, but Rob knows that she wants to cancel the meeting and doesn't call her. In the evening he is waiting in the restaurant for Liz and when she comes he calls him an arsehole.

Chapter Seven:

Rob thinks about how he met Laura. He was a DJ at a famous club and Laura came to him and asked him to play a record, but no one did like it. She asked him where to buy this record and he said he'll make a copy for her. She mixes a really good tape and give it to her. From that time one they meet them more and more and come together. But the have many quarrels and in the end Laura decides to leave him, because of 4 facts:because he has slept with somebody else, while she was pregnant, because his affair terminated her pregnancy, that after the abortion he borrowed a lot of money from her, which she never got back, and last because at the end of the relation ship he had told her that he was looking out for somebody else.

Chapter Eight:

Barry and Dick talk with Rob about the evening with Marie and T-Bone. There are many customers in the record shop this Saturday and Barry and Dick sell a lot of albums. In the evening they want to go for a drink, but when they leave the shop there's Laura standing outside. So Barry and Dick are going alone for a drink. Laura says to Rob that they going to have a talk.

Chapter Nine:

Laura wants to go to Rob's flat and have a talk with him. Rob wants to go by bus, but she says that she'll pay the cab. So they go by cab. When they're at Rob's flat they have a long talk about why Laura has finished . He says that he didn't know that she was pregnant until the abortion and he was very angry, because it was also his child. He also thought about the money, he borrowed from here, which he probably never can pay back. Then he talks with Laura about everything and she says that she stayed some days at the Ian-guy. Rob asks her if sex with Ian is better and she laughs and says that she didn't have sex with Ian. She asks Rob to leave the flat and leave her alone to think about their relation and if there's any chance to save it. Rob leaves, is very happy, because he thinks he has got a chance, and sleeps with Marie.

Chapter Ten:

Rob, Barry and Dick have a nice evening together with Marie and T-Bone. Rob always tries to find out if Marie likes him and she always shows him, how she thinks about him. Than Rob and Marie take a cab home and Marie invites him to her. She brings him something to drink and they have a talk. Than Rob wants to go, because he was afraid of having sex with her, but she asked him to stay. Than they go to bed and make love. Marie and Rob can't sleep, because they have to think about what had happened. Both think, that they had slept together because they felt so lonely and after the talk the can sleep well.