Nick Hornby’s new novel Juliet, Naked is about loneliness, regret and the double sided sword that is the internet age. Juliet follows Annie, a childless museum curator in a small British beach town and her husband Duncan, a community college professor who is obsessed with reclusive rock star Tucker Crowe. Crowe (a Dylanesque figure who imploded in the mid 80’s) has escaped a trail of divorced wives and now hides in suburban pennsylvannia; mute for more than twenty years. 
Duncan spends all his time dissecting and discussing Crowe’s work on internet forums, leaving Annie plenty of time to wonder where her life went. To get back at Duncan, Annie posts a negative review of Crowe’s newest release- a collection of acoustic studio outtakes called Juliet, Naked. When Crowe replies to her post, it leads to a series of events that provide more excitement than either have had in years.
As usual, Hornby sprinkles his relationship drama with plenty of pop-culture and music references (mostly imaginary ones, in this case) but adds a strangely anti-British sentiment. Somewhat ironically, he uses the internet as a sort of deus ex machina that has the power to unite, but also divide, his characters. Clearly Hornby’s High Fidelity days are behind him and he’s begun to focus on more mature themes: middle age lament, failed marriages, and what happens after the spotlight is turned off.
There’s a great interview with Nick Hornby on Fresh Air’s website.
BookPeople has signed copies of Juliet, Naked available for purchase while they last.
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I like that there’s now a tag on the BookPeople blog for “reclusive rock stars.”