Nick Hornby is an English Novelist and screen writer who is better known for his novels, ‘About A Boy’ and, ‘High Fidelity.’ Hornby tends to write in first person which often features the obsessive nature of his protagonists. ‘About A Boy’ managed to win the E.M Forster Award in 1992 soon after the film adaptation was released; making this novel suddenly become even more highly acclaimed.
Meet Marcus: he is pale, gawky, awkward but highly endearing. In this case, he is the protagonist of, ‘About A Boy 'and he is obsessive but Nick Hornby uses this in a way which makes the novel highly humours. However in creating this humour through Marcus, Hornby also manages to portray the challenges of adolescence that many teens still face across the world. As we see the story begin to unfold, we see Marcus change and develop throughout. By the end of the novel he is a little less pale, a little less gawky and a little less awkward. However he remains highly endearing.
The second protagonist in this novel is Will Freeman: a middle aged, rich off his own rocket man who’s whole purpose in life is to keep himself entertained in order not be defeated by boredom. You may be thinking: how can a middle aged man possibly be bored? Quite frankly, Will has no life. Without children, a wife, or a job he is lonely and hopeless and crying out for attention to distract him from the boredom he feels from day to day life. In order to refrain from boredom Will tells lie after lie to everybody he knows which manages to get him into mess
after mess. This mess Will creates for himself results in Marcus becoming his imaginary son, in order for Will to seem more appealing to the women he is trying to chase. Yes, he is quite the womanizer. Therefore this is how both Marcus’ and Will’s paths manage to cross, Marcus has to pretend to be Will’s son. In doing so Will manages to accustom Marcus to the teenage styles of the 1990’s. He loses the baggy, rainbow sweaters that are hand-me-downs of his mum’s and suddenly owns Nike trainers (thanks to Will). Thankfully he is no longer awkward and gawky but able to make friends with people at school. And in turn Will gains a son who brings out the feminine sides to him which women apparently find attractive. You might be thinking– what a weird novel? It is a bit but at the same time it is highly amusing and has established itself as a comedic novel and film.
Aside from the comedy element, ‘About a Boy’ intertwines the horror of mental illness which is featured in Marcus’ Mum, Fiona. Fiona is crippled by depression and having to singlehandedly bring up a young boy. A combination of this results in her having a mental breakdown which is witnessed by Marcus when he arrives home from school.
Aside from the comedy, ‘About a Boy’ proves itself to be so much more than a laugh and a light hearted quick read. Beneath the sarcasm and humour lies the outcome of depression and mental illness which is evidently very relevant in todays society.
The rest of the novel follows the lives of Marcus, Will and Fiona as they untangle and end up solving their shambled lives together. For a book I picked up for a quick read, it ended up being a lot better than that. As a result I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 3/5
