3.5 starsNot sure who I'd recommend this to, but I enjoyed it well enough.It's basically a story about a fucked up guy with zero substance, a fucked up 12 year old dork, and his fucked up crazy hippie mother.To me, none of these three were very sympathetic characters. I mean, Marcus was the only one who even slightly deserved any pity.But even for a kid he was gratingly dense. I just wanted to shake the shit out of him for being such a pussy! And, YES! I know how horrible that sentence sounds. U...

About a Boy is a book that I've dreamed about - a meaningful book about human relationships ( as opposed to adventures) that is to the point and not chock full of rambling and embellishing imagery. Sadly, I'm very honest, and I can't rate this 5/5. The reasons why I like this book and why I can't give it a bogus score are the same. I'm very like Marcus. The old me is like the old Marcus from before he changed at the end. The newer me is still like him. But enough of us. The titular reference to

Originally, I picked up a friend's copy of this while watching babysitting, simply as a means of amusing myself while the kid was happily playing with some toys. I'd already seen the movie, and figured the book would probably be something that I could pick up and put down fairly easily.I was wrong.See, I went into this thinking I obviously knew the story and the characters - but what happened was I quickly forgot about the movie version, and became fascinated with the story of Will, the selfish

This was a fun read. As I’ve seen the film a few times I was familiar with the characters . The major difference between them is the book being about 10yrs older (ie set early 90s) Nirvana and Kurt cobain are an important part of the story as Ellie is a big fan. The chapters alternate from the points of view of Marcus and Will making it evenly balanced over the two characters.

I love an effortless read with depth. This is an interesting and at times hilarious story with very relatable characters and a delightful perspective on relationships. 5 stars! :-)

Beautiful read for the end of the year. Such a thoughtful book.

What a surprising read! I found this book in the Fujisawa library in Japan. My other choices were D.H. Lawrence and other books that boasted intimidating thickness. I suppose I chose this book because I thought it would be a breezy read. It was a breezy read! A breezy, enjoyable read with a surprising amount of depth and charm. I had previously read one other Nick Hornby book: A Long Way Down, which was a morbid look at the lives of several people who try to commit suicide. About a Boy shares so...

I can't recall if this was the first Nick Hornby book that I read, or if it was "High Fidelity". It's toss-up. I will say that "About a Boy" is probably one of my favorite Hornby novels. The story is about a spoiled rich man-child (in the movie adaptation, played brilliantly by Hugh Grant) who befriends an awkward high school kid and, in the process, learns how to be a better person and man. Very funny and very moving.

i don’t get it

This is an interesting book with a lot of different characters and character development. It was my first book by Nick Hornby but it's definitely not going to be my last :)

“Ellie was killing Katrina, and Marcus was killing Fiona, and they would go on killing them for years and years.” I love the movie because it makes you feel all sorts of things happiness, anger, sadness and it really makes you think about how hard others have it. The same goes for the bookTo narrow down each MAIN character;Fiona - Fiona is Marcus’ mum, she has no partner, she’s manic depressive and possibly manipulative.Marcus - clueless, doesn’t seem to think like others, and is basically looki...

2021 review: Living off of his family legacy, lounging around in life, trying-hard-to-be-cool man-child Will has found the secret to dating 'hot' woman of his age… targeting single mothers. Insular, and almost on the edge of autism, straight talking 12-year old social outcast at school, Marcus having witnessed an attempted suicide by his (single-) mother, has come up with the idea that he needs to fill his mum's life with a man... Will! From this an unlikely and very readable friendship between

Nick Hornby’s writing makes me smile. His dry British wit, his honesty, his quirkiness, his nerdiness. It’s all so damn charming! I cannot file him as junk food reading because he is much too earnest and positive: reading his book has an uplifting effect on me and that if definitely not a guilty pleasure.This is the book that inspired the movie with Hugh Grant, which inspired the TV show with David Walton and Minnie Driver. I will shamelessly admit to liking all 3, but the original work is still...

This was a terrific book from beginning to end. Equally funny and sad but never dreary despite the very serious overtones of the book. Marcus was a peculiar, wonderful boy with a huge burden on his shoulders and I really enjoyed watching him become a stronger, confident person. Will was also great. I loved the fact that he was a such a self-centered jerk and completely content to remain that way. No guilt, no remorse, no commitments. Until he meets Marcus, that is. Their relationship was laugh o...

Attaboy! This is the story of the most immature adult meeting the most mature child. Who's right? Who's wrong? You decide!First of all Nick Hornby, I bow to thee for your awesomeness! You write like you are actually telling me the story sitting in front of me. As if you have known me for a long time and everything just rolls right out of your tongue! Will is the cool dude, the funky awesome one who doesn't even have to work; money just falls right into his laps. And that leave him with endless a...

I can't help it, I just adore his STYLE. The way he writes. The way his characters develop. His humour. The ending is somewhat vague, but that is so not the point, the actual point is in the process itself, in Horny's style, his characters whom he has the power to describe so believably that I can see right through them, can understand everything they're feeling; in funny moments which the book is full of. I just laughed out loud several times during one chapter. I fell in love with the way Horn...