Didn't expect to like this at all - book club read. Put off reading it til the last moment, but then devoured it in a day. Very light, easy to read, with hidden sharp-toothed biting depths. From the back and the movie blurbs, I was expecting it to be all about Will picking up single mothers, but that was only present at the beginning. And even that wasn't so bad. I rather liked Will; there are worse things to aspire to than what he called being a "serial nice guy". He was shallow and a liar, of course. I didn't mind his being unemployed. The other girls seemed to mind that more than his superficialness, which now strikes me as shallow itself.Hmm I remember saying that NH was good at getting you into the heads of his characters, but that unfortunately there wasn't much there. I'm not sure now that was fair. At the bookclub meeting, the topic of whether a male and a female could be friends - or even, would want to be friends - without some sort of attraction or sexual issue getting in the way came up, because of Will's perplexed reaction to Fiona. I stayed out of the argument, because I couldn't help thinking of Steve, and Jeff, and maybe even Daniel. I wanted to say they could, but my personal experience doesn't seem to support that. ( )

The novel is about Will Freeman, a 36-year-old bachelor, and Marcus, an eccentric, introverted, bullied twelve-year-old who lives alone with his suicidal mother, Fiona. Will, who has never had to work thanks to the royalties from his father’s Christmas song hit entitled “Santa’s Super Sleigh”, has a lot of spare time. Most of this he spends smoking, watching TV, listening to albums and looking for female temporary companionship.
After a pleasant relationship with a single mother, Angie, Will comes up with the idea of attending a single parents group as a new way to pick up women. For this purpose, he invents a two-year-old son called Ned.
It is through one of these single parents meetings that he comes to know Marcus. Although their relationship is initially somewhat strained, they finally succeed in striking up a true friendship. Will helps Marcus to fit into the modern world. He takes him shopping, buys him shoes and introduces him to the music of Nirvana. Marcus and Will’s friendship blooms as the story progresses.
Marcus is “adopted” by Ellie McRae, a very tough fifteen-year-old girl, who is constantly in trouble at school because she insists on wearing a Kurt Cobain jumper. He also spends some time with his dad Clive, who visits Marcus and Fiona for Christmas, together with his new girlfriend Lindsey and Lindsey’s mother.
Meanwhile Will starts going out with a single mum called Rachel, whose son Alistair—“Ali” for short—is about the same age as Marcus. In the end, Marcus evolves into a “normal” child for his age. On the other hand, Will becomes more mature and ends up wanting to marry Rachel. Therefore, both Will and Marcus have started to live according to their age.
It is a drama story. The writer tried to take your attention and tried to fill you in about the story. So it is interesting story. And it is not difficult to understand.

Mohamed Rashid Al Mazrouei

This is funny and wise. Will is a self absorbed man who does not have any relationships with anything until Marcus comes along and shakes him out of his apathy. The tender way that Marcus is portrayed is wonderful. We can laugh along, but there is something wide eyed and wonderful about this boy. ( )

Unhappy with this readable but "light" book until I was informed it was written to capture funds to create a school for autistic children. Wish I hadn't had to think of Hugh Grant the whole time!

I loved this story. Hornby gets all his characters to come alive and be likable. As shallow as Will is at the beginning of the book, I really liked him by the end of the book. This book is funny, warm-hearted, realistic and charming.

Listening to it was especially nice because I listen to listen to an English accent. ( )