About A Boy is one of those books. Most of it is witty, funny (almost too funny at some point, it’s highly embarrassing to be laughing out loud in public places, so I suggest you follow my advice and read the book in private) and crowd-pleasing. In true Nick Hornby fashion, About A Boy takes place in Britain, and it circles around an 11-year-old man (there are really not enough books about 11-year-olds...we should thank Hornby for taking our attention away from 17-year-olds and their marital sex escapades and to normal, problematic Brits with cute accents) and a 36-year-old kid. Their lives intersect in the strangest way, and in the end their codependent relationship becomes meaningful than Nick Hornby’s writing style. You see, Will (the 36-year-old kid) is like styrofoam to appliances (we are the appliances, and he’s the styrofoam). Sad to say, he just takes up space. He has this protective shell around him. He doesn’t care about anything, or anyone.
Like Hugh Grant (he, fortunately for me, played Will in the movie version) said: "The thing is, a person’s life is like a TV show. I was the star of The Will Show. And The Will Show wasn’t an ensemble drama. Guests came and went, but I was the regular. It came down to me and me alone. If Marcus’ mum couldn’t manage her own show, if her ratings were falling, it was sad, but that was her problem..." Isn’t that mighty caring of him?
Marcus (the under-appreciated 11-year-old), on other hand, is smart yet worn out, and therefore the youngest cynic of all time (i.e., not very likable). In About A Boy the movie, he had said (or should I say screamed?) to Will:
"You don’t give a sh*t about anyone who doesn’t give sh*t about you!"
Right on, Marcus, my man.
The story is absolutely brilliant, and anything but a bore. You will find yourself feeling compassionate and sympathetic for both Will and Marcus, and by the last page, you will feel compassionate and sympathetic for everyone else too. Even if Nick Hornby isn’t known for his plots (it’s true – read High Fidelity and you will find yourself just going through the main character’s thoughts – but who’s complaining? The millions of loyal Hornby readers? Me? My mother? Kara? Huh? Who?!), the moral values (yes, there are a lot, if you can disregard Will’s curses and see the valuable life lesson between the lines) really shine through. There a lot of little quotable quotes in this book, just waiting to be turned into text forwards.
Perhaps due to lack of good scripts, producers are now adapting more books into movies. Some novels seem to be waiting to be made into a film (can you say Olivia Goldsmith?) while others are being made into films for reasons I can’t think of. These stories should just be left alone (can you say Harry Potter?). I am happy to say About A Boy lies in between. It is great in print as is it on the big screen (although About A Boy the movie is slightly more commercialized than the book, but it’s still very funny and very British, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone except to those who don’t understand English and cannot read subtitles.
Like Nick Hornby’s other works of art, namely Fever Pitch and High Fidelity, About A Boy is... well, about a boy (duh). To understand these antiheros, you don’t necessarily have to be British nor a boy. It’s about humor, friendship, love, and everything else that we live for. Everyone can relate to that.
About A Boy effortlessly shows us that somewhere in the pile of rubbish we call life, these things are still alive and thriving. Sometimes, all of us just want to stick our heads in the oven. We all have our little problems (traffic, unwanted pregnancies, a broken nail... whatever) and that is what causes us to give up. But after finishing this book, you won’t ever feel the need to stick your head in the oven again (because if you do, you wouldn’t know what happens in the end of About A Boy).
One of the best lines ever uttered in the movie comes from Will Freeman, who says, "Once you open your door to one person, anyone can come in."