Review: About a Boy
Just finished reading Nick Hornby's, About a Boy. It is an excellent book.
The book begins by following Will. Will is a thirty-something single male who goes through relationships like most people go through underwear, jeans, or tubs of ice cream. In short, to Will, women are merely a means to an end. The end is sex. The means is filling time between waking up and going to bed.
Will is the son of the man who wrote one of the most famous Christmas songs. Therefore, the royalties that come in from artists performing his fathers song pay for whatever he needs. Music (Nick Hornby and music go hand in hand), clothes, nice cars, and other things. Almost immediately, we discover that Will is shallow, doesn't like children or Christmas, and has no interest in doing anything with his life. This guy sounds a lot like me.
To counterpoint Will we also have Marcus. Where Will is in his thirties Marcus is not even a teenager. His mum is separated from his dad (never married) and they moved, together, to London. In London Marcus discovered that the eccentricities that set him apart at his previous school as just another student really set him apart at his new school with most of the students thinking him insane or a little nutters. The differences between Marcus and Will are pretty stark.
Along with Marcus and Will is Fiona, Marcus' mother and Ellie, a girl at his school. The book jumps, back and forth, between Marcus' point of view and Will's.
Will is constantly trying to segregate himself from Marcus and his mother. Even though he met Marcus as a result of Fiona trying to commit suicide and failing (throw-up, Suzie - a friend, and other things that get in the way). At first Will felt that he could be a positive force in Marcus and Fiona's life, but because he had lots of experience doing nothing and being irresponsible he decided that was a waste of time and decided to call it off.
Marcus is convinced, at one point in the book that Will and Fiona would be perfect for each other. He said (and I paraphrase) that when two people are decent looking and single then there should be nothing that keeps them apart. To juxtapose this, he meets Ellie who is a rebel without a cause (literally) who wears a Kurt Cobain sweatshirt everyday and loves Nirvanna (Kurt Cobain is dead by the way and the book takes place in 1993 - you do the math). Because of Marcus' determination he starts to go around to see will several times a week.
Will, at some point in the book, realizes that what Marcus needs is a brother figure (who can mirror as a father figure on occasion) who can show him what it means to be a teenager.
This book was excellent. Not good enough to rocket to the top of my favorites list, but I identified with Will. There are real reasons why I am in my thirty's and unmarried. There are reasons why people get to this point and sit back, look at little children or married folk and begin to mutter things under their breath that can't be said in polite company. Don't personally know what polite company means, but at the same time I do know that some of the things that come out of my mouth around some people's children isn't polite to say, isn't appropriate, and has to be seriously edited for content.
Will reminds me of me. I do a lot of things that are dictated by circumstance. My stated desire is one thing and for whatever reason I allow the inevitable to happen. I allow things to happen that I would prefer not to happen. In the book Will is constantly trying to get Marcus to not be a part of his life and then he is. Will is trying to remove himself from responsibility and then it finds him. He doesn't want a relationship and one finds him. He makes fun of those who claim to be in love and finds himself in love.
Marcus, on the other hand, becomes less of a geek and more of a teenager. He stops being the good son. Starts to assert himself and has Will as a role model for someone who should be normal and who he should be able to emulate in social interactions. In the end Will recognizes that Marcus is this young man who brings people together, Fiona, Suzie, Ellie, Will, and others, and at the same time Will grows up and is the adult that is necessary to help Marcus and his mother through some pretty tough times.
The book was a total page-turner, which surprised me, and a much faster read than I thought it would be. As a result of reading the book I ordered (half.com) the movie that was based off it. I'm told it is good.