About a Boy | 
 enlarge | Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $13.99 (100%)
New (35) Used (129) Collectible (1) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  308 reviews
Sales Rank: 167813
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0965593894
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781573227339
ASIN: 1573227331
Publication Date: May 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
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.
Book Description
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: Read 303 more reviews...
Loved it! August 5, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby
August 5, 2008
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I have read a Nick Hornby book before and enjoyed it, and this book did not disappoint me either. The main character is Will Freeman, a man that has never had to work a day in his life, and he loves it. His father made money off of a Xmas song he had penned decades ago, and now Will was living off the royalties, both of his parents now deceased. It wasn't the life of a millionaire, but he was comfortable and that was all that mattered. He can't imagine life being any other way, and cannot fathom having to work for a living.
In the mean time, all of his friends are getting married and having children, and they feel sorry for Will because he's not married or having children like they are. But Will knows he doesn't want to settle down, doesn't want to have kids at all. In fact, he's having fun trying to find easier ways to pick up women, but not having to commit to them. It's when he's learned a sure fire way to find women that won't commit that makes his life more interesting, and they are single mothers who are not quite ready to have another relationship, because it's either too soon or their kids are in the way. So, Will joins a single parents group, hits on the women and finds he's hit a gold mine!
At some point, Will gets involved with a young boy whose mother is one of those single parents. The boy's mother is having a lot of emotional issues, and the boy himself is not quite normal. In fact, he's quite the nerd, and it's because his mother is teaching him how to be a non-conformist. Before Will knows it, this young boy is visiting him at his apartment on a daily basis, watching TV together and hanging out. Will had already been telling his potential dates that he was a single parent with a young son, but things really get weird when the boy starts to pose as Will's son, so that Will can impress a woman he really likes...
Great story, funny and witty, ABOUT A BOY is one of those books that I am sure is on the top of many reader's lists. It'll definitely be on my list of top books read in 2008.
Funny and entertaining July 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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 universe into his novels. In this story Will fears talking with the suicidally depressed Fiona because he fears the inevitable life question: "Whats the point?" Will believes that there is no point, and after reading a few of his novels, I guess Hornby believes that too. It seems that he wants to get that point across. That is my only annoyance with this book, and it is a minor one. If you want a fast and easy read, and you enjoy your humor extra dry,in the British tradition, this is a good book for you.
Pretty good read July 5, 2008
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 that things in your life are actually NOT ok, and what steps you take to try and correct it. If you pick up this book and read it all the way through I doubt you'll be disappointed.
 About a good book March 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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 about Marcus, twelve, and Will, thirty-six. Neither fits into the role of the "average" boy/man of their age. Marcus, because of the life he shares with his mother is far too old for his age, and Will, because of the actions of his father (his mother is completely absent, not even a mention, although I may have missed it), is far too immature for his. Their lives intersect in a very interesting way...and so follow great changes for each.
(Will) "In the past, any conversation that began this way usually meant that she had found something out, or that he had done something mean, or stupid, or grotesquely insensitive, but he really thought he had kept a clean sheet in this relationship. His silence bought him time while he scanned through his memory banks for any indiscretions he may have forgotten about, but there was nothing. He would have been extremely disappointed if he had found something, an overlooked infidelity, say..."
OK - while funny - that wasn't poignant - so let's try this from the perspective of Marcus, the twelve year-old. His mother tells him in frustration, "Oh, I don't know what I mean. I just know that we're not doing each other any good."
"Hold on a moment. They didn't do each other any good? For the first time since his mother had started crying, he wanted to cry, too. He knew she wasn't doing him any good but he had no idea it worked both ways. What had he done to her? He couldn't think of a single thing."
And once more back to funny (and Will): " So here he was, in his mid-thirties, knowing in all the places there was to know that he didn't have a two year-old son but still working on the presumption that, when it came to the crunch, one would pop up from somewhere."
With only the movie under my belt, I'd always thought the "boy" referred to in the title was Marcus...given that he's twelve. But now that I've read the book, been in Will's head even more than the voice-overs in the movie allowed me to be, I think the "boy" is Will. This came through more as the story of his growing up at the age of thirty-six, and it's a very good one at that.
We are able to see him finally start to become involved in the world, in people, in life, in a way he's never been before. At first, of course, it's messy and frustrating and hard.
"So don't deal with me!" He was nearly shouting now. He was certainly angry. They had been talking for less than three minutes, yet he was beginning to feel as though this telephone conversation was going to be his life's work; that once every few hours he would put the receive down to eat and sleep and go to the toilet, and the rest of the time Fiona would be telling him one thing and then its opposite over and over again."
Whether he's writing from Will or Marcus's point of view - Hornby's words are witty and realistic and true. Thirty-six, twelve...he brings out the man in the boy and the boy in the man...and I'm always glad to be along for the ride.
 A Book Made For Enjoyment! March 17, 2008
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 in his flat. With all his spare time, he decides to attend single parent meetings by making up an imaginary son to decieve single mothers into going out with him thinking he is a nice, sensitive, family guy.
This problem free life was all about to change when a twelve-year-old boy Marcus and his single mom came into Will's life unintentionally. As a result, Will found himself as a father figure for Marcus even though he didn't know why. Marcus is a complex individual who finally opens Will's eyes. Will finds a meaning to his life, other than his previous job, which was nothing.
Not being much of a reader at all, I was amazed how much I enjoyed this novel. The author Nick Hornby grabbed my attention from page one with his constant humor and sarcasm. Pick a weekend and start reading. Get ready to join in the life of About A Boy!
|
|
|
