About a Boy by Nick Hornby is actually a novel about two boys. One is 12 years old, the other is 36. And I really love this book.
Nick Hornby is by far one of my most favorite authors. If you have never read any of his books, I strongly suggest that you run out and do so as soon as possible. He has a terrible and amazing way of making me feel as though he is writing these stories for me.
About a Boy is obviously about a boy, but it is also about so much more. I’m a sucker for coming of age stories, and this book is a double whammy. Will is a 36 year old bachelor who has never done anything significant with his life and is trying to figure out the best way possible to keep himself in the same situation forever. Shortly after figuring out that he has a much better chance at no-strings-attached sex with single moms than he does with young women who are looking to become moms in the future, Will decides to invent another life for himself. He makes up a child and starts to attend meetings for single parents, in order to meet women. After a few meetings he meets Marcus. Marcus is a very awkward 12 year old boy who is going through a lot of changes that he doesn’t even realize are happening. Marcus is sort of stuck in his mother’s world. She is constantly trying to teach Marcus to think for himself, but in the process she has taught him that it’s only ok to think the way that she does. Will is the most unlikely character to enter Marcus’ and Fiona’s life, but he is just what the two of them need. Will and Marcus change each others lives over the course of a year or so and they essentially trade places by the end of the book.
This is definitely not a love story or a romance novel. This book deals with friendship, lying (and the consequences!), suicide, depression, and single parenting. It also deals with living with a single parent. Part of the genius of this book is that you are hearing the story from two different perspectives. Every chapter alternates between Will’s perspective and Marcus’ perspective. Every situation is described in the way that Will sees it, then the way that Marcus sees it (and Vice Versa). It is absolutely beautiful and well planned.
Also, if you like Nirvana, you should definitely read this book. Especially if you were too young when Kurt died to really know what was going on.
Altogether, I give About a Boy 5 out of 5 stars. It will make you laugh out loud and then it will make you shed real tears.
If you have read this book already or you decide to go out and read it, tell me what you think. And if you want to borrow it, let me know!
A few of my favorite quotes:
“… Marcus was enjoying the conversation. It seemed big, as though you could walk around it and see different things, and that never happened when you talked to kids normally.”
“It wasn’t easy, floating on the surface of everything: it took skill and nerve and when people told you that they were thinking of taking their own life, you could feel yourself being dragged under with them. Keeping your head above water was what it was all about, Will reckoned. That was what it was all about for everyone, but those who had reasons for living, jobs and relationships and pets, their heads were a long way from the surface anyway. They were wading in the shallow end, and only a bizarre accident, a freak wave from the wave machine, was going to sink them. But Will was struggling… He needed someone buoyant to hang on to; he certainly didn’t need a dead weight like Fiona.”
“Life was, after all, like air. Will could have no doubt about that anymore. There seemed to be no way of keeping it out, or at a distance, and all he could do for the moment was live it and breathe it. How people managed to draw it down into their lungs without choking was a mystery to him: it was full of bits. This was air you could almost chew.”
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