About a Boy

Having read About a Boy shortly after finishing Hornby's first novel High Fidelity, I have to say that while I liked this book, it didn't live up to the lofty standards of Hornby's brilliant debut. Hornby again provides a mid-30's male slacker as a protagonist, who feels empty when between relationships but who remains in tune with contemporary pop culture. He even has the protagonist, Will, meet a date in Rob's imaginary record store from High Fidelity, Championship Vinyl, as a playful reference to his earlier book. In High Fidelity, Will stoops to attending single parent support groups to meet "Julie Christie-like" women who, if they didn't have kids, would not otherwise give him the time of day. It is a little reminiscent of Fight Club, but Will doesn't go there to share in their suffering in order to get out of a malaise - he is simply scamming for chicks.
Through a complicated series of events which I will not give away, Will becomes entangled in the lives of 12 year old outcast Marcus, and his depressed single mother Fiona, despite the warning signs ringing in his head telling him to stay away. The book is slightly more predictable and less laugh out loud funny than High Fidelity, but Hornby's numerous wry observations about dating (ie Will's sense of when "sex is in the air") and his dead on dialogue make this a fun, quick read.
Nirvana fans will also appreciate the numerous references to the band and to Kurt Cobain - his tragic suicide played a role in the plot indirectly. Even the name of the novel, About a Boy, I think is a play on the song "About a Girl" by Nirvana which was on their first studio album, as well as the first track on the famous Nirvana Unplugged CD. Will teaches Marcus, his student of pop culture, all about Nirvana as well as lessons on the right shoes to wear (Adidas), the proper haircut (definitely not a cut by mom), etc.
I thought some of the characters in the book were fairly unremarkable - other than Marcus and Will none of them are explored well enough to really get a sense of them as people. We know Marcus' mother Fiona is depressed, but Hornby glosses over why. Marcus meets an outcast older kid at school and befriends her, but we never really know why the older girl takes an interest in Marcus and why she is always so angry with everyone else. Unlike High Fidelity, where the supporting characters (like Barry and Dick) were half the fun, here the bit players are just kind of along for the ride.
In any event, Hornby on his off days is better than most contemporary fiction written by anybody else, and oftentimes in this funny yet serious novel he touches on real emotions and issues like alienation, parental responsibility, and the nature of freindship that elevate this book to a 4 star level. For fans of High Fidelity there is much here you will like.

Having recently seen the marvelous movie "About a Boy," I decided to pick up the novel that inspired the film. I was not disappointed. Nick Hornby's clever, original and touching book goes to heart of how important it is to connect with other people.
Will Freeman, the anti-hero of "About a Boy" is not an admirable individual. Will does not work for a living. He lives in a beautiful house in London and his expensive lifestyle is paid for by the royalties that Will receives from an ever-popular song, "Santa's Super Sleigh." Will's father wrote this ditty many years ago, and he never had another hit in his life. Although Will is thoroughly sick of the song, it pays the bills, since countless individuals and musical groups have recorded it over the years. Since Will has nothing meaningful to do, he spends his time shopping, watching television, listening to music, taking recreational drugs, and chasing beautiful women.
Through a convoluted series of events, Will meets Marcus, a nerdy twelve-year-old with a depressive and smothering mother, named Fiona. In spite of Will's determination to stay aloof from long-term commitments, he begins to care about Marcus and he tries to teach the boy how to be accepted by his peers. Marcus, in turn, teaches Will how to care about someone other than himself.
Hornby's smooth writing style, his deft characterizations, and his subtle humor make "About a Boy" a smart and entertaining novel on several levels. Hornby's book is not only a poignant story about lonely people connecting with one another. It is also a social commentary about the shallowness of some aspects of modern society. To some people, one must have the right CD's, wear the right clothes, and know the right people in order to be accepted. Merely being a kind and loving individual is just not enough. Without being in the least cloying or heavy-handed, Nick Hornby shows that meaningful relationships are what life is all about.

I'm writing this review two days after seeing the screen adaptation of "About a Boy" on its opening night. As a huge Nick Hornby fan, I was enthralled with the final product of the filmmakers. No "let's move the script to Chicago" debasing of the script, a la the Cusack-centric version of "High Fidelity." As good as the book is, "About a Boy" the movie is even better. It didn't seem possible.
But even if you've seen the movie, and are thinking about the book, I suggest you give it a try. Especially if you've never read Hornby before. In fact, if you're 'new to Nick,' here's one man's take on a course of action...
1. [Assumes you've just seen 'About a Boy.']
2. Read the book.
3. Rent 'Fever Pitch' from Blockbuster. [The book is rather a tough read - unless you're a European football (aka 'soccer') fanatic. It deals with Hornby's lifelong obsession with Arsenal & his struggles to become a writer. But the movie is a sweet little vignette drawn from the book. It makes for a nice viewing by a couple looking for a good Staurday night rental. Just ignore the odd cover box, which has nothing to do with the movie.]
4. Read 'High Fidelity.' [Only see the movie if you've read the book first. Don't let the movie ruin the book for you.]
5. Read 'How to Be Good.'
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Here are two neat little differences between 'About a Boy,' the movie and book, that I don't think will ruin the book for you:
'Social Suicide' Song
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Movie: 'Killing Me Softly'
Book: 'Both Sides Now'
An inspired choice by the moviemakers. The only downside being that you'll feel like an idiot when you get caught by your co-workers singing 'Killing Me Softly' later in the week.
Marcus' Musical Awakening
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Movie: Mystikal
Book: Nirvana
The scriptwriter really demonstrated a good pop-culture relevancy touch here with this change.

High Fidelity is one of my favorite novels of all times and it's hard to open a Hornby novel and not hope for something great. I think the best advice for a reader of this novel is to forget that High Fidelity exists and appreciate this novel in its own right. About a Boy is a wonderful story about two people and their rather unique friendship. Will Lightman is a thirty-six-year-old man whose passions don't go beyond getting the latest gadgets, his CD collection, and having noncommittal sex with single mothers. But when he stumbles upon eleven-year-old Marcus, his life isn't the same. Marcus has a difficult time fitting in school and is terrified of losing his depressed mother to suicide. The strange bond he develops with Will is refreshing, and an unlikely friendship ensues between them. There are some amusing moments throughout the novel.

One of the most interesting things about the novel is how effectively Hornby navigates the inner workings of Marcus's rationalizations, how he is able to see Will in a light that even Will himself does not see. Their bond has a "boys will be boys" feel to it in that Will's reluctance to commit to anything or anyone has a lot to do with his unwillingness to grow up. The novel is very funny. I loved the scenes of Will trying to get a woman at SPAT meetings (Single Parents Alone Together). Marcus's point of view is more poignant. I loved this offering from Hornby. I had started reading this a few years ago and never finished it until now. I have not seen the movie, but I've been told that it is quite good. I know Hugh Grant plays Will in the movie, which cheated me out of imagining the aforementioned character in my mind. Anyway, I recommend About a Boy. I expected a great Hornby read and was not disappointed.

While I agree with those who pointed out that this book tends to be a bit repetitive, this is still a very enjoyable book. I adored Marcus' dimwittedness (although it seemed to me completely out of character for him to have thrown the bread at the duck in the first place) and felt genuine sympathy for him when his "friends" gave him the brush-off because he's too big of a geek to hang out with even the other geeks.
Though it is, obviously, central to the plot, I was a bit confused by Will's logic in joining a single-parent support group in the first place. Based on the fact that one single mother has dated (and dumped) him he decides he's hit upon the ultimate way to meet women? Kind of a weak premise, there, but easily overlooked once the story gets rolling.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is Hornby's ability to give the reader glimpses into both main characters' lives. He doesn't focus on just one and we are able to glean an even clearer picture of the events as they unfold. I was pleased to note that Horny didn't take the easy path and introduce a romance between Will and Marcus' mother (which would have been completely impossible to believe), though I would have liked to have seen a bit more character development in the mother and at least a rudimentary introduction into the life of Marcus' father (more than what we're shown, at least).
Actually, I would give this book 3 1/2 stars rather than three. I gave it the lower rating because, while I genuinely enjoyed this book, it didn't leave me wanting more. In other words, I don't feel in that big of a hurry to read it again (I've read Hornby's "High Fidelity" repeatedly and it hasn't been that long since I bought it) and I didn't feel at the end of the book as though I was saying goodbye to good friends. Overall, though, a recommended read.

As several reviews have commented, "About A Boy" is not another "High Fidelity," which is a good thing in my opinion since I don't subscribe to the school of thought that says a writer should reproduce the same book as many times as he can get away with it. This novel does have much in common with "High Fidelity," however, beyond Hornby's hilarious command of voice and his brilliance at constructing scenes that are both awkward for the characters and riveting for the reader. His new main character, Will Lightman, suffers from an unusual problem: living off royalties from his father's Christmas song, he has nothing to do with his time but enjoy himself. Now in his mid-thirties, he is concerned that he has not slept with enough women or listened to enough cool music. He stumbled upon the absurd but wonderful idea of passing himself off as a single father to single mothers so that he can win their sympathies and gain access to their panties. This scheme intersects with an unfortunate boy named Marcus, who is such a loser at his new school that even the other losers won't have anything to do with him. He gets enlisted by Will to pass himself off as his son, and much misadventure ensues.
"About A Boy" is partly a coming-of-age story and partly a never-growing-up story, and the two tales intertwine wonderfully. I couldn't quite sign on with Hornby's desire to make the death of Kurt Cobain as a major cultural landmark, on the order of the Kennedy assassination perhaps; nor did I ever buy for a second that hapless Marcus would find himself befriended by the coolest and most belligerent Nirvana fan at their school, but those are a few minor points. No one slings out more entertaining prose than Nick Hornby. I just wish the guy would write more books.

Once again, Nick Hornby writes a book based on personal experiences, and the result is, once again, very good. Hornby's detached, uncompromised style is a relief. The reading is very light and entertaining. The question that remains is: who is the "boy" in the title?
Marcus is a son of separated parents. His father is a far-away jerk. His mother is a suicuidal, depressed hippie (!). He just moved to London, and he is not doing very well in school, and in fact he's not doing very well in life. He has the wrong clothes, the wrong hair, he's a vegetarian, and has no friends. On the other hand, Will Freeman (a little too obvious name) is a 36-year-old who has no job because he is rich enough to afford a pacate life. He has no family, no children, and only shallow friends. His non-life objective is to meet women so he can take them to bed. Marcus and Will meet and they help each other to achieve a better living to both of them, taking their lives and using what's best in them.
The portuguese title of this book is "Um grande garoto", which, when put in english, has two meanings: "A great boy" and "A big boy". The portuguese title is the summary of the book. "About a boy" is about two boys: one, a grown-up living the life every kid would want, but he's getting tired of it; the other, a kid living his life with the seriousness and responsibilities of a grown-up, and he's alreay tired of it.
Hornby's universe is very pontual, small, but his characters and the relationships between them are very complex, and that's what makes his books so unforgettable. Hornby has re-defined pop-culture, adding to it a new meaning and the face of the nineties.
Grade 8.9/10

Having watched the movie around seven months ago, I decided that reading the book upon which About a Boy is based would be a good idea. After all, the movie was good and the books are usually better than the movies, so what could go wrong. Happily, not much.
This novel is about two characters: Will and Marcus. Will is a shallow man who knows he is shallow and enjoys it immensely; thanks to an inheritance, he is financially independent, so he spends his days having fun and avoiding commitments. Marcus, on the other hand, is a twelve-year-old plaugued with a depressed mother and a school where he does not fit in. Will needs more depth in his life, and in ways, Marcus needs more shallowness. It is left to the reader to determine who is the boy in the title.
This is a funny book but it also has real heart. Done incorrectly, Will could come off unpleasant, but Hornby succeeds in making him likeable. Marcus could come off as pathetic, but he is definitely better than that. Since this story is character-driven (what plot there is exists only to further character development), it is essential to have interesting, multi-dimensional characters and this book has plenty of them. Even Will, who strives to be one dimensional, has more to himself than he would like to admit.
For those who have seen the movie, the first two-thirds of the book is very similar to the film; on the other hand, the last portion goes in a different but successful direction. Thus, whether you've seen the movie or not, this is a great read, fun from start to finish.

Will Lightman is a 36-year-old, unemployed, but well-off man living in London. He spends his days finding trivial ways to fill his endless amounts of time. He's always fashionable. He always knows what's in. In other words, Will is always on top of the game.
Will is also a womanizer, and soon finds the joy of the single mother. When he joins a single parents support group and befriends one of the mothers, he meets Marcus, a 12-year-old who acts much older than his 12 years -- Will's opposite. A friendship is forged, and this, of course, means that changes are made, even if they're not wanted.
This was a really cute book. Will is cheeky and sarcastic. Marcus is solemn and serious. And they teach each other about life and how things are, and they have many misadventures along the way. Even when Will tries to get the reader to believe that he doesn't care about Marcus or his messed-up life, it's obvious that the boy holds a soft spot in his heart. And though they are opposites in many aspects, there are a few things that are shared between Will and his young companion, such as their ability to sort of forget that reality exists until the reality of a situation hits them.
I saw the movie first, but the book was definitely better than a movie, as they usually are. A lot of questions I had regarding the movie were answered in the book, as they usually are. This was like the male-version of chick-lit. What would that be called? Guy-lit or something? Great reading, enjoyable, will definitely be on the lookout for more Hornby.

Marcus is different. He knows he's different. He never minded being different until he moved to a new school where "different" is unacceptable and every day proves to be a challenge to his survival. Fiona, Marcus's mother, is different, also. She hasn't a clue what Marcus is being put through, and Marcus isn't sure how to tell her. It seems Fiona is winning all the arguments, too, until Marcus comes up with a nuclear weapon in his argument arsenal - 36-year-old Will. Marcus meets Will through an unlikely string of events (you've got to read the details yourself) and Marcus isn't even sure if he likes Will or not...in the beginning, anyway.
Will Freeman is carefree, dislikes kids and commitments, scoffs at the notion of falling in love, and schemes for sex. He's detached himself from anything that could possible present a problem - he believes he's slammed the door on life and as long as he refuses to answer the door, he's safe (I wonder why he answers the door when Marcus comes to call???)... Will doesn't know that there is even a point to life. Which doesn't help when he decides to try and help Fiona believe she has a reason to live.
Marcus initially attaches himself to Will in order to build his acrobatic display - you know, like the pyramids that the cheerleaders make. Marcus wants some support, he needs more people in his life. He's afraid his mother will kill herself and then he would be alone. What's the result of Marcus's reaching out to Will? It's like Marcus planted a seed which yields a garden - read the book and watch everything blossom and grow!

OK, if I were grading this against Kafka or Dostoevsky, it probably wouldn't get that good of a grade. But it is light fiction, and as such, it is a delightful and fun book. I had previously read HIGH FIDELITY, which I like a great deal more, but I enjoyed this one enough to guarantee that I will read other Hornby books in the future.
The plot was surprising. From reading the cover, one might expect a comedy of misadventures among single mothers, and while in a way that does indeed transpire, that is definitely not the focus of the book. The book is, literally, about a boy, and his interesting and moving friendship with a previously superficial adult male. Much of the interest in the book lies in the fact that it ends up being about friendship and relationships, and not especially about sexual relationships. Although the adult of the book does indeed engage in sexual relationships, the most interesting ones in the book are those that are decidedly not.
I definitely recommend this book. It is not great literature. But it is a fun read.
By the way, I noticed on IMDB that there is a forthcoming movie version of the book. Hugh Grant will play the adult lead. Rachel Weisz is in the cast, though I suspect she will play Will's love interest near the end of the book, and not Marcus's mother. Grant is a tad too old for the part (early forties, while Will is 36), but he should bring the right touch to the role.

Will Lightman is a professional lightweight-and he's proud of it. This hip, eccentric 30ish London single drifts through life without really engaging in it. Free to do whatever he wants thanks to a family inheritance he specializes in ephemeral relationships high in sensual satisfaction and bereft of emotional attachment. Unfortunately, Will's having difficulties maintaining his life style as all his mates are growing up-getting married, having kids, taking some sort of stab at responsibility.
Will alights on the notion of participating in a single-parent's get together as a means of meeting new romantic possibilities-and has some success. Unfortunately for Will, these single parents all seem to have children that become part of the equation-particularly Marcus, a fatherless lad in need of some guidance, who attaches himself to Will like a leech.
This is when the fun really begins.
No contemporary author has as firm-and comical-an insight into the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of the male psyche. The great fun in Hornby's novels is how much of yourself (and your friends) you see in them. Are we all really this weird? Yes, we are. And Hornby has the knack for hitting the nail on the head in the manner most likely to to get the most humor out of the situation possible.
This book isn't quite in the same league as High Fidelity, the author's previous work, but it is darn close.
An excellent and amusing read.

Will Lightman is a professional lightweight-and he's proud of it. This hip, eccentric 30ish London single drifts through life without really engaging in it. Free to do whatever he wants thanks to a family inheritance he specializes in ephemeral relationships high in sensual satisfaction and bereft of emotional attachment. Unfortunately, Will's having difficulties maintaining his life style as all his mates are growing up-getting married, having kids, taking some sort of stab at responsibility.
Will alights on the notion of participating in a single-parent's get together as a means of meeting new romantic possibilities-and has some success. Unfortunately for Will, these single parents all seem to have children that become part of the equation-particularly Marcus, a fatherless lad in need of some guidance, who attaches himself to Will like a leech.
This is when the fun really begins.
No contemporary author has as firm-and comical-an insight into the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of the male psyche. The great fun in Hornby's novels is how much of yourself (and your friends) you see in them. Are we all really this weird? Yes, we are. And Hornby has the knack for hitting the nail on the head in the manner most likely to to get the most humor out of the situation possible.
This book isn't quite in the same league as High Fidelity, the author's previous work, but it is darn close.
An excellent and amusing read.

God bless Nick Hornby. Author of the excellent novel High Fidelity and the equally worthwhile soccer-memoir Fever Pitch (both soon-to-be movies), Londoner Hornby always manages to mix humor with a very keen sense of observation. More to the point, he is very contemporary - something that is becoming a challenge for many authors to accomplish.
However, looking at the premise of Hornby's newest novel About A Boy, I cringed. The book jacket talks about fatherhood, single mothers, children - precisely the sort of subjects a young male wants to ignore while immersed in a novel. Fortunately, Hornby has let me down - this is a brilliant read.
"About a Boy" stars Will, who has drifted through life on a nifty little trust fund that keeps him comfortable. Never having cared for anything except for what he surrounds himself with (clothes, drugs, music, girls, soccer) he suddenly is depressed by his friends - who now are all becoming parents and/or responsible. Will, through a series of pathetically hilarious circumstances, finds himself becoming a father figure to a young boy. Hornby has clearly modeled his protagonist Will Freeman on himself, resulting in a work that resonates with honesty.
Will the U.S. finally get wise to Hornby? Who knows. Still, "About a Boy" is a good way to spend a weekend, but only a weekend.
(This review was originally printed in the June 1998 issue of Bikini Magazine in a slightly edited form.)

Having been made into a movie that proves Hugh Grant is still a box office draw, Nick Higham's second novel, About A Boy, involves the transformation of a self-centered confirmed bachelor into letter other people into his life, and a boy who struggles to find his own identity, away from his mother's influence, and fit in more in order to survive at a school full of bullies.
The book is told from the POVs of two people. One is Will Freeman, a thirty-six year old confirmed bachelor, an island to himself, who lives off royalties from a song his father made long ago, a novelty Christmas song called "Santa's Super Sleigh." He's hip, and he has his day organized into either shopping trips, hanging out with his few friends, watching TV, and trying to score with women but not to commit on a long-term basis. He finds a goldmine of opportunity in dating Angie, a single mother who resembles Julie Christie, and when she breaks it off, he decides there must be more attractive women of that sort. To that end, he joins SPAT (Single Parents-Alone Together), an encounter group of moral support, and even invents a 2-year old son Ned, and ex-wife Paula.
Then there's Marcus, a 12-year old boy who doesn't have it so good. He's in London, where students are more trendier. His mother's a vegetarian/health food, hippy-type into Joni Mitchell, and who is totally against mindless conformity. The result is that he's picked on in school, especially as he has the tendency to sing out loud from out of the blue when nervous. He doesn't have any real friends to speak of. His father's in Cambridge with a girlfriend. But worse still, he notices his mother suffering from depression.
Will and Marcus meet when Suzie, a SPAT member whom Will has taken a shine to, takes Marcus on an outing in the park. That day becomes a day forever etched in Marcus's mind, as his accidental killing of a duck with a French loaf is overshadowed by his coming home and seeing his mother overdosed on pills. The two bond slowly, and Marcus learns how to become invisible, outwardly wearing trendy clothes, listening to hip music and all, but to be himself inside, i.e. to be in disguise.
The nature programme and Groundhog Day video Fiona and Marcus watch, on the fish that doesn't come out of its cave, and how Bill Murray lives the same day over and over, are clever and subtle parallels to Will's life.
The book here has Kurt Cobain and Nirvana as the thing that unites Marcus and Ellie, the rebellious and brooding 15-year old who slowly warms up to him, and the book takes place from 1993 to 1994, so one can figure out what bearing an event that took place nearly ten years ago tomorrow (5 April) will have.
But the one thing that stood out was a conversation involving the difficult search to find a life partner so "less different" from one. Ellie's mother replies, "Why do you think we're all single?" The conclusion seems to be, as Marcus later decides, that it's safer if everyone were simply just friends, pairing off being a bit of an emotional hazard.
With writing that's pointed and witty, Higham makes convincing characters of Will and Marcus, but he does so with Fiona, Marcus's mother, and Ellie, described as Siouxsie Sioux with a Roadrunner hairdo; he also weaves threads of single parents, the difficulty of fitting in at school, and why the concept of marriage and or sig. others may be declining in the late 20th century onwards, and for Will, being able to care about someone and still maintain his own island.

This book is an easy read. There are many hilarious moments. Hornby adeptly mines the rich vein of humor in male female relationships. His is an exclusively male perspective, even more so because he is a British male. Still, he pokes so much fun at his protagonist Will that I think women will enjoy this too.

Hornby novels are always entertaining. He is funny and occasionally touching, but you always know that this is a comedy. Nevertheless, Hornby usually inserts his own view of the universe into his novels. In this story Will fears talking with the suicidally depressed Fiona because he fears the inevitable life question: "Whats the point?" Will believes that there is no point, and after reading a few of his novels, I guess Hornby believes that too. It seems that he wants to get that point across. That is my only annoyance with this book, and it is a minor one. If you want a fast and easy read, and you enjoy your humor extra dry,in the British tradition, this is a good book for you.

" About a Boy " is really about two boys. One, Marcus, is the twleve year old son of a single mother. The other, Will, is a 32 year old single man who has never had to grow up. Marcus is the school misfit who wears the wrong clothes, has the wrong haircut and listens to the wrong music. Will, on the other hand, has it all and he has it all down. He has the right car, the right music, and the right clothes.
One fine day, Will decides that the pool of young single mothers is probably a fine place to look for women. To fit into the single parent crowd, he needs a cover story. He invents a wife, actually an ex wife, and a son. Thus begins a story of the two boys, how they become compadres, and how they both, eventually, grow up.
The story is an easy and enjoyable read. Like the porridge in Golidlocks and The Three Bears, the temperature of the story is just right. It has drama, but not too much. There is humor, but it's not a farce. The characters are warm without being corny. The plot ends with an upbeat note, but it is not an implausibly happy fairy tale ending. All in all, an enjoyable story that you will be glad that you read.

This is a great story about a divorced, suicidal single mother trying to raise a shy, but gifted pre-teenage boy, who's looking for male role models wherever he can get them.

We hear so much about girls and their problems, that it's nice to focus on boys for a change. This book has a lot of English/British sayings and phrases that Americans might not be familiar with, but that doesn't detract from the story. The characters are richly drawn. You get to know them very well. Nick Hornby's gift as a writer is the intimacy with which the reader develops with the characters. Plus, a great plot. The book is really short and not difficult to finish at all.

This novel is very similar to "You Remind Me Of Me"---although that one is a lot longer. Novels about gifted boys, unfortunately, being raised in dysfunctional homes. It's sad that boys with so much promise are being destroyed by their home environment----that's my overwhelming thought when reading books like this.

Hornby is excellent with language, prose, dialogue and vocabulary. The actual prose is somewhat challenging if you are an American who's not well-versed with how literary English authors (Ian McEwan) put together sentences. An English sentence structure can be a little more complicated than the straightforward way American authors write. But, it's never incomprehensible. I like the challenges of twisty, complex sentences. Author Hornby comes off as more clever, than gimmicky----the way any other author would, when other, lesser authors, attempt these sorts of plays on words and variety in sentence structure.

And, because this is a short novel, with short chapters.....there always being a break----bottom line: it's an easy read, full of deep meaning about the nature and tragedy of dysfunctional families.

"About A Boy" - Dead Duck Day

The Novel "About A Boy" by Nick Hornby is about two boys who are different from each other. These boys are the protagonists of the novel. One of them is Will Freeman thirty-six-year old single from London, England. His life is carefree and he loves to live without any responsibility and any commitments. He is very trendy and his main hobbies are listening to music, watching TV, going shopping. He always wants to be cool but he is not satisfied with his style of life so he decides to meet more women. So he joins a single Parent Group named SPAT where he meets Marcus the second protagonist.

Marcus is a twelve-year-old boy who is bullied at school and has no real friends. Furthermore he lives with his mum alone in London in a small flat. His Parents got divorced several years ago and his father lives in Cambridge. Marcus wears untrendy clothes, has got an unusual haircut and behaves strangely.

One day they met and from this day on Marcus comes to Will's flat and they watch TV together. So they get into an intensive contact more and more and learn from each other how to manage their lives.

All in all the book is about growing up and finding one's place in society.

We think the book is very interesting because you can notice a change in the two main characters. The Book is full of love, fun, friendship, Rock'n Roll and Sex.

BUY IT OR DIE!!!

made by

Furby / Ranzmann / KaSpA

First of all, Julian Rhind-Tutt who narrated the story was brilliant! I really enjoyed his efforts to bring the characters to life.
This is a touching story of a 'no strings attached' cool dude of a man named Will, who finds himself beginning to care about the people around him. There's Marcus, a 12 year old geek who is being bullied at school and his mother Fiona, who in a fit of depression attempts suicide.
Poor awkward Marcus needs Will's help to become 'cool' which Will excels at. Infact, that seems to be all that he's good at. He's so shallow that he thinks it's a good idea to invent a child as a reason to go to Single Parent meetings to pick up women.
Fortunately as the story speeds along Will takes a good hard look at himself and realises that he needn't be as empty as his image projects, and Marcus' finds unlikely friends and allies to support him through the tough and awkward times as puberty sets in. This was quite an enjoyable story to listen to while driving to and from work.

In this truly moving book about life, Nick Hornby introduces the reader to many lovable characters and their stories.
Meet Will. 36, single and terrified of anything in diapers.
Meet Fiona. Never married with a 12 year old son. Depressed and ready to top herself.
Meet Marcus. Fiona's son. On an island of his own, not by choice, but because of his mother.
Meet Ellie. 15 and rebellious.
Nick Hornby ties them all together, they would never meet any other way. The novel revolves mostly around the lives of Will and Marcus, and the "friendship" they forge.
Though the characters are all different and neurotic, they are (in my mind) all the characteristics of an everyday person, trying to get along in life. The book is a marvellous glimpse at the effects of parents on their children, and the effects of those children on the outside world.
Hornby pulls the reader through the story with believeable dialogue and moving scenes. The ending leaves the reader open to the number of possibilities that awaits the world inside the book.

Two immature men - about twenty years apart - help each other grow up. Marcus, 12, is a "weird kid" who dresses like an accountant on his day off, and lives with his suicidal, hippie

mum, Fiona, both of whom would fit in well in Amherst or Cambridge, Mass. Independenly wealthy Will scores high on a magazine cooleness test, yet despite no desire to become a smug married like his thirtysomething friends, finds life a bit lacking at times. Like Rob in "High Fidelity" he discovers that the fundamental need for human connection cannot be satisfactorily met by a film, CD or drug, no matter how "cool."

The only quibble I had with this book was that the dialogue could be dull - there were lots of "yeahs" and "nos" and "OK's." Also thought there should be chapter with Marcus after he becomes his generation version of "cool" or at least "unremarkable as any other kid." After agonizing through the early chapters with him, it's expected that he'll eventually comment on his metamorphis.

About a Boy is set in Northern London with chapters alternating between the points of view of Will Lightman and Marcus Freeman.

Will lives in his own world, where sex, substance abuse, and magazine questionnaires fill his day and relationships are squeezed in between. He owns a nice apartment, fast car, videos, CD's and his only source of income are the royalties he gets from his father's novelty Christmas song. The last thing he wants is a serious relationship which can only lead to children, making him sacrifice the lifestyle he cherishes so.

So, it comes as a bit of a surprise when Will finds himself attracted to a single mother. After a brief relationship with this woman, he comes to the conclusion that other single mothers might be equally as exciting. He invents an imaginary two-year old named "Ned" and shows up at SPAT: Single Parents-Alone Together.

Enter Marcus.

Marcus lives with a vegetarian single mother who's sorely behind the times and has had one too many bad relationships. The most extreme pop culture icons he's ever known about are Joni Mitchel and Bob Marely. His shoes and haircut are all wrong and he has a tenancy to belt out songs when nervous. All of this makes him a target of bullies, rejected by his peers and humiliated by teachers. To top that off, his mother is also suffering from depression, which makes his life miserable on both fronts.

The two characters meet when Marcus' mother sends him to a SPAT picnic with her friend, where Will is also in attendance.

At first, Will and Marcus are clear polar opposites. Marcus is a bit wierd and geeky for Will's tastes, and his mother has more emotional baggage than he's willing to carry.

But then Marcus, sensing a potential father figure, invades Will's life and doesn't go away easily. Will is annoyed, as any man who lives comfortably in his own world would be, but doesn't reject the boy quickly.

Over time, Will conscientiously takes the boy under his wing. From buying Marcus the cool shoes and introducing him to Nirvanna, even bestowing a bit of birds and the bees wisdom with regards to a girlfriend, Will and Marcus gradually become different people.

The first thing a reader might think, is that Will must be some kind of sick pervert. And I'll admit, pretending to be a single parent just to get single mothers in bed is a depth to which most unmanned submarines have rarely sank.

But over the course of the story, Will comes off less as a pervert and more of an immature child who believes in all honesty that he can fly if he flaps his wings hard enough. Dealing with the feelings of others can be difficult, especially when you're used to the single life and Will is simply a tourist in a land he's never been to before. And on a personal note, Will's lifestyle is the kind of thing that makes my mouth water everytime I hear about it. But I digress.

Just about anyone of us whose ever had to move to a new city, start at a new school, and had the whole experience suck the center right out of the Tootsie Pop can readily identify with Marcus. Especially those of us with clueless parents, who either don't realize or refuse to understand just how nasty schools have gotten lately. You're on your own with no one who knows you, in a new building so complex it puts most secret government facilities to shame. Bullies are relenetless and even they're only as bad as the teachers who tell you to "ignore it" or "just stay out of their way". (It disturbs me even now how apathetic teachers can be, especially in the wake of tragedies like Columbine)

Lets face it. School in any nation sucks, especially if you're the new kid. Marcus gets my total sympathy from page one.

Will is the guy I wanted to be. Marcus was the kid I grew up as until I finally hit puberty and started telling my mother where to get off and how to get there. (They called it Oppositional Defiant Disorder at one point)

Another high point that makes you instantly respect Nick Hornby as a writer is his ability to connect one of the more crucial events of that time to the characters, and in doing so further the plot along. I refer namely, to the death of Kurt Cobain. Since a part of Marcus' social awakening comes from discovering Kurt Cobain, it's no big surprise when the event causes so much trouble in his life. Especially when the girl he's been falling for turns out to be an obsessed fan who believed (like about eighty million other people) that he was singing to her.

There are some other truly touching scenes without being overly sappy. The humor was both intelligent and compelling, making me an unofficial fan of Nick Hornby.

Feel free to believe the Nick Hornby hype--well, some of it anyway. High marks for crafting a well-paced, entertaining character study here, despite the absence of any real plot. This is a skilled author who definitely knows what he's doing. I'm certain he had the screenplay in mind on every page, as well as the house in the country the royalties would bring him. Although a cut above American mass market novelists, it might only be the British angle that sets Hornby apart from his colonial counterparts. Luckily the author keeps his characters progressing by continually telling the reader of the exact personality changes taking place. I find it far too challenging to simply observe character development through words and actions.
It will definitely help you forget about the uncomfortable seats on your next 2-hour plane ride, but so would a box of Twinkies and a couple beers. You choose your own poison.

he writes things you can relate to. he writes about regular type people, and makes them special. these people make perfect sense, because you know them, or you ARE them. now, i think the trouble that some people had with this book is that they couldn't relate quite as much as they could to high fidelity. i had the opposite problem, because i am not a guy. high fidelity is a GUY book, about a guy, how he thinks, not that a woman can't get into it because he's an excellent writer but they can't relate in the same way. this one is also about a guy, but it's also about other things that i can relate to better. i can always relate to the music thing, but the bits about being young and motherhood and all that will make me nod in the same way that you guys were nodding over high fidelity. his prose and wit is as good as ever if not better, as everyone seems to agree. give this one a try.

Easily one of my all time favorites. Highly recommended for everyone! The storyline was constant as each character tries to find their niche in life, the writing style was wonderful, and the characters were nicely developed and I felt like I really knew them (even if they were incredibly shallow at first *cough* Will *cough*). I really enjoyed all of the Nirvana bits that were included after Marcus meets Ellie.

If it werent for the movie, I definitely wouldn't have purchased About A Boy. It was extremely well written and funny. Throughout it I laughed and cried. HOWEVER, when i got to the last few pages, I was very disapointed. I thought the ending was awful.
Will is a self-centered independent 30 something year old. He does everything possible to get a girl and have his needs met. This includes creating a fictional child named Ned and joining a single parents group called "Single Parents Alone Together". There he mets a girl. One day, they go out to the park. Now we meet Marcus. Marcus is a very eccentric, odd, smart yet surprisingly likeable and funny 12 year old boy. Marcus's mom (mum) is one of Susie's friends who is feeling down that day. So, Marcus goes out with Susie & Will. Not to give anymore away, Marcus and Will are extremely different yet they both enlighten each other throughout the book. Their personalities seem to fit together. All in all, this book has a little bit of everything. I recommend it, even though I found the ending very disappointing.

Nick Hornby's writing never ceases to amaze me. Few writers I can think of have his ability to write witty, hilariously funny prose whilst managing not to be irreverent or disrespectful of the serious themes he explores. In 'About a Boy' he manages this trick again, very succesfully. Depression, suicide and loneliness are all experienced by the two main protagonists, Marcus and Will. Yet the over-riding irony of the book, the fact that 12-year old Marcus teaches 36-year old Will how to be an adult, whilst learning how to be a child from Will, manages to show us the humerous side of what could be a tragic situation. There are some truly hilarious scenes in the book, most often stemming from Marcus' earnestness and Will's desire to be painfully hip. The transformation of both Will and Marcus, through the shared experience of Marcus' mother's attempted suicide, bullying at school and Will falling in love, is a real treat to read and satisfyingly plausible.
I would recommend 'About a Boy' ahead of 'How to be Good', which was less convincing with Hornby writing from a female perspective. I'd also read this before watching the film, as it has considerably more depth, although the film is good itself.

I truly enjoyed About A Boy. I purchased the book prior to the movie and was glad I did so.
Will is a thirty-something in search of some sort of daily activity to use up his daily units of time (1/2 hour = 1 unit). So after bathing, eating and shopping what is Will to do? Date. But who, he does not work, or attend a religous service, he does not have many friends so where is he to meet a women? How about at a Single Parents organization.
But as Will tries to find someone to fill his lonliness the reader is also learning about Marcus, the twelve year old mifit. Marcus has a home with problems, a school with problems and really no one to share them with.
An unlikely attachment through a step of strange circumstances allows Marcus and Will to meet. Their adventures in learning about life together is what makes the book so enjoyable.

Devotees of Nick Hornby can see his craft develop through his early works, from a memoir (Fever Pitch) through High Fidelity to this excellent novel. In Fever Pitch Hornby wrote about himself, and in High Fidelity created memorable characters, many of whom were two-dimensional. But in that book he also created a complex, if rather extreme, protagonist, and his now-acclaimed skill at dialogue was revealed. About A Boy takes High Fidelity's promise to the next level. Here, Hornby shows a man-child learning how to be an adult -- but, more importantly, why that's worth doing, and why a life of sloth is not as fun as it sounds. He also manages the difficult task of creating a realistic child character, with all the awkwardness and uncertainty that a preteen geek would reveal. If you just want a sample of Hornby, read About A Boy first.

In the novel "About a Boy" Nick Hornby presents the friendship between the 36-year-old Will and a young teenager who is called Marcus.

Will enjoys his carefree single-life and besides he is very trendy and cool. Normally he spends his time watching TV and listening to music.

Marcus appears to be the complete opposite. He is bullied at school because of his strange outward appearance and behaviour. After meeting each other in a park their lives start changing completely.

We read this novel in our English class and we enjoyed being confronted with this humorous and interesting story. Especially, we liked Will's jokes and his provokative way of speaking.

In our opinion this book is definitely worth reading. Be it at home or at school.

Steffi Bolz and Julia Busche

Looking for a good read for an overseas flight, I came upon the recently released on film book, About a boy. Nick Hornby blends the devlisshly dark side of Martin Amis in portraying a likeable cad. Hugh Grant as Will is on the cover of the paperback and he is clearly in your mind's eye as you read the book. He does a wonderful job of conveying the shallow man who becomes engaged by a struggling boy. Starting out as a self-centered, drifting, almost wasted adult, Will comes around if only by accident, to emerge as a caring, thoughtful adult. I wish the book had not eneded where it did; I wanted to know more.
Hornby has a great sense of humor. Some of it is selfish, dark and sexist. But he is funny, very funny, in portraying the rescue of a young boy (Marcus) by an older but also much younger Will.
Highly recommended.

Will is financially comfortable without needing to work, thanks to the legacy of his father's treacky songwriting skills, so he spends his days being a spoiled brat with no attachment to real life at all. Looking for love in all the wrong places, he invents a toddler and an ex-wife and goes to meetings for single parents looking for partners, figuring the women will be easy to hot on.
He gets tangled up with a suicidal mum whose lonely and Marcus, her father-hungry 12yo son who sees more in Will than Will sees in himself - and the rest is history, along the lines of the child being father to the man.
The two main story lines in About a Boy are whether Will can evolve into a responsible adult capable of forming a caring relationship, and whether young Marcus can create the family that he so badly craves.

"About a Boy" was my introduction to the fiction of Nick Hornby. Without having any preconceptions as to what to expect from this author, I found myself smiling and chuckling all the way through this novel.
Hornby obviously has a sympathetic sense for his characters, so the humor comes across in a good, kindhearted way. It was nice to feel that his characters, flawed as they are, can still be liked and likeable. It was heartening to realize that we don't have to be perfect in order to be able to learn important lessons in life.
At the end of "About a Boy," it's hard not to grasp the humanness of each of the characters as they go through their trials and tribulations, such as they are. The reader also gets a sense that the characters' lives are the better for it--and so are we.

Will Lightman, age 36, is a hip, single Londonite who doesn't wish to change that. However, he's happened upon the ulimate secret to getting women - target single mothers. Conjuring up a fictional child, Will joins a single parent support group and changes his life forever. Instead of finding a lover, he finds a friend in 12-year-old Marcus, a decidely "uncool" kid who's desperately in need of a father figure. From there on out, Will's life is never the same.
"About a Boy" is one of those typical British novels, complete with British sarcasm and wit. The story, while original, failed to excite me very much. Though there were parts that were entertaining, they were buried beneath meaningless and boring fluff. Obviously we were meant to dislike Will - and I did - but I don't know that we were meant to dislike every other character - but I *did*. After slogging through the whole book in hopes of a redeeming ending, I was treated to a highly unsatisfying finish. This book, though it has its shining moments, falls flat.

Excellent! Feh to the Wall Street Journal's (unusually) mad review. Hornby has done it again...ABOUT A BOY is so fine that as a writer it makes one queasy. Marcus, for example, is an original and fresh character you instantly know and feel protective of. One immediately feels for everyone Hornby introduces. How he does this is a cruel mystery. ABOUT A BOY makes you cackle and then in the next beat, benefit from one of his frequent insights. How does he do it? How? And how may we ensure he never stops. Perhaps he needs to be locked in a hotel room and made to write books while room service is administered.
ALL the caustic wit of HIGH FIDELITY, and he's added a few new flourishes, in the way that Porsche does every so often.
Hornby, he's just dead great and makes it look easy.

I almost abandoned this book after a few pages; I didn't like the way it seemed to be going, nor did I care for the characters, but for some unknown reason, I kept reading. The further I read, the better I came to appreciate the story. I really did enjoy it, and was sorry when let ended. I wanted to read more about the lives of the characters whom I so disliked at the beginning. I think there's a lesson to be learned here.

Nick Hornby's a great writer and I really enjoyed "About A Boy", but not as much as his first novel, "High Fidelity" (and to some extent, "Fever Pitch").
I may be holding his latest book to a higher standard because "High Fidelity" spoke so loudly to me. In many ways "High Fidelity" chronicled my own life; connecting with my own passions for music, books, and women. And while I did enjoy "About A Boy" on the merits of the story alone, I didn't relate as well to Will as I did with Rob in "High Fidelity" or Nick, himself, in "Fever Pitch."
At any rate, he's one of my favorites and you'll find me first in line at the bookseller's when his next book arrives.

Like High Fidelity, About A Boy made me laugh out loud. Light and breezy, this book makes a great entertaining read. My only qualm (and this is why I'm wavering between three and four stars) is althought it was fun to read, it was so light I felt like the book might float out of my hands. (Even with the undercurrents of divorce and suicide inhabiting the book). A novel does not have to be filled with some heavy duty message in order for me to enjoy it, I suppose what it is about the book that reads funny, is the scary subjects within it, they feel out of place next to Hornby's witty tone. Something doesn't match up quite right, and it isn't that humor can't be found in the dark. That aside, Hornby is a talented and engaging writer, and if you liked High Fidelity I say read this one too(I liked High Fidelity more).

...but I like the movie better. The story centres on Will Freeman a 36 year old bachelor and Marcus the 12 year old who befriends him. From their interactions, they learn from one another and mature into an adult and a teenager respectively.

Nick Hornby is a great author, and I loved "High Fidelity," and I have picked up "Fever Pitch." The movie based on "About A Boy," condenses the best scenes and one-liners from the book, and lets remarkable actors like Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz and newcomer Nicholas Hoult play out Will, Fiona, Rachel, and Marcus as full-bodied characters. I usually prefer books to their movie counterparts, but this, I concede, is an exception to the rule.

Even though About a Boy sometimes moves in circles, and the ending seems like a beginning and therefore I WANT MORE (so goes life), I loved it! Since Will doesn't work and can afford anything he wants, all of the feelings he finds himself surprised to be feeling are shockingly intimate and purely interpersonal (I visited a lecture on the English novel at Columbia, and the professor was saying that the characters are often upper-crust people so that the steamy emotional problems they get mixed up in are unadulterated by more elementary worries, and Hornby seems to adopt this framework for his novel so that he can delve more deeply into Will than, say, the main character in High Fidelity). Marcus is a graceful character, and Hornby has the writer's imagination required to tell a story from a child's purer point of view. Will and Marcus balance each other perfectly, and About a Boy was a refreshing read, surprisingly optimistic.