There is a wonderful symmetry about this book. The adult, Will, lives his life like an overgrown teenager, whilst the boy, Marcus, is old beyond his years, and does not relate at all to youth culture. As their lives collide on what eventually becomes known as "The Dead Duck Day", they both learn a lot about life, and learn to appreciate each other.
Will cannot quite comprehend how his comfortable, insular and rather blank life, could have changed so radically with the mere intervention of a socially inept young boy, and his depressive, hippy mother. At one stage he laments: "He'd had his whole life set up so that nobody's problem was his problem, and now everybody's problem was his problem, and he had no solutions for any of them."
There's a wonderful supporting cast of wacky characters, especially in Marcus' own family, and Nick Hornby seems to have a knack for sounding completely authentic, whether he's spouting maternal wisdom, or voicing a teenage girl's alienation at school. Likewise, the period detail, especially the music references, are spot on.
It is a superbly entertaining read, very funny and sharply observant. I couldn't describe it better than Arminta Wallace in The Irish Times, who writes:"About a Boy is really about the awful, hilarious, embarrassing place where children and adults meet, and Hornby has captured it with delightful precision."
Do watch the film if you have never seen it. It differs very slightly from the book, but is a faithful representation, and in my opinion, it's Hugh Grant's finest hour!
Nicholas Hoult - no longer a boy
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