High Fidelity: Chapters 14-21

When Rob calls his ex girlfriends I think he’s looking for reasons why he’s the way he is. He calls one and asks why they broke up, why she didn’t want to be with him. I think Rob is simply depressed and he’s looking for an excuse about why. If Rob gets an excuse for being sad, then he’ll feel better about it. Another reason he calls the girls is to see how well they’re doing. It seemed like his hopes were to see how amazing they are now and then have more reason to feel depressed. As it turns out the girls he calls aren’t doing that great and for some of them Rob is to blame. He calls hoping to hear how great they are doing only to find out that their break up affected them as well. Then instead of feeling relieved, he feels more sadness and on top of that he feels guilty. I thought the whole thing was really sad. Rob started to come off as just plain pathetic after reading this. The girls seemed either surprised or weirded out by Rob calling them. He needs to deal with his own issues and not bring people in who don’t really care about him (or for some, remember him).