Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous
Review: I love everything that Nick Hornby creates (so far), but this book is exceptional. It is extremely funny, sometimes darkly so, well-written, and engaging. I actually read it twice in one week - it is rare for me to read ANY book twice, much less in the same week. It is that wonderful. Hornby's treatment of the quirky relationship between a 36-year old man and a rather lost boy is both humourous and heart-wrenching at turns, and deserves to be read by all. I cannot reccommend this book enough.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, genX single male book
Review: If you're looking for books about 30ish, single, male, semi-profesional characters, then read this book. It's meandering, but non-cliche in the best of ways. A good light read that you will be able to identify with (assuming you're male, genX, 30ish, semi-professional). Better than High Fidelity.
Rating: 
Summary: Ah, but who is the boy?
Review: This is a great guys book, full of hilarious plot devices that bring out rich characters who experience compelling growth but who give up some of themselves in the process. I laughed and laughed, but at least once in each chapter I'd get stopped by some surprising profundity expressing some universal truth. Will is a thirty-something single white male who has blithely figured out a life's path that will lead him "effortlessly to the grave," until Marcus, a 12-year-old social outcast, clobbers a duck with a loaf of bread, thereafter known as "Dead Duck Day." From there on, things get crazier and crazier until both Will and Marcus actually start to grow up.
Rating:
Summary: His Best So Far
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Sly
Review: It gets under your skin, this book. It starts out deceptively one dimensional. But there is so much wealth of detail and much to ponder in its pages. One of my most indelible criteria is that I must care about the characters in a book, want to know more about them after the story is over. When I began this, the hero was someone I wasn't prepared to like as much as I did at the end. Wish I knew him and what had become of him.
Rating:
Summary: Muy divertido. Muy descriptivo.
Review: Edad no es lo mismo que experiencia. Y es increible como la gente mas distinta de nosotros es la que mas nos puede enseñar. Mas alla del estilo de vida de Will, o de su relacion con las mujeres, es de notarse la manera en que interactua con Marcus, y como esa relacion inicial de "maestro" y "alumno" lentamente va evolucionando a una relacion de pares. La experiencia y vivencias de Will ayudan a Marcus a entrar en el mundo adolescente, y paradojicamente la misma relacion ayuda a Will a entrar al mundo adulto, al menos emocionalmente hablando. Este es un libro muy divertido, y es de esos raros ejemplares que tendran atractivo para un muy amplio rango de mentalidades y edades.
Rating:
Summary: Very Realistic, Amazingly Funny
Review: I'm not certain if all men can relate to the characters in this book, but I certainly can. Their feelings hit home, and while this story deals with people in trying circumstances, it never delves into melodrama. In fact, the situations in this book are laugh-out-loud funny. I've yet to read High Fidelity, but according to reviews this is a trend amongst Hornby's novels. It would be too easy to make characters like girl punk Ellie into stereotypes, but never once did I think they were contrived. Also, a good deal of the plot involves the fate of Nirvana and its effects upon the kids in 1993-1994, and that again would be easy to generalize. The changes in the characters' personalities weren't portrayed as abrupt, they were once again realistic. The main point that I guess I should make is that the book seems familiar. We've all been in Marcus's or Will's situations, and it's nice to find something that reminds you of your own trials and still cracks you up in the process. The ending is very true and very satisfying, and that being said this is probably the best book I have read in a long time.
Rating:
Summary: wavering between 3 and four
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: Fast read
Review: The Peter Pan of the 90's. Will never needs to grow up but he sure likes women. Deciding to join a single parents group to meet women, there's just one problem. He has no kid. From his invention of his son to the reluctant adoption of a nerdy teen, it's fun to watch the transformation of the characters. In the end, he's still Peter Pannish...but I doubt highly if he'll attempt to fly.
Rating:
Summary: How you get normal
Review: The novel is about a twelve-year old boy and a 36-year old man, who have both problems. They cannot act their age. By getting friends, they start to help each other. The novel is written in omniscient third-person point of view. In each chapter it is weather written from the boy's view or the man's view. The caracter's viewpoint constantly changes. This way of a plot is easy to read and increases the suspense. The caracters are well-chosen and act realistic, so that the reader could simply identify with one of them. I recommend this book, because it encourages you to think about the sense of life and how happy you are in your position. It is a well written- book.
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