|
| |||||||||||
What are readers saying about About a Boy?
|
Ian posted a review at 2009-06-13 04:13:47.
(Language: English)
  
Made famous by the Hugh Grant film, the story centres around an unlikely relationship between a 12-year-old boy and a batchelor in his late 30s. The fact that the boy acts and thinks like a middle-aged man and the man is just a big kid are central to the appeal of the book. Can they both grow into their ages? (Read June 2009)
|
Yes (0) 
No (0)
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-11 07:37:51.
(Language: English)
I pre ordered this book, which is almost unheard of for me but I liked the sound of the reviews. Loved it. Wasn't so keen on the film.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-10 07:33:00.
(Language: English)
I like the specter of points of view of reality.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-21 10:42:07.
(Language: English)
Nick Hornby's brilliant story of life, and how we need people in our life in order to get by, and how no one should be alone. When Will, a middle aged single man who doesn't work and instead lives off of the royalties of a song his father wrote years ago, meets Marcus, an eccentric 12 year old who is bullied at school and has a mother with extreme emotional issues, an unlikely friendship forms between the two and each has plenty to teach the other about what's important in life. A touching story with little surprises here and there to keep you interested.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-06 05:28:58.
(Language: English)
This was my third Nick Hornby book and the second of his move adaptions I've read. Unlike the film of "About a Boy" the book afforded me no laugh out loud moments--instead a few chuckles--but it compensated by being a bit wiser. Much of this wisdom came because the 12-year-old gets equal billing in the book with the 36-year-old and avoids being in the shadow of Hugh Grant's star. Hornby does a masterful job of entering a troubled the head and soul of a troubled 7th-grader (pardon the American translation), and that alone make "About a Boy" worth reading.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-15 01:24:39.
(Language: English)
liab
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-04 02:11:30.
(Language: English)
Much better movie than book. Maybe it is Hugh Grant that gets me.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-12 11:40:36.
(Language: English)
The story of three unsympathetic characters and the trials and tribulations they undergo to become slightly less unsympathetic. I think it's the sign of a bad book when the movie is as good or better than the book. The climax comes early in a two sentence cameo of Championship Vinyl from High Fidelity.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-02 10:29:43.
(Language: English)
This is the book that made me a Hornby fan. I still live my life by the units of time he describes. Wonderful read and one of the better movies made from a book.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-12 08:52:33.
(Language: English)
fantastic read. hilarious!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-12 11:19:12.
(Language: English)
Much better than the film and a better (non hollywood) ending. I did have to stop reading when the duck killing incident was being described I was laughing so much - brilliantly in the book bland in the film (notice a theme?). Will is a selfish man who makes no apologies for his outlook and way of life he doesn't have to work (he lives off of royalties) and speands his days watching TV and shopping. He lies about having a son to pick up women from a single parent group, what follows is his tranformation through observing a boy and his struggle to fit in.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-09-10 06:05:36.
(Language: English)
Nick if you read this - you still owe me a tenner from our bet on the utd/arsenal fa cup replay 1999!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-24 04:34:01.
(Language: English)
I thought the narrative flowed freely and easily and found myself liking Nick Hornby! I went in a Helen Fielding fan, wanting to retain my feminist ideals but found myself completely caught up in the male mind and zone! I have to say I found the book made more sense and felt a sense of sadness that Marcus was a bit of a saddo and Ellie was pushed aside. All the more reason to read the book. Hugh Grant was brilliant as the socio path Will.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-05 05:39:00.
(Language: English)
Marcus's parents split up 4 yrs ago when he was 8. They have moved from Cambridge to London. His mother has just broke up with her boyfriend. Marcus gets bullied at school and he's mum is depressed. It seems that life cannot get any worse for Marcus. Will is 36 and thinks he is cool. he dosen't have to work for a living. he lives very well off the money from a successful song his father wrote years ago. Will is always looking for new ways to get lovers. He has come upon a bright idea of joining a single parents group. He can't stand children but invents his own little pretend family as a single parent. The group is called SPAT and there he meets Suzie. They all go on a picnic at the weekend and Marcus goes along with Suzie. Everything changes on "The Dead Duck Day" Their lives become entwined and Marcus and Will learn a lot about themselves. Marcus needs to be a child and Will needs to grow up. have not seen the moivie but will do
|
|
Sampada posted a review at 2010-01-12 02:14:38.
(Language: English)
In an inconspicuous street in downtown Hamilton in Bermuda, there is a quaint little shop called Twice Told Tales. This ingeniously named store obviously sells second-hand books. One might not imagine going to a bookstore while on a vacation to Bermuda, but that’s exactly what I did. I love non-commercial bookstores, especially “adopting” books that have been abandoned by their first users. Also, how can one let a good deal on a book slip by? Twice Told Tales was small, also functioning as an internet café. Most of the books there were larger volumes about travel, which I gladly overlooked. The interior of the store, however, had several paperbacks and I spotted Nick Hornby’s About a Boy and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours. Incidentally, I’ve heard about both these novels due to their film adaptations, and I really liked both the films. I started reading About a Boy that night at the hotel room and continued reading it on the long journey back and a few days of the New Year in Houston. Usually an easy read like this doesn’t take me a long time, and although I was slow, I relished the book’s every page and incident. I am in love with the British way of conversing, their lifestyle and attitude, which seeps through the pages of this book. Will Freeman, one half of the protagonist duo, is a womanizer you can’t help but love. Your heart goes out to Marcus, the other half, who is a dysfunctional, precocious boy. Anyone who has gone to school and been singled out for being different will identify with Marcus’s loneliness at and fear of school. But we’ve lived through it, and want to cheer Marcus to get over it too. The conversations between the various characters are the highlight of this book: the ones between Will and Marcus being the craziest and funniest of them. The narrative is in third person, but the chapters alternatively focus on Will and Marcus’s POV. It is especially interesting to read one single incident through the POV of both of these characters. Will’s mind is a hilarious place and it is a joy to know what’s going on in it. If you’ve bullied a kid in school, you must get to know Marcus, a boy who is a misfit for no good reason. If you’ve seen the movie, be warned that the end of the movie was completely changed for apparent commercial reasons. The end of the book is much les… climactic. Like any good book, the end of this one makes you want to stay a little longer in the lives of the characters. You are not ready to leave them just as yet and you take solace in the fact that even if you’ve closed the book and kept it away, the characters are still there, living their life.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-26 11:59:29.
(Language: English)
Hornby's follow-up to the brilliant High Fidelity, About a Boy tackles different voices from different points of view. Rather than dealing with a self-involved character for 300 pages, the book bounces back to a witty young boy who balances things out. The initial premise seems completely insane on paper, but Hornby pulls it off with clever writing and strong characters. The movie is excellent as well, but the final third of the book is very different from the movie.
|
|
Lori posted a review at 2012-03-03 08:33:37.
(Language: English)
FILM ADAPTATION GREAT
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-22 04:38:27.
(Language: English)
Hornby's honest storytelling and realistic approach to dialog make ABOUT A BOY worth reading. Through the characters of Will, an independently wealthy 30-something who's never worked a day in his life; and Marcus, a 12-year-old boy with more on his shoulders than anyone his age should have to bear, Hornby spins a believable story about a man who needs to grow up and a kid who needs to learn how to be a kid. The plot ambles along at a pace you'd expect from real life, never moving too fast or too slow. The characters grow as the story progresses, making it refreshingly different from most modern literature. The reader can experience the changes in both Will and Marcus as they accompany the duo on their journey through the tangled relationships of life. Hornby does a wonderful job with his story right up to the end, which is unfortunately disappointing. Of all the paths the book could have taken, Hornby chooses the least satisfying, though perhaps the most realistic. One thing that can be said in his favor is that nothing in ABOUT A BOY is as predictable as you'd expect from the sort of story that it is. Just like life, not everything goes the way the characters plan. So if you're looking for a refreshing, different sort of read, give ABOUT A BOY a try.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-16 06:41:14.
(Language: Italian)
L'incontro tra Will e Marcus, un trentenne adolescente e un dodicenne cresciuto troppo in fretta : chi dei due sarà il ragazzo del titolo ? " ... Riempire le giornate non era mai stato un vero problema per Will ... Il suo modo di affrontare le giornate era quello di pensare alle cose da fare come a unità di tempo: ogni unità era composta di circa trenta minuti. Trovava che le ore intere intimorissero di più, e la maggior parte delle cose che si potevano fare in una giornata richiedevano una mezz'ora ... "
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-05 02:23:29.
(Language: English)
I watched the movie first, and overall, I prefer to adaption to the original text. I can't really think about the book without relating it to the movie, so there's definitely a level of bias there. But I don't really care, the book is just too cynical for its own good. All the characters are trapped by some sort of eternal man-boy adolescence and while their personalities change and adapt, there is no real resolution. At the end of the novel, the characters are just trapped by new identities. It's also meaningful that I felt the entire last arc was unnecessary and bungled. But that might just be because it wasn't included the movie. So yeah, I'm biased.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-11 04:58:44.
(Language: English)
Really about two boys, one twelve, one 36 and how the assasination of a duck at Regent's Park brings them together. Will Freeman does nothing; he divides the day into 30 minute units to get through it. Marcus's only friends at his new school tell him to stay away, he has made them visible to the bullies. Hornby's humorously makes a serious point. We all need a bunch of people in our support pyramid to allow us to balance our way through the acrobatics of everyday life. Sometimes the most unlikely suspects provide just the support we need to grow and live fully. Hornby's characters and situations are quirky, but just real enough to engage us in this very funny modern morality play. Highly recommended.
|
|
|
Ed posted a review at 2010-08-10 10:45:50.
(Language: English)
I really loved this story and the writing is top notch... Nick Hornby continues to be among my favorite author with every book he writes! READ 'EM ALL!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-21 08:54:55.
(Language: English)
From the previous two novels of Hornby that I’ve read; "High Fidelity" and "How to Be Good", I have been somewhat disappointed as I had very high expectations for the author. I quickly learned that his novels are, what you call, light or easy-reads, which I normally have no problem with, except that even though there are tons of easy-read novels, most of them –the good ones, at least— still have a part of them which serve as something symbolic, almost like an embedded metaphor, hidden in between multiple layers of the words and phrases, for something of value that represents the very essence or deeper meaning of the novel. These messages are often subtle that if you get carried away with the fast paced tone of the novel you might just miss it. This may very well be the result of my previous experiences with Hornby, but in either case I did not find much significance or weight in either of the novels and found it strictly as a feel-good novel. "About a Boy" however, brought back my full attention to Hornby and finally met my expectations that I had for him originally. I was surprised by how I was touched by the different characters in the story, which normally didn’t happen in the previous two novels. Marcus, the young little hero of this story amazed me by his seemingly uncanny talent to affect the people around him. What amazed me more was how Hornby smoothly disguised this talent with the comical naiveness of a 12-year old boy. In hindsight, the novel is equipped with heart-warming experiences and a few subtleties that guide readers to rethink practical situations in life. A wonderful novel that deals with isolation and parenthood. Hits you in all the right places! Clearly the best work of Hornby that I have read so far. To think that I had underestimated him, Hornby has shown his talent in his own gifted way.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-13 06:48:10.
(Language: English)
I read it because I hated being on the tube and feeling uncomforatble with lots of strangers around me. Most look as uncomfortable as me and I apologise for laughing at the duck being hit with the bread but I couldn't but help seeing the funny side. Stupid me. Afterall as if you can kill a duck with a french stick. Oh and please dont twist that, I really couldn't believe a child could kill a duck with a piece of bread. To be honest I wished I had never ever seen that book in my life now. Sorry.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-03 11:18:43.
(Language: English)
Nick Hornby is fast becomming one of my favorite authors. He has an uncanny ability to get inside of the heads of his characters. As you read, you never get the sense of "this is how Hornby thinks this character would respond to this situation." Instead, you believe that the character's response is completely driven by the character--not the author. About a Boy makes many profound statements on human relationship and our innate need for relationships of all kinds, that come in all shapes and sizes. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Will and Marcus discover this need and seek to fill it. About a Boy is definitely worth the read.
|
Share your views!
Similar books
