Book review: About a Boy

“No man is an island…”

“About a Boy” is written by Nick Hornby, an author form England. Nick Hornby is 58 and based in London. He has won several awards for his work and he has also sold millions of copies of his books. One of his most famous books is “About a Boy”. It was published in 1998 and made into a film in 2002.

The books to main characters are Marcus and Will. Marcus is 12-years-old and is very mature for his age. He gets bullied for the way he dresses and acts at school. He comes from a single parent family and he lives with his mother Fiona in London. Fiona is divorced and depressed. She has a hippie attitude to life and this has a clear effect on Marcus. Fiona is in a group called SPAT (single parents alone together) this is where Marcus meets Will. Will is a 36-year-old, immature man. He lives of the money that his father made from his one famous song. He only care about himself, and lives by the opposite of the quote “No man is an island…” He makes up a fake son to join SPAT, because he thinks that it would be a perfect place to pick up women. When Marcus meets Will he gets very curious and stalks him around. Marcus discovers that Will doesn’t have a kid, and he starts hanging around at Will’s place after school. Will starts to open up to Marcus. Will buys him clothes that he wouldn’t be bullied for, and after a while will introduce him to the band Nirvana. Marcus becomes friends with a girl Ellie that is very though and she protects Marcus from getting bullied.

The theme of the novel is that growing up doesn’t have to do anything with your age. It’s really about growing up at different speeds and accepting people different then you. I think that the book is suitable for teenagers and young adults. I would not recommend the book to a kid, because the plot is a bit complicated. A kid wouldn’t understand it all, and then I think the book would get really boring.

Personally I wouldn’t read it again or recommend it to a person like me. This is just because the plot has a lack of excitement and there are more the characters that speak for themselves. I definitely think that there are many who would enjoy the book, but then you have to like a book that plays on your feelings. The author did succeed there is no doubt of that. Nick Hornby writs perfectly for him genre, and anyone who likes that genre would enjoy “About a Boy”.