As the narrator and protagonist of High Fidelity, Rob Fleming guides the reader through his maturation. He is an obsessive music fan with a string of failed relationships, who finds himself caught amid another, equally painful break up. Rob is not a reliable narrator, particularly when diagnosing his own flaws. He begins the novel by insisting that Laura’s departure is far from the worst breakup in his life, yet his actions and his emotions indicate that he is deeply wounded. Her departure is so impactful that it prompts Rob to revisit his old relationships in a desperate attempt to repair his life. As much as Rob insists that Laura’s departure has not hurt him, both the reader and Laura can see that he is not to be trusted in this respect. Rob’s biases, obsessions, and inability to reflect on his own flaws are a key part of his character and an essential component of how the story unfolds.

Rob feels as though he is trapped in a cycle. All his relationships end in heartbreak and all his days are spent relitigating the same arguments with the same people in the same place. His record store embodies this feeling, as he spends his day arguing with Dick and Barry about inconsequential top five lists.