eShop USA > Books > About a Boy
About a Boy
List Price: $14.00Our Price: $11.20 You Save: $2.80 (20%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781573227339
ISBN: 0965593894
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: May 01, 1999
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Studio: Riverhead Trade
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
Will Lightman is a Peter Pan for the 1990s. At 36, the terminally hip North Londoner is unmarried, hyper-concerned with his coolness quotient, and blithely living off his father's novelty-song royalties. Will sees himself as entirely lacking in hidden depths--and he's proud of it! The only trouble is, his friends are succumbing to responsibilities and children, and he's increasingly left out in the cold. How can someone brilliantly equipped for meaningless relationships ensure that he'll continue to meet beautiful Julie Christie-like women and ensure that they'll throw him over before things get too profound? A brief encounter with a single mother sets Will off on his new career, that of "serial nice guy." As far as he's concerned--and remember, concern isn't his strong suit--he's the perfect catch for the young mother on the go. After an interlude of sexual bliss, she'll realize that her child isn't ready for a man in their life and Will can ride off into the Highgate sunset, where more damsels apparently await. The only catch is that the best way to meet these women is at single-parent get-togethers. In one of Nick Hornby's many hilarious (and embarrassing) scenes, Will falls into some serious misrepresentation at SPAT ("Single Parents--Alone Together"), passing himself off as a bereft single dad: "There was, he thought, an emotional truth here somewhere, and he could see now that his role-playing had a previously unsuspected artistic element to it. He was acting, yes, but in the noblest, most profound sense of the word."
What interferes with Will's career arc, of course, is reality--in the shape of a 12-year-old boy who is in many ways his polar opposite. For Marcus, cool isn't even a possibility, let alone an issue. For starters, he's a victim at his new school. Things at home are pretty awful, too, since his musical therapist mother seems increasingly in need of therapy herself. All Marcus can do is cobble together information with a mixture of incomprehension, innocence, self-blame, and unfettered clear sight. As fans of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity already know, Hornby's insight into laddishness magically combines the serious and the hilarious. About a Boy continues his singular examination of masculine wish-fulfillment and fear. This time, though, the author lets women and children onto the playing field, forcing his feckless hero to leap over an entirely new--and entirely welcome--set of emotional hurdles.
Nick Hornby's cult fiction debut, the New York Times Notable High Fidelity, was a national bestseller in the United States, and a #1 bestseller in England. Hornby was greeted with standing ovations from The New Yorker (Hornby has established himself as a maestro of the male confessional) to Time (Hornby demonstrates his enviable talent for lucid, laconic writing) to The New York Times Book Review (Hornby captures the loneliness and childishness of adult life with such precision and wit that you'll find yourself nodding and smiling) to GQ (funny, compulsive, and contemporary). About a Boy stars a guy called Will, who doesn't really want any children. He wonders why it bothers people that he lives so happily alone in his fashionable, Lego-free flat, with massive speakers, and an expensive cream-colored rug that no kid has ever thrown up on. Then Will meets Angie. He has never been out with a mom before. And it has to be said that Angie's long blond hair and big blue eyes, are not irrelevant to his sudden
reassessment of his attitude toward children. She is truly
beautiful. And truly beautiful women do not, traditionally, go out with him. Then it dawns on Will that maybe Angie goes out with him because of the children. Maybe children democratized beautiful, single women
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Funny and entertaining
This book is an easy read. There are many hilarious moments. Hornby adeptly mines the rich vein of humor in male female relationships. His is an exclusively male perspective, even more so because he is a British male. Still, he pokes so much fun at his protagonist Will that I think women will enjoy this too.
Hornby novels are always entertaining. He is funny and occasionally touching, but you always know that this is a comedy. Nevertheless, Hornby usually inserts his own view of the ... Read More
Rating: - Pretty good read
Have to admit that at first I thought this book would be another of the typical "overly mature child teaches childish adult how to be a grown up. At the same time the adult teaches the child how to be a kid." Because I've heard that story...a couple of times. But I have to say that I really enjoyed this story. This isn't just a case of the kid that got ignored or abandoned and had to be the grown up for a while. If anything this is a tale of what happens when life events force you to realize ... Read More
Rating:  - About a good book
I've seen the movie "About a Boy" many times...and like/love it. Then again, I am a complete sucker for almost anything featuring Hugh Grant and whatever incarnation (floppy, spiky, messy) his hair is in.
Now, after reading the book, not only am I reminded how much I love reading Nick Hornby's books, but also how funny and yet poignant his words are.
Taken in the following order, these quotes may be confusing if you've never read the book or seen the movie. The story is ... Read More
Rating:  - A Book Made For Enjoyment!
I must confess,I am not the usual everyday reader, but Hornby's novel About A Boy was fantastic.I have watched the movie as well as read the book, and while watching a movie may be more entertaining to some, I would highly suggest reading the book first.
Will Freeman is a man living off the royalties from his father's one hit wonder, free from problems and responsibilities. His life consists of long days watching his favortie shows, going to movies, and listening to his favortie musicians ... Read More
Rating: - Dark, funny, & sarcastically clever
Nick Hornby's About a Boy is a witty & quirky tale of two "boys" coming of age at the same time. The catch is that they are completely different ages. Will, one of the main character's, is 36yrs old while Marcus, the other main character, is only 12yrs. Even with the huge age difference these characters manage to grow together & separately as they find who they are and how they have changed because of each other.
Will Freeman is a metro-sexual's metro-sexual. He immerses himself ... Read More
Related Categories:
| |
 |
