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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I like this much more than the movie, but, as movies go, it's pretty good, too...
Will Lightman is a 36-year-old unemployed (but well-off man)living in London. He spends his days finding trivial ways to fill his endless amounts of time. He's always fashionable. He always knows what's in. In other words, Will is always on top of the game.
Will is also a womanizer, and soon finds the joy of the single mother. When he joins a single parents support group and befriends one of the mothers, he meets Marcus, a 12-year-old who acts much older than his 12 years -- Will's opposite. A friendship is forged, and this, of course, means that changes are made, even if they're not wanted.
This was a really cute book. Will is cheeky and sarcastic. Marcus is solemn and serious. And they teach each other about life and how things are, and they have many misadventures along the way. Even when Will tries to get the reader to believe that he doesn't care about Marcus or his messed-up life, it's obvious that the boy holds a soft spot in his heart. And though they are opposites in many aspects, there are a few things that are shared between Will and his young companion, such as their ability to sort of forget that reality exists until the reality of a situation hits them.
I saw the movie first, but the book was definitely better than a movie, as they usually are. A lot of questions I had regarding the movie were answered in the book, again, as they usually are. This was like the male-version of chick-lit. What would that be called? Guy-lit or something? Great reading, enjoyable, quick. Will definitely be on the lookout for more Hornby.
Will is also a womanizer, and soon finds the joy of the single mother. When he joins a single parents support group and befriends one of the mothers, he meets Marcus, a 12-year-old who acts much older than his 12 years -- Will's opposite. A friendship is forged, and this, of course, means that changes are made, even if they're not wanted.
This was a really cute book. Will is cheeky and sarcastic. Marcus is solemn and serious. And they teach each other about life and how things are, and they have many misadventures along the way. Even when Will tries to get the reader to believe that he doesn't care about Marcus or his messed-up life, it's obvious that the boy holds a soft spot in his heart. And though they are opposites in many aspects, there are a few things that are shared between Will and his young companion, such as their ability to sort of forget that reality exists until the reality of a situation hits them.
I saw the movie first, but the book was definitely better than a movie, as they usually are. A lot of questions I had regarding the movie were answered in the book, again, as they usually are. This was like the male-version of chick-lit. What would that be called? Guy-lit or something? Great reading, enjoyable, quick. Will definitely be on the lookout for more Hornby.
I really enjoyed this story. Serious but funny in parts. The writing was really good as well. It made me excited to read A Long Way Down by him.
I decided to read this one because I really enjoyed the movie, and I will say the book is better. The movie follows the book very closely, other than the time period (book is set in the 90's, movie later) until the very end. The movie ending is very "happy ever after"-ish, and the book is much more real of an ending (or really, not an ending at all) A great quick read, but does have some adult language and situations in it, so I would not recommend it for teens.
3.5/5
For a book titled “About A Boy” I caught myself being surprised that it was in fact, about the boy.
The book is messy, chaotic and loud and a cool representation of life, growing up, adulthood and family. Will is a fucking prick though, so the book loses points for having him as a main character.
For a book titled “About A Boy” I caught myself being surprised that it was in fact, about the boy.
The book is messy, chaotic and loud and a cool representation of life, growing up, adulthood and family. Will is a fucking prick though, so the book loses points for having him as a main character.
Recently I met a 16 year old kid at China Creek park in Vancouver and we were sledding down the hill and were chatting and he told me he’s a sponsored skateboarder and we followed each other on instagram and he posts photos of himself smoking weed and clogging public toilets full of bunched up toilet paper, and I had a moment where I wanted to be Will and take a kid under my wing—(he even told me he has an absent father just like Marcus in the book!) —also we switched shoes because he wanted to try my snowboard and we were talking about how he got his shoes from a cool skate shop in Vancouver and I’m now remembering that buying/losing cool shoes is a major plot element of the book. I think it would be hilarious to be friends with a high school kid, the insecurities are so real and we adults are so unwarranted in our self-confidence and understanding of the world—I have so much to learn from them. Though perhaps being older is less self-assuredness and more like a growing indifference and just being okay with being uncomfortable/being vulnerable.
So simple and heartfelt, I just love the relationship between Will and Marcus
I can't believe how well-liked this story is. I found it to be problematic and gimmicky (especially when Hornby goes on and on within parentheses like I need all this subtext that I could just glean from the actual writing, but I guess doing an off-script run on sentence gives Hornby more space to be HiLaRiOuS). I think the reasons I disliked this story boil down to three main points.
1. How dated the book in its dealing with mental health:
Fiona is clinically depressed and villianized for it. Maybe this comes off more clearly in 2020, but it made me so uncomfortable that Hornby characterized Fiona as this ~quirky~ depressed lady that has single-handedly ruined the social life of her son with all her weirdness. Furthermore, when depression isn't villfied, its romanticized. Will states that he thinks Fiona is unattractive, and dislikes her personality, but that the fact she tried to commit suicide is "sexy". Disgusting. The way Will talks about how he thinks women should look/behave? NASTY. And his charming agenda to "bang single mothers" since they must be soooooo desperate that they'd resort to sleeping with him? At least he's self aware of his shitty personality.
2. Marcus' character development:
I don't know why Marcus having interests unlike that of his peers had to be something that needed changing. Will literally tells him to "be a sheep" and follow the crowd, urging him to disown his mother's ~weird~ preferences and interests. Also, if the "point" of this is to have Marcus create his own separate identity and distinguish himself from his mother's "horrible" taste and show that he "bloody hates Joni Mitchell", then why does his entire "new" personality come straight from Will? I mean the kid is lying about liking Nirvana and ultimately becomes another carbon copy. Also, why is Will the ideal? Isnt the story supposed to be framing Will as some kind of man-child stuck in his frat-bro days? Isnt that supposed to be a clue that Will is actually not doing great, and just putting up a fake shield?
3. If the blatant misogyny, horrible advice to children, and mental health representation isnt enough, this book also went for a lot of cliches, namely regarding music and a god-like adoration of Kurt Cobain. This is more of a subjective issue, becuase I typically don't super-love the inudation of these types of stories, and they are often problematic and try to be ~deep~ while only using surface level comparsions and themes. Again, this goes back to my previous point about mental health, and I felt like Cobain was almost being exploited to expound upon Will's non-existant personality and be the Messiah for his church of coolness (to which we should all obviously convert in order to squelch our off-putting senses of individuality and submit to the higher powers of pop culture and consumerism).
That being said, there were some things I liked about the book. Generally speaking, the humor was great, I think there was craft present in the storytelling. I just wish it could have gone further. I kind of got the sense that Hornby was holding back, and that this "rom-com" esque story isnt his best. I don't need to like a character to like the book, but I think the issues I have are more with how the book is written than how insufferable Will is. I can't believe parts of this were published, especially the distasteful jokes about depression.
I was really looking forward to reading High Fidelity, but now I'm scared. Hopefully the issues I had with About a Boy don't translate over, but I'm skeptical.
1. How dated the book in its dealing with mental health:
Fiona is clinically depressed and villianized for it. Maybe this comes off more clearly in 2020, but it made me so uncomfortable that Hornby characterized Fiona as this ~quirky~ depressed lady that has single-handedly ruined the social life of her son with all her weirdness. Furthermore, when depression isn't villfied, its romanticized. Will states that he thinks Fiona is unattractive, and dislikes her personality, but that the fact she tried to commit suicide is "sexy". Disgusting. The way Will talks about how he thinks women should look/behave? NASTY. And his charming agenda to "bang single mothers" since they must be soooooo desperate that they'd resort to sleeping with him? At least he's self aware of his shitty personality.
2. Marcus' character development:
I don't know why Marcus having interests unlike that of his peers had to be something that needed changing. Will literally tells him to "be a sheep" and follow the crowd, urging him to disown his mother's ~weird~ preferences and interests. Also, if the "point" of this is to have Marcus create his own separate identity and distinguish himself from his mother's "horrible" taste and show that he "bloody hates Joni Mitchell", then why does his entire "new" personality come straight from Will? I mean the kid is lying about liking Nirvana and ultimately becomes another carbon copy. Also, why is Will the ideal? Isnt the story supposed to be framing Will as some kind of man-child stuck in his frat-bro days? Isnt that supposed to be a clue that Will is actually not doing great, and just putting up a fake shield?
3. If the blatant misogyny, horrible advice to children, and mental health representation isnt enough, this book also went for a lot of cliches, namely regarding music and a god-like adoration of Kurt Cobain. This is more of a subjective issue, becuase I typically don't super-love the inudation of these types of stories, and they are often problematic and try to be ~deep~ while only using surface level comparsions and themes. Again, this goes back to my previous point about mental health, and I felt like Cobain was almost being exploited to expound upon Will's non-existant personality and be the Messiah for his church of coolness (to which we should all obviously convert in order to squelch our off-putting senses of individuality and submit to the higher powers of pop culture and consumerism).
That being said, there were some things I liked about the book. Generally speaking, the humor was great, I think there was craft present in the storytelling. I just wish it could have gone further. I kind of got the sense that Hornby was holding back, and that this "rom-com" esque story isnt his best. I don't need to like a character to like the book, but I think the issues I have are more with how the book is written than how insufferable Will is. I can't believe parts of this were published, especially the distasteful jokes about depression.
I was really looking forward to reading High Fidelity, but now I'm scared. Hopefully the issues I had with About a Boy don't translate over, but I'm skeptical.