Name: About a Boy
Rating: 3.703389830508474 (118 reviews)
ISBN: 9780140285673

Nick Hornby

Inventing a son got Will into a single parents support group, but rather than a fabulous new sex life, he found someone else's very real son--a 12-year-old with a lot to teach about being a grown up. From the acclaimed author of High Fidelity comes this national bestseller that GQ calls clever and winning.

About a Boy

A wise, hilarious novel from the beloved, award-winning author of Funny Girl, High Fidelity and A Long Way Down. Will Freeman may have discovered the key to dating success: If the simple fact that they were single mothers meant that gorgeous women – women who would not ordinarily look twice a Will – might not only be willing, but enthusiastic about dating him, then he was really onto something. Single mothers – bright, attractive, available women – thousands of them, were all over London. He just had to find them. SPAT: Single Parents – Alone Together. It was a brilliant plan. And Will wasn’t going to let the fact that he didn’t have a child himself hold him back. A fictional two-year-old named Ned wouldn’t be the first thing he’d invented. And it seems to go quite well at first, until he meets an actual twelve-year-old named Marcus, who is more than Will bargained for…

I’ve had this book for a long time and love the movie, and am so glad I finally picked it up. This has definitely been the year where I’ve truly immersed myself into the genre of literary fiction and this is potentially one of my favourites that I’ve read.

Getting to see Marcus and Will’s relationship grow and unfold over the course of this book was so interesting and captivating. I felt so deeply for Marcus and wanted so badly for him to be protected. His character, and Will’s for that matter, felt so raw.

What’s interesting about this book and the characters Nick Hornby created is that they’re all so different. Marcus and Will could not be more opposite and yet they found friendship in one another’s company. Marcus is lonely, eccentric and completely unaware of what it means to be a 12 year old. Will is sarcastic, selfish and entirely free of the responsibilities of an adult. They come together in the most bizarre of circumstances and teach each other how to be who they can be. Marcus, a child, and Will, a grown up.

This is one of those books you could easily devour in a single sitting and it almost guarantees some big thinks about life and the magnitude of ways we can choose to live it.

Emilia Vulliamy

A throughly enjoyable read.

I’ve had this book for a long time and love the movie, and am so glad I finally picked it up. This has definitely been the year where I’ve truly immersed myself into the genre of literary fiction and this is potentially one of my favourites that I’ve read.

Getting to see Marcus and Will’s relationship grow and unfold over the course of this book was so interesting and captivating. I felt so deeply for Marcus and wanted so badly for him to be protected. His character, and Will’s for that matter, felt so raw.

What’s interesting about this book and the characters Nick Hornby created is that they’re all so different. Marcus and Will could not be more opposite and yet they found friendship in one another’s company. Marcus is lonely, eccentric and completely unaware of what it means to be a 12 year old. Will is sarcastic, selfish and entirely free of the responsibilities of an adult. They come together in the most bizarre of circumstances and teach each other how to be who they can be. Marcus, a child, and Will, a grown up.

This is one of those books you could easily devour in a single sitting and it almost guarantees some big thinks about life and the magnitude of ways we can choose to live it.

Lyric Hooey

Fun, easy, but wish the characters would have been developed more. I’d still recommend it if you’re looking for a fast read that leaves you feeling good!

Belle

I wasn't sure how much I'd like this, since I'm not usually a fan of fiction but I tried it because I remembered liking the film years ago. I actually liked it a lot! It wasn't hilarious but it was fun, and I definitely grew to care about the characters.

High Fidelity

About a boy

A nice, enjoyable read. Not particularly page turning, but a good story all the same.

Aistė

Riah Forbes 

I'm giving this a bonus star since I could hear the entire book in Hugh Grant's voice in my head. :)

Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bitnerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act their age.

Georgia Carr

I loved this book. Nick Hornby has a really good way of telling stories in which nothing major happens. It's a real talent. Marcus and Will's friendship is perfectly crafted and developed; it's not rushed and it seems that every action is deliberate and necessary for the story to continue. All the characters are relatable, there any no Mary Sues, and Kurt Cobain gets talked about a lot which is always a good thing. About A Boy is the perfect coming of age novel for any age, which is something that is definitely hard to find.

Robin de Jong

☆☆☆
Plot: ☆
The plot wasn't perfect, but it didn't have like specific flaws in it or something. It had some surprises and I think we could all learn a bit from the book. I think it was mainly the genre what I didn't like about this book, but I had to read it for my English class so ok..

Characters: ☆
The characters were fine, don't get me wrong, I because I definitely didn't like them at first. But they were well written with flaws some writers forget about, and I liked that.

Writing: ☆
I'll just give this one star, because the book was very fast-paced. I read it in only 5 days and I coudl've read it in a shorter period of time.

Would I reread it?: 0
Maybe, but no I don't really think so. The only reason why I would do that is because I like the writing style.

About a Boy

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