About a Boy

Nick Hornby

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Will Freeman, thirty-six, does not want children as far as he knows, and he can't understand why everyone keeps recommending them. He lives in a fashionable, Lego-free flat in Islington, with jam-free compact discs and lots of time on his hands thanks to the royalties on an annually mortifying Christmas song his father wrote in 1938. Will does, however, see the point of single mothers, especially if they look like Julie Christie, which is how he gets involved in a single parents' group and invents a two-year-old son whose absence needs constant explanation.

Enter Marcus, whose parents have split up and whose mother's tears over the breakfast cereal are getting scary. Marcus's progress at his new London school is not enhanced by the wrong clothes, the wrong hair and an inherited preference for the music of Joni Mitchell. In fact, the bullies are crucifying him. Since circumstances have put Will in his path, and since Will at least knows how kids dress and that Kurt Cobain didn't play for Manchester United, why shouldn't Marcus make as much use of him as possible?

In his second novel Nick Homby explores the connections people make when the so-called ideal family model does not apply. As he did with football in Fever Pitch and with record collections in High Fidelity, he keeps his eye on the subject while revealing much more - always cutting through received rubbish with a singular sense of purpose. And in the process he connects with a huge number of other people who find his view of the world funny, wise and disarmingly entertaining.

Review by Simon (010102) Rating (8/10)

Review by Simon
Rating 8/10
The story of a complex, amusing, sometimes moving, thoroughly entertaining relationship between two kids, Marcus aged twelve and Will aged thirty-six.

Single childless Will discovers the best way to meet attractive eligible women is at SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together). What ensues is an entrance into the lives of a number of strange yet interesting people.

Riddled with witty one-liners and laugh-out-loud observations of modern life. Some Authors can make you laugh one minute and touch you the next - Nick Hornby is of the rare breed who can do both within one minute and one paragraph.

An entertaining book. Definitely worth a read.
Simon (1st January 2002)