The book is full of the quality dialogue you'd expect from Nick Hornby but a little disappointingly Hornby manages to make the hero a music-loving (High Fidelity) Arsenal fan (Fever Pitch).

The sea change in the central character from a childlike child-hating layabout through big brother and finally into a father substitute is carried off well. The characters are believable and the cringe moments and humour are well delivered but in the end I felt the book just drifted away. Still worth a read though.

"About a Boy" about a 4/5.


A review of personal reading on Nick Hornby's About a boy   October 25, 1998
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"About a Boy" by Nick Hornby, boasts an intriguing plot of friendship and trust incorporating humour, sex, manliness and fatherhood. The plot sees two central characters, Will Freeman, an unemployed 36-year-old and Marcus, a 12-year-old schoolboy develop from rather naive and immature individuals who are lonely into a slow bonding friendship from which both acquire certain qualities from each other. Will Freeman lives on his own, lives off the money he inherited from his deceased uncle and does not see the point in children until he meets Marcus, whose parents have split up and who is being persecuted by bullies. Marcus soon discovers he could learn a lot from Will. I was attracted to the text by the fact that it was a modern book and it discussed the topics of growing up and friendship. The main themes running throughout the novel are associated with friendship, trust, learning responsibility and the theme of trial and error. Through characterisation, thought provoking incident and a narrative technique in which Hornby uses two third person narrators -Marcus and Will-Hornby provides an interesting insight into the adults and children make when the so called ideal family icon does not exist. Although Hornby explores the connection adults and children make, Hornby also makes a parallel meaning to the title "About a Boy" showing how the book is not just about one boy. It is about two boys one of whom is Will even though an adult some points in the book he is still a child underneath that adult shell. I intend to show how Will's character could be compared to as that of a 12-year-old boy as the book progresses. The introduction of Will and Marcus by using two third person narrators and alternating between characters each chapter means Hornby can go into extreme depth about both characters thoughts even it if it is thoughts about one and other. Using two third person narrators also makes me as the reader feel as if I am split into people and I can relate to some of the incidents in the book e.g. "His friends Nicky and Mark were already there, playing Tetris on Marks's Gameboy...They didn't finish. Or rather, they did, but then they just started again; they did not offer him a game..."

This shows Marcus's so called friends; they just seem to be ignoring them even though he wants to be their friend because he is different. I can relate to this because I have come across some incidents where other people have excluded others just because they are different or some other petty reason. Will on the other hand seems to be that of a fully matured adult whom no one can fault, however Will has weaknesses in the form that he seems to have a selfish, unfocussed lifestyle, skimming the surface of life without real emotional attachment. Will's lifestyle cannot really be accounted for even though he is rich. Will does feel empty in some way though, he feels he has to find a companion and goes to even childish manoeuvres to find a woman i.e. creating an imaginary child to attract women, going to single parent clubs: "Maybe children democratised beautiful single women"

This narrative conveys Will's thoughts and viewpoints, which are of his inner child and his perceptions of women and how they are very fictitious. This narrative alone can provide an insight in to the character of Will and how he thinks because he is assuming children democratised beautiful single women as the "Maybe" in the passage suggests. Also by going to single parent clubs to back up his theories and assumptions this shows to the reader Will is a detached, lonely character who seems to be acting equivalent as a young child would. As the plot develops Will and Marcus meet and although they hate each other they slowly begin to bond and bit by bit they begin to see more of each other. Although Will's character can be seen as childish and severed, Will's character tries to change from a friendly figure into a more caring fatherly figure as he sees it himself: "Will caught sight of the pair of them in a mirror, and was shocked to see that they could easily pass for father and son; he had some how imagined himself as Marcus's elder brother"

This narrative show that Will is becoming very caring towards Marcus and is like a fatherly figure Marcus never had and still needs even though he sees himself as a brotherly figure. It also shows Will's attitude towards Marcus and how he wants to be able to protect Marcus. Although the narrative shows Will my well be changing and maturing in to a protective figure his childish attributes still show through:

"Will went back into the flat feeling bigger and older, and not altogether displeased with himself."

After taking care of some of Marcus's rowdy bullies Will felt a better man for it. Although it may have been because he had protected Marcus from danger, Will also felt good because he done the machismo thing of marking his territory in front of Marcus and the bullies. The narrative allows the author to express to the reader that Will feels macho after confronting a couple of 13 year old boy, boys who are almost a third of his age, once again showing his immaturity. Wills mixed figures of a fatherly figure and childish figure are shown again when he suggests that buying designer goods will be able to prevent bullying because Marcus would be one of the "group" so he would not be strange any more:

"Because that is what everyone wears"

The quote conveys Will's naive idea of preventing bullying but it only seems to encourage because the bullies are encouraged to bully him and steal his new shoes from him. It shows that Will is really beginning to care for Marcus because he even buys the shoes for Marcus out of his own money but everything Will tries to do for Marcus nothing seems to work. Although Hornby is now changing Will to a more fatherly figure he is still portraying him as very immature, irrational and irresponsible. In conclusion it shows that Nick Hornby has not only written about a boy he has written about two boys, both Marcus and Will. Will is a strong hearted character with good intentions at heart but seems separated from life itself to give a thought to the actions he takes. The reader is able to determine that Will lacks initiative, and as a result does not develop as a character. Hornby's intentions are clear to see that he wanted to create a parallel meaning to the title "About a Boy" and I feel he has successfully done so.