About a Boy

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Summary: The Unraveling of a Stoical Man
Review: My friend has told me that there is no such word as "stoical" - I contend that if that is true, there is at least a beautiful and poignent description of my made up word found in Will and Marcus. On the surface it seems like a "coming of age" story concerning a 36-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy, but deep down there seems to be a undercurrent of someone struggling to understand what it means to feel and to live with people in community and to lvoe them through their messy moments and their bright spots as well. It's a well-written and funny book worth the time and joy.

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Summary: Review on "About a boy", January 20, 2003
Review: The book "About a boy" written by Nick Hornby tells the story of two different characters with two completely different ideas of what life should be. Will Freeman, a 36-year-old single, who does not want to keep any real relationship a long time and Marcus, a boy aged 12, who is supposed to be an outsider and has to cope with the suicide attempt of his mother Fiona. Both lives clash into each other when Will invents a son, named Ned and meets with a single parent group to get to know women, who waited for a long time for Mr. Nice Guy. In the park he meets with the single mother Suzie, who is looking after Marcus at this time. The humorous effect of the book is created by Will's sarcastical quotations and the difference between his thinking and acting. During the story, Will and Marcus can help each other to live their age. While Marcus learns to leave a bit of the responsibility he feels for his mother, Will starts to care about more than himself and his pleasure. This development is described by Nick Hornby in a very close way to reality, it's credible and touching. The book's message to look for more in life than your own pleasure or your outward appearance does not prevent the story from being funny and interesting to read.

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Summary: Light and funny
Review: This novel is a bit more "heartwarming" than its predecessor, High Fidelity, but is nonetheless a good, quick, entertaining read. I actually saw the film version before I read the novel, and, though the endings are different, both are definitely worth checking out. As usual, Nick Hornby's prose is straightforward, yet funny, full of sharp observations. The characters of Will and Marcus are pretty well fleshed-out and distinct; it's easy to believe the characters would realistically develop the way that they do and think they way they think, etc. The only criticism I have is that the sentimentality is a bit heavy-handed at times, but it definitely didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

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Summary: Wonderful read by Nick Hornby...
Review: 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.

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Summary: "About A Boy" - What I thought...
Review: Following bestsellers as “High Fidelity” and “Fever Pitch” Nick Hornby’s novel “About A Boy” had best chances to become one of the most popular books of the nineties. Based on one of the favourite themes of the author “About A Boy” tells the story of two people: Will and Marcus.

The characters:
Marcus is a twelve year old boy and lives together with his depressive and suicidal mother in London. As his mother is the vegetarian hippy-type, Marcus clothes and haircut differ a lot from his classmates style. That is one of the reasons why he gets bullied everyday at school. Will, 36, is the antithesis of Marcus: a TV-junkie who spends most of his time by blowing his money. He is living on the royalties of a christmas song his father wrote once and therefore does not need to work at all. He strongly dislikes commitmens of any kind, especially long-term relationships with women.

The plot:
Will invents a younger son to get onto single mothers. He joins SPAT (“Single Parents Alone Together”) where he hopes to meet nice women. When he goes for picnic with one of the SPAT-mothers, they go together with Marcus, who is the son of the woman’s friend Fiona. On the same day Fiona tries to kill herself and from then on Marcus shows up almost everyday at Will’s. After a while they get friends and Will shows Marcus how to improve his style and develop his own taste. His situation in school also gets better when he meets Ellie, a grungy and rebellious girl who admires Nirvana’s singer Kurt Cobain. Starting off as a kind of “pet-and-owner”-relationship they later on get closer. But when Ellie smashes a shop window on the day of Kurt Cobains death, he realizes that Ellie can’t be his girlfriend any longer. In the end of the book both main characters have completely changed: Marcus has become a self-confident teenager, while Will got much more mature, self-conscious and aware of his relations to other people.

The message and my personal comment:
The message of the book might be that nobody should live in a world of his or her own. That everyone needs people to trust, friends that can take care whenever help is needed. The second message of this novel could be that it’s not necessarily good to raise kids too individualistic. Because this often means that parents want their children to become like themselves. It might be better to teach them instead how to cope with the sorrounding world by adaption. The book is definitely worth reading. It is well written, the characters are well described and their thoughts, actions and especially their dialogues are very realistic. Most I probably liked the inside-thoughts of Will, the way he looks at the other characters and comments on them.


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Summary: About About a Boy
Review: Finished this book up last night just around midnight, and I would have to say it was a delight. I picked this book up because I enjoyed the movie quite thoroughly, and I found that the book was a bit different, but a bit better. So if you enjoy good fiction, you should pick this one up. I don't think you'll be wasting your time in reading this one.

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Summary: by Anne
Review: Nick Hornby's High Fidelity is one of my favorite novels -- it persuaded me to read Fever Pitch, his second novel/biography about his obsession with English soccer, even though I neither know anything about soccer nor care to. I really enjoyed that book as well -- while I missed some references, he kept up the frenetic, hilarious pace of High Fidelity.

About A Boy takes a slight turn from those books -- the pace is slower, the subject matter a bit different. The protagonist is a guy in his mid-thirties who doesn't have to work (through no work on his part - he collects royalties on a Christmas song his uncle wrote), who sleeps around incessantly, is immature and irresponsible -- and knows it and feels no shame for it. It's not like he's a jerk, he just doesn't see the point in "settling down," as his friends do to his horror and frustration. He pretends to be a single parent and joins a group to meet single mothers -- when he does, he ends up bonding with the child, an especially awkward but loveable boy.

It's sort of like Fight Club meets Jerry Maguire, which isn't a bad thing.

What ties this book to Hornby's prior works is that once again, the protagonist(s) -- the boy steals much of the show -- is a misfit guy who can't quite figure out how to successfully act like an adult, or at least as someone is supposed to at his age. Hornby's great insight to what's going through one's head in this state, be it at 12 or 35 years old, is brilliant, and what makes this book a winner. It's not High Fidelity, but that's a lofty goal for any book. It stands well on its own, and is well worth the read. Along with About A Boy, another novel I enjoyed (purchased off Amazon) was The Losers Club by Richard Perez.

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Summary: Funny at first, then sappy, but not bad.
Review: I really liked HIGH FIDELITY. Hornby's characters are endearingly flawed. They'll go to believable extremes, sometimes devious but usually relatable. And I liked the premise this book starts off with. But it dipped into sappiness and drug on a little too long for me. Still, I like Hornby's writing a lot so I give it some props for that.

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Summary: Navigating the growing-up jungle
Review: I found About a Boy to be on the whole a rather touching tale. The basic story of the Nick Hornby novel is twofold. First, Will is a deliberately shallow thirty something with no job, steady income, great style, and no worries. As a bonus, he doesn't even like kids. But the prospect of seducing single mothers leads him to fake his way into a single parenting group where he can spread the love and hence do his good deed for the year. Yes, he really does think this way. But as the title suggests, he manages to be present at a moment of crisis for a twelve-year-old boy named Marcus who forms a sort of bond to him. Not that either of them particularly enjoy the other, but they seem to hang out anyway.

Lest this seem like an odd story, Hornby does make is quite believable and often funny. It's touching in that Marcus is having serious troubles with the thugs allowed to run rampant at his school and Will tries to help him out (a natural high from doing good, and at half the cost of the artificial kinds, he reasons). And it moves forward from there.

I do have to say that the story seemed to peak a bit soon. After the halfway point, though there continue to be moments, there are other moments when I just thought it was dragging on too much. As a matter of full disclosure, I was listening to the unabridged audio version in a single afternoon, so this might have been partially my fault, but it did seem to just keep on going. And although there is an unsurprising happy conclusion to all, Hornby does manage to avoid all the obvious clichés.

I found the character development quite good and believable. Hornby's depiction of public schools in general is dead-on perfect, though I couldn't quite relate fully to any single character. Particular hard to swallow was Marcus's strange friendship with the oddball, misunderstood Ellie. But on the whole it's nice to watch as Will helps Marcus in growing up, and Marcus helps Will to grow up (okay, that's a bit clichéd). The supporting cast works well for the story (which means half of them are frustrating as hell to listen to, dysfunction is a dominant motif here). Since it's a character story, it gets a passing grade, as the reader should end up actually caring about what happens to these people.


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Summary: The Book is Good...
Review: ...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.