Ganz Okay: I think this book deals with an really serious theme. It shows the change of life from different persons like Will and Marcus!
They learn from each other to behave the right way to act their age! But I think the whole story is to dramatically! The carachters are to strict and to complicated! In my opinion the book is only okay-because I have expect more than I've read!
(I havn't watched the film before!) But all in all the story is cute because you love Marcus ans you could identify yourself with him!

2005 ( )

This is one of several books that I'll never tire of rereading. I wouldn't call the prose challenging (I finished it in an evening), but Hornby chooses his words well; it's quite clever and quotable.

I'm a conservative woman from a nuclear family, yet I related quite strongly to both Will and Marcus, which I think speaks to Hornby's ability to craft multi-layered, interesting characters that are easy to become invested in.

I've read High Fidelity, A Long Way Down, Fever Pitch, and How To Be Good, and this is by far my favorite of his novels. I'll definitely be reading more Hornby in the future. ( )

This is the story of Will, 36, a man who knows more about being a child than being an adult, and Marcus, 12, a boy who knows more about being an adult than being a child. This is the story of their unlikely relationship and how they each help the other to live a fuller, happier life. Definitely cute, definitely well-written, and definitely an easy read. I'd recommend this for anyone in the mood for a mental break. ( )

I love Nick Hornby. His narrator's voice is like that of a great friend - you appreciate his humor, you understand him well, sometimes he drives you crazy....all the elements that draw you in and keep you engrossed in the story. I cared about these characters, warts and all. ( )

I read this after seeing the movie which starred Hugh Grant; it was still a good read because it is not exactly like the film. The book is the tale of two lives; a 36 year old single man named Will who has no job, no kids, no wife, lives off the money his dad made from a xmas jingle and a geeky pre-teen called Marcus who needs help to fit in. Will and Marcus help each other to realise what is important in the world. A great YA book. ( )

Love Nick Hornby. Even the movie of this one was good. ( )

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. ( )

About a Boy by Nick Hornby is my first "lad-lit" novel! The story revolves around two "boys" - Will Freeman, a somewhat pathetic, and self-absorbed 36-year-old, who does nothing and is very proud of himself; and Marcus, an eccentric 12-year-old, with a suicidal mother.

After dating Angie, Will comes to a realization that beautiful, broken, desperate single mothers are the sure way to give his sex life a boost. To facilitate his new wisdom, he decides to invent a child and a nasty ex-wife, and joins a single parents support group called SPAT - to meet single mothers. Through SPAT, Will meets Suzie, and her friend's son Marcus.

After Marcus's mother Fiona attempts suicide, Marcus decides he needs more people in his life, friends that can help take up the slack from his depressed mother and absent father. So Marcus starts going around to Will's flat and hanging out after school. Slowly, before Will's even realizes it's happening, he becomes Marcus's friend/older brother/father figure. This admittedly oddball relationship between deep but insecure Marcus, and shallow but secure Will changes both of them in profound ways.

Sounds good, right? Meh... unfortunately for me, I feel completely ambivalent about it. Of course I've seen the movie - I really like the movie - but the book, eh...

Don't get me wrong, parts of the book were really entertaining. For example, take this passage from page 44:
"Immediately Will understood Moira's sanctification of Lorena Bobbitt completely; by the time Suzie had finished her litany of treachery and deceit, he wanted to cut off his own penis with a kitchen knife."

Most of the book was thought-provoking - two guys with no other choice but to change, fighting the inertia of their lives every step of the way. But some of the book is so hard to get through. Take for example this passage from page 229:
"Those two words were 'the point'. As in, 'What's the point?'; 'I don't see the point'; 'there's just no point' (a phrase which omits the 'the', but one that counts anyway, because the 'the' wasn't the point of 'the point', really)..."
Ooooh-kay...? I'm sure it's meant to be witty, but I just can't really appreciate it I guess.

I suppose About a Boy would make a good "beach-read" type book, so I can recommend it to you as such. Other than that, I just wasn't impressed. The characters were all quite compelling: Will and his 30-minutes-at-a-time lifestyle; Marcus, who is being "taken apart" everyday at school; Fiona, Marcus's mother who's not sure she wants to be a mother at all; Ellie, scary goth-chick and Marcus's only friend at school - they are all well-written and fascinating. For me, the meat of the story was just not there. Overall, it was just disappointing. ( )

This book is a good read but has a slow start. About a Boy is by the same author as High Fidelity and How to be Good. ( )

When I began reading this book, I thought Will was rather repulsive, and that they really needed someone charming like Hugh Grant in the role so you didn’t start out thinking about how gross Will was in the movie. As the book went on, I found myself growing to like him more, perhaps because he himself was growing.

To read the rest of my review, please visit:
http://dorolerium.com/?p=116 ( )

SO much better than the movie. Nick Hornby has a way of creating characters, that are incredibly flawed, that you can love and hate at the same time. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I found much of the dialogue and the characters very humorous and am looking forward to reading more from this author. ( )

How I wish there were more like this. The quintessential great story, great, believable characters, AND funny as hell. So many books are either too superficial or too much work to plow through. Hornby pulls you along, and still makes it believable and satisfies you in the end. ( )

I picked this book up thinking it would be light, fluffy summer reading. A few pages into the book a depressive woman - mother of the 12 year-old protagonist, attempts suicide. Despite the gravity of the situation, this book still manages to be quite humorous and insightful. The main story revolves around the confused pre-teen Marcus having a miserable time at school and not finding much guidance from his suicidal mother thus befriends the jobless, aimless rich playboy Will. The obvious plotline would be for the man-boy to teach the real boy how to have fun and be a kid again, but Hornby doesn't go that direction and the novel is richer for it. Instead the novel works on two levels having Will and Marcus get involved in some riotous and absurd situations, but these really act only as background to their thoughts and reflections on events as they puzzle things out. I'm really impressed by it. ( )

I love the book, movie, soundtrack, everything. ( )

I’ve seen the movie “About a Boy” many times…and like/love it. Then again, I am a complete sucker for almost anything featuring Hugh Grant and whatever incarnation (floppy, spiky, messy) his hair is in.

Now, after reading the book, not only am I reminded how much I love reading Nick Hornby’s books, but also how funny and yet poignant his words are.

Taken in the following order, these quotes may be confusing if you’ve never read the book or seen the movie. The story is about Marcus, twelve, and Will, thirty-six. Neither fits into the role of the “average” boy/man of their age. Marcus, because of the life he shares with his mother is far too old for his age, and Will, because of the actions of his father (his mother is completely absent, not even a mention, although I may have missed it), is far too immature for his. Their lives intersect in a very interesting way…and so follow great changes for each.

(Will) “In the past, any conversation that began this way usually meant that she had found something out, or that he had done something mean, or stupid, or grotesquely insensitive, but he really thought he had kept a clean sheet in this relationship. His silence bought him time while he scanned through his memory banks for any indiscretions he may have forgotten about, but there was nothing. He would have been extremely disappointed if he had found something, an overlooked infidelity, say…”

OK – while funny - that wasn’t poignant – so let’s try this from the perspective of Marcus, the twelve year-old. His mother tells him in frustration, “Oh, I don’t know what I mean. I just know that we’re not doing each other any good.”

“Hold on a moment. They didn’t do each other any good? For the first time since his mother had started crying, he wanted to cry, too. He knew she wasn’t doing him any good but he had no idea it worked both ways. What had he done to her? He couldn’t think of a single thing.”

And once more back to funny (and Will): “ So here he was, in his mid-thirties, knowing in all the places there was to know that he didn’t have a two year-old son but still working on the presumption that, when it came to the crunch, one would pop up from somewhere.”

With only the movie under my belt, I’d always thought the “boy” referred to in the title was Marcus…given that he’s twelve. But now that I’ve read the book, been in Will’s head even more than the voice-overs in the movie allowed me to be, I think the “boy” is Will. This came through more as the story of his growing up at the age of thirty-six, and it’s a very good one at that.

We are able to see him finally start to become involved in the world, in people, in life, in a way he’s never been before. At first, of course, it’s messy and frustrating and hard.

“So don’t deal with me!” He was nearly shouting now. He was certainly angry. They had been talking for less than three minutes, yet he was beginning to feel as though this telephone conversation was going to be his life’s work; that once every few hours he would put the receive down to eat and sleep and go to the toilet, and the rest of the time Fiona would be telling him one thing and then its opposite over and over again.”

Whether he’s writing from Will or Marcus’s point of view – Hornby’s words are witty and realistic and true. Thirty-six, twelve…he brings out the man in the boy and the boy in the man…and I’m always glad to be along for the ride. ( )

This book is about a young boy, and an adult, that have no idea what to do with their lives. The movie that is based on this book major differences, but it is still worth a viewing. ( )

After reading Nick Hornby's Slam earlier this year (review) and enjoying it fairly well, I thought I might read a few others from his backlist, since they seem to be nice light reads quite suited to train rides and down moments. About a Boy is the first of those I've picked up, and I found it even a bit funnier than Slam. As in Slam, Hornby has mastered the perspective of an adolescent boy; he complements that here by also mastering the perspective of an adolescent man (who manages to grow up a bit whether he likes it or not).

Dealing with deeply emotional issues (divorce, suicide, &c.) in an affecting way by combining depth with his trademark humor, quirky style, and fascinatingly rich (and reliably odd) characters, Hornby pulls it off again with this one.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )

An easy-to-read, very funny, affecting and realistic story. Great idea to put a 12-year-old and a 36-year-old together in their coming-of-age. Maybe a bit dated because of the Kurt Cobain part. ( )

Nick Hornby is a great novelist who excels at writing about our moderns days; About the struggles to find oneself in this age and what means to be an adult. This is the basic plot of most of his books: High Fidelity, Fever Pitch, A Long Way Down. I read all of them and About a Boy is my favourite.

Will is a 36 years old man who has never worked, he lives off the royalties of his father’s one-hit Christmas song. He goes about life with well organised activities to fill his hours. He is also King of Cool, he is hip, he is modern, he knows what is in and what is not. He has not real connections to anyone and he is happy about it. He is completely self-centered and goes through a great deal to keep it that way.

Marcus is a 12 year old who is having a shit time at home and a shit time at school. He lives with his ex-hippie, single mom Fiona, who suffers from depression and he is in constant fear that something bad will happen. He is the opposite of Will, he is serious, he is completely uncool and his life at home makes him behave as an adult and that makes him stand out at school and be bullied by the other kids.

They meet when Will is having a date with a friend of Fiona, who chooses that day to commit suicide (unsuccessfully) catapulting Will into a situation that he is not comfortable with. All of a sudden he is confronted by real life. And when Marcus decides to adopt him as a friend and as potential saviour to his mother, he can not fight it, for some reason. It would have been so easy to make this into a Will and Fiona story but nothing happens between them. This is really a story about the two boys. About how Will, faced with his friend’s problems realises how his life is empty and devoid of any meaning or purpose and when he finally meets a woman with whom he could fall in love with, he feels utterly desperate and not worthy. He goes through emotional turmoil in order to finally grow up and open his life to other people to come in.

It is really a simple story, Will helps Marcus to become simply a kid and enjoy life and Marcus helps Will to become an adult who cares about other people. At first it may come out as a too funny, too light read about serious stuff. But this is the magic of Nick Hornby to me, that he manages to bring lightness to life’s greatest problems but without being superficial.

Full Review at:
http://thebooksmugglers.blogspot.com/... ( )