Rating: 
Summary: Funny
Review: "ABOUT A BOY" BY NICK HORNBY We didn't choose this novel by our selves, our English teacher picked it out. That was why I was a little bit sceptic in the beginning, but after a while I enjoyed the book. The start of the book was difficult to understand, but after a couple of chapters I found the book very interesting and hugely entertaining. It's a good book. I think Hornby`s comedic instinct makes this a smart, relaxed and funny book. This story is not only funny , but it's also a serious piece of writing. He writes about problems such as suicide, school, family and the fear of being alone. The plot is superb, in the beginning there is no connection between the main characters. In the first few chapters, we hear about Will and the next we hear about Marcus. After a couple of chapters , Will and Marcus get in touch. This made the story even more clever, because the two of them are so different. Will Lightman is a thirty-six year old man from London. He is single and tries to be cool, and in the beginning Will seems to be a guy without any feelings. Will doesn't work, he lives of the money he earns from selling the rights of his father`s well-known song. I think he is a man who tries to be much younger than he could be. Beacause of this, Will meets a lot of problems during the story. Something I find funny. Marcus is only a third of Will`s age. He has just moved to London from Cambridge,(with his mother). Marcus seems to act like he was much older. He is afraid of his mother, who is wery sad all the time. Marcus is in many ways Will`s polar opposite. He listens to Joni Mitchell and he has no idea of what his hair cut should be like, or what kind of clothes he should be wearing. One day Will meets a nice woman and he wants to be with her. He meets her at SPAT (Single Parents-Alone Together). To become a part of this group, he has to say that he has a kid and that he is a single parent. (Poor Will if the other members find out). This woman is a friend of Marcu`s mother. And one day Marcus goes to the park with Will and the woman. ( This day he calls the dead duck day, a day I think Marcus will remember for the rest of his life). When they come home, they found Marcus mother on the floor, she had tried to kill herself. After this episode, Marcus and Will get a closer relationship. Marcus has problems at school, and Will understands his troubles. He almost becomes an uncle or a father for Marcus, who change a lot and starts making friends. I think their friendship was good for both of them. Will became more open, he became more like an adult and not the hip guy he wanted to be in the beginning but still he is looking for a woman. I'm a great fan of Nirvana and Curt Cobain, so I was thrilled by the things Hornby wrote about the band. Maybe Hornby tries to make a connection, between the suicide of Cobain and the attempt of Marcu`smother. They were both sad people, they were both searching for the meaning of their lives. I hope and think you will enjoy the book. It is funny and serious at the same time. The book is written by a person, who in a way live inside the people he writes about. The lives of Marcus and Will turn around in this book. When you are finished with the story, you're left with the impression that this could have happened to anyone you know, including yourself. It is much better than "Fever Pitch", Nick Hornby has done it again. Another superb book from the man behind "High Fidelity". This book from the late 90`s is one of the books, I actually finished and my tip to you would be, " read it today".
Rating: 
Summary: About a Boy by Nick Hornby
Review: Nick Hornby's novel, About a Boy, is in fact about two boys. If they can be called boys, there is really not a good and adequate word for them. Will is a 36-year-old who acts more childishly than most parents would allow their children to act. All he cares about is being cool and trendy, or at least being cool and trendy according to the latest men's magazine. He is really arrogant and difficult to like. Marcus is a 12-year-old who is everything but cool. He has strange hair, dresses like a twenty-five-year-old chartered accountant on his day off, hums Joni Mitchell songs to himself and is the son of a depressed, divorced, vegetarian mother who does not understand that baggy, hairy jumpers are out-of-date. He acts so grown up that it makes him such an extreme outsider that I have great difficulties picturing him before me. These characters are so out of this world and weird. Even though they are so different from each other, somehow the author makes them come in contact with each other and they develop a somewhat strange relationship. The two characters first meet when Will decides that single mothers make the best lovers. Will joins a SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together) group pretending to be a single father. He goes on a SPAT picnic with Suzie, a single mother, her baby and Marcus. Apart from Marcus's contribution to a duck's death by throwing a baguette at its head, nothing really brings the two together. When Suzie and Will return Marcus to his mother's flat, they find her half on and half off the sofa nearly dead from an overdose. This is more than Will has ever asked for, all he wanted was some great sex. He tries to get out, but it is too late. The relationship between Will, Marcus, Marcus's mother, her ex-husband, his girlfriend and so on becomes exactly the kind of emotional mess that Will has worked so hard to avoid, but there is no way out. I feel as though this mess is so unrealistic that it is almost impossible for me to picture it before me. In some enigmatic way, Will and Marcus become friends. Will helps Marcus behave like a twelve-year-old, and Marcus shows Will how to commit to people and life in a more serious way. Although some paragraphs were funny, the tediousness of the rest of the book was too overwhelming. Not a great deal happens, page after page without any noticeable developement in the plot. I found that this affected the book in a negative way. The plot was boring and the characters were off this world. Due to this I could relate neither to the characters nor the plot and that was probably why I didn't like the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Reviw of Nick Hornby`s novel, About a Boy.
Review: When I first started to read this book I didn`t think much of it, but as I read on, I started to come into Nick Hornby`s narrative structure. By that I mean that he has a special way of writing his books. I found this way confusing in the start, but as I got further in the book, I realised that his way of dividing chapters was very smart. Will and Marcus are the two main character in About a Boy, and they appear in every two chapters. "About a Boy" is a moving story about a single man (Will) who acts as father figure to a young boy (Marcus.) We are brought into Marcus`s and Will`s world. Both of them live in London. Marcus used to live in Cambridge, but when his mother decided to move avay from his father, they went to London. Marcus is 12 years old. He is a "lost child" The children at school are giving him a hard time, and he has no friends. He is not up-to-date to put things that way! He is having a hard time adjusting to his new enviroment. Will is a single male. He is 36 years of age. I think he is a little bit desperate and has to make up a lot of lies to get the women he wants. He is pretty into Nirvana. He has all of their records. As I said earlier, these two characters are brought together and spend some time together. Nirvana and Kurt Cobain play an important rollfigure in About a Boy. There is a lot going on at the same time, and we can`t avoid some conflicts and complications. For example when Marcus finally gets himself a friend he becomes more like the other children. His new friend happens to be a girl. A girl that loves troubble, and can`t avoid ending up in some. Will has done a great job with Marcus. He told him stuff he didn`t know. I would have mentioned more about these things if this wasn`t a review. All I can say is that Nick Hornby`s sense of humor is great! He uses Will to express his humor. He has a fresh vocabulary. He uses a lot of swearing to prove a point. That is mainly why I say that Nick Hornby has a fresh vocabulary. If you choose to read this book, it will be worth your while. By Espen Navjord.
Rating: 
Summary: THIS BOOK WAS GREAT!
Review: This book is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read! I picked it up at a bookstore and after reading the first sentence I was hooked.It is about Marcus a 12 year old who really doesn't fit in anywhere,and Will a 36 year old who can't seem to grow up and get a job. The converstaions are witty, and funny, and are very real like.Anybody who likes a good read about life should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK WAS GREAT!
Review: This book is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read!I picked it up at a bookstore and after reading the first sentence I was hooked.It is about Marcus a 12 year old who really doesn't fit in anywhere,and Will a 36 year old who can't seem to grow up and get a job. Its a great book and the converstaions are witty, funny, sad, and are very real like.Anybody who likes a good read about life should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Light and enjoyable
Review: While not as consistently entertaining as High Fidelity, About A Boy reinforces Hornby's important place as a chronicler of the modern thirtyish male's condition and psyche. I recognize so much of myself in Hornby's leading men and, whether I like it or not, it makes me laugh and think about just what it is that I value. The story's premise is solid, the writing tight and it's execution is solid. The story does become a little predictable and the ending kind of fizzles for me, but the book is still highly worth reading. Hornby plays up the suicide angle, but seems to miss some opportunities for deeper thought on the subject and that's the only thing keeping this book in the three star category for me. If you liked High Fidelity, you should read this book. If you liked this book, you should really be excitied about High Fidelity.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: A good book, will have you laughing in recognition and embarassment as did "High Fidelity". Thoroughly enjoyable. And to the person who claims it's derivative of "This Boy's Life" by Tobias Wolff - I suggest you actually _read_ "This Boy's Life". The only similarity between the two stories is that they are both narratives represented by ink glyphs on oblong pieces of wood pulp.
Rating:
Summary: Smart as Hell...
Review: About a Boy is smart and bouyant-- relaxed and funny. Excellent reading on many levels. Hornby touches on both primal fear and unremitting joy, genuine curiosity and bold perception. What else could you possibly ask for from a writer? Loved it to the very end.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I seldom review books on Amazon, but this book was absolutely brilliant. An absurd plot made absolutely believable through clever and funny writing. Read this book! Howie
Rating:
Summary: quickie book
Review: This is a shady book. Hornby is capable of being funny, and his insights into the thoughts of various characters as they butt heads in conversation are enjoyable. This is a sitcom plot, however, with a dubious moral tale. A 13-year-old boy lives alone with his suicidal mother, who is suicidal, it seems, because she is a manless, aging hippy who listens to Joni Mitchell. All single, over-thirty female hippies who listen to Joni Mitchell want to off themselves, though, right? No development there whatsoever. The suicide topic is nothing more than a clever author vehicle for gratuitous Kurt Cobain references (the time of the story is actually set a bit before and after his real suicide). If there is some connection between the mother's grief and cobain's (or a statement about suicide in these devices), I missed it. You will too. More alarming is the relationship b/w Will, an aging layabout, and Marcus, who is the misfit-at-school son of the suicidal Joni Mitchell fan. Will teaches Marcus to fit in at school through conformity so that he can overcome the long historical odds against a boy being raised by a suicidal mom with a crystal necklace, a barren love life, and a kick-ass collection of vinyl Joni Mitchell. As the author, Hornby weighs in with judgement on Will teaching Marcus to conform (Hornby is pleased that Marcus'uniqueness has been stamped out so that years 13 through 17 of his life go well), and all ends well, which means that Will sends Marcus back to school with hep clothes and thick skin, a triumph of humanity. Not surprisingly, the movie rights to this book were scarfed up for an obscene amount. Writing books like this beats working.
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