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ms_hartman 's review for:
About a Boy
by Nick Hornby
DID NOT FINISH
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.