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Summary: audio review
Review: 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.
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Summary: Looking forward to more from Nick Hornby
Review: I couldn't wait to pass this one on to my book buddies. It's full of wit and plenty of character development - two things I treasure in a good book. What I really enjoy about Hornby's writing is the unexpected details he brings to his characters. For example, his description of Marcus' mother, Fiona, as being a woman who sings songs with her eyes closed, is like a mini-biography. I found this same distinction to his writing in High Fidelity as well, and it really added to the characterizations.
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Summary: Fun look at 90s culture but empty
Review: The brilliance in Hornby's writing is his ability to create quirky pop culture allusions & apply them to the weaknesses & strengths of his characters. ABOUT A BOY is a model of quick, coffee-table writing. The dialouge is funny & off-beat. The storyline is often unpredictable. But most of the book wanders without making much of an emotional connection. It's not exactly a good thing when the strongest parts of the book are the Kirk Cobain musings. Worth a read but nothing hugely memorable.
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Summary: juvenalia
Review: Buy this book for your five year old, or don't buy it at all.
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Summary: Hilarious and soooo real!
Review: I still have trouble figuring out which of Nick Hornby's books I like better. He is so honest in his writing and his characters are so real that it is impossible to not relate to them immediately. Great book for anyone, entertaining, funny at all times, intelligent humour and reflective on the human condition, whatever that means. (sorry, I can't find a better word to describe the spirit of a man that lives in this world and has no idea what to do with his life - which is what we all question ourselves, isn't it?)
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Summary: The price of identity
Review: In this book, an unattached, disengaged 36 year old man and a strange, troubled 12 year old boy teach each other how to grow up. The theme of the book seems to be that, in order to participate fully in life, we must make choices concerning how to be, but we also must make compromises. Nothing is gained without a price. And we must weight carefully the worth of what we are willing to sacrifice for what we hope to exchange. After all, what is at stake is more than just fitting in or engaging with people, it's our identity. In the course of the novel, and through his relationship with Marcus, Will comes to trade security, comfort, detachment, disengagement, and a kind of anti-hero sense of rugged egocentrism for participation with others. It's not a struggle easily won. But, we are gratified when it is, because, until it is, Will is barely alive. He has money, security, and spends days entertaining himself for himself alone; in many ways he has an ideal life. But Hornby takes pains to demonstrate the vacuity of this kind of life. One of the points of the book is that isolation is a kind of curse. Will is a kind of laboratory with which to explore this idea because he is unlike the other characters. His isolation is carefully chosen and nurtured, while the other characters are desperate for contact. Marcus serves as a kind of laboratory, too. He is genuinely nice and has special qualities that distance him from his classmates. But, as we all know, making one's way in school demands conformity. Because he is kind of weird, Marcus is perhaps justifiably teased. And because he lives alone with a suicidal mother, Marcus decides that having more people around him is better than living with all one's eggs in one basket - safety from isolation in numbers as it were. Yet, at the end Marcus, too, grows up and learns to conform. He gains more people in his life, but perhaps there's a hint that the price he pays for this conformity may be soul-crushing. After all, he learns to be more like the former Will. And, it's hard to know what to think about this. But, if anything, this beautiful book teaches us not to be so cavalier with the choices we make. Because everything is a trade-off.
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Summary: mediocrity like spin magazine
Review: i guess if you're the type of person who enjoys their entertainment weekly subscription, this might be for you. the entering plot is really quite captivating: the story is written unpretentiously on an alternating view point per chapter between the two protagonists, and almost immediately, their interaction merges showing the difference in perspectives and interpretations of the problems a 12 year old and a 36 year old face. the voices of the characters are quirky, and although told in third person, are definitely characters you empathize with and become attached to. the problem with the novel *for me* comes about when the plot takes a turn for a sentimental quick-way-out. the resolution of the book is hardly anything but a hasty and cliche solution. hornby spent the previous 200-something pages carefully constructing a plot that confronted common issues in sit-coms, etc. without the same sort of voice about them. then comes about the finale, to which i chucked my copy rented from the library across the sidewalk in disgust and swore to myself that i'm going to read nothing but douglas coupland novels for the rest of the summer, dammit. i was irritated that i had wasted a day reading it and was so driven to mistreat a library item.
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Summary: About two boys
Review: The truth abut this book, of course, is that it's about two boys -- 12-year-old Marcus, and 36-year-old Will. Both are lacking something they need in order to get along properly in the world; fortunately for them (and us) they stumble across each other and fill in the missing bits. Alternating between mortifyingly painful and strangely funny, this is the story of Marcus, whose single mom Fiona has already attempted suicide once and, fears Marcus, may try again any day now. Marcus is a strange boy, due to his precocious intelligence combined with the insular life he leads with his nonconformist mother, who doesn't approve of the accoutrements of everyday teenage life, including TV, rock music, and video games. Through a chain of events too quirky and complicated to get into here, Marcus meets Will, a cool bloke who has no attachments, no problems, no plans, and has never worked, thanks to a one-hit-wonder songwriter father, whose royalties keep him in comfort, if not luxury. Will seems to enjoy floating through life -- no big highs, but no big lows, either. His days consist of TV, music, shopping, movies, and the occasional short-term relationship with someone who inevitable tells him he ought to grow up and settle down. However, Marcus' recognition that Will can provide something he desperately needs (the ability to be cool and fit in) sparks a deeper, unconscious desire in the both of them for the kind of relationship they both have lacked -- Marcus for a father (or really, anyone besides his emotionally unstable mother), and Will for a son (or really, anyone who might depend on him and matter to him more than that night's TV lineup). The growth of the two over the course of the novel is sweet and satisfying, and Hornby's characteristic inner dialogue is delightful in its confusion and honesty.
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Summary: Something I'll always remember
Review: I had read many reviews of Hornby books before I bought this book - and I had a feeling that I would like it b/c of the movie High Fidelity. But, I had no idea how much I would like it - Hornby is truly the master of the male confessional. He understands how guys (and women) think - and not normal, generic guys, but smart, complicated men. The entire book is full of wit and emotion and honesty - but a 3-page passage beginning around page 245 is one that I will never forget. It starts out with a discussion of suicide and depression, and the reasons for living (but in a coloquial manner, not highly philosophical) - and then it turns to the best description of how a man (Will) loves a woman that I've ever seen/heard/read. I even typed up the passage to save and send to my girlfriend. I can't wait to read his other books, knowing that every part of his novels allows the reader to connect with himself. Other reviewers have described the plot well, so I'll leave that out, I just wanted to focus on the poignancy, wit, humor, and honesty of the novel. And I will always remember the characters in the novel, and when I see someone like them in real life, I'll say "he's just like Marcus/Will/Fiona" -- You must read it!
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Summary: What A Disappointment
Review: I found a hardcover of About A Boy in a remaindered bin, and bought it hoping I would soon discover what all the hype was about re. High Fidelity. I hope that High Fidelity is much better than About A Boy, because this novel was utterly lacking in positive qualities. The best that I can say about it was that it was occasionally amusing. On the whole, it was a disappointment. I was not interested in any of the characters. The writing style was high schoolish, with an even lower vocabulary level. The brushes with suicide were poorly done, and at the end of the novel I was so fed up I just skimmed through the last forty odd pages to see if there was anything worth reading. There wasn't.
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