About a Boy by Nick Hornby

Review by Lizz Bailey

I’m reading About A Boy by Nick Hornby. So far, I'm really enjoying it but the characters frighten me because they're so realistic.

Will makes my physically ill, particularly when I think about the way he plays with women so he can get, what - Love? Acceptance? I can't quite pinpoint the reason he lies. If he wants to be needed, accepted, or loved and be seen as the "good guy", then he should be one, not play the role of one. Knowing he is playing with the emotions of single mothers, who are in my opinion the most vulnerable human beings on the planet, infuriates me!

The way Marcus's character is treated also annoys me. A gawky, awkward, lonely, new kid with too many problems at home, Marcus's peers make fun of him to the extreme point that even the crowned "nerds" refuse to hang out with him. That makes me, well, physically ill. I never thought people actually went to that extreme just to make another person feel like crap, but I suppose they do and I've just never noticed. Now that I think of it, though, it reminds me of my history class freshman year - one girl got made fun of everyday and no one talked to her. Granted, I thought she was extremely annoying but no one deserves to be trashed like that on a daily basis. I eventually stood up for her and told everyone to stop because they were being obnoxious. Although it didn't really do any good, I did it a few more times in an attempt to get them to stop. Remembering this makes me want to give Marcus a hug - yep, that's what it's come to, I want to hug a fictional character in a Nick Hornby novel.

While I'm on the subject, I also wouldn't mind hugging Marcus's mother, then shaking her until her head snaps back into place. She's clearly and obviously depressed. Marcus is attempting to be a normal kid which is next to impossible to achieve with no friends, no father, and a mother who's completely absent because of the depression eating at her.

I'm compelled to continue reading About A Boy because of the characters. Despite that the situations surrounding Will and Marcus make me physically ill for two very different reasons, and even if Marcus's mother aggravates me, I want the best for them.

I have a feeling the Will will actually develop a relationship with Marcus, as he tries to develop one with Suzie (a friend of Marcus's mother). I also think that eventually, Marcus will figure Will out. Or maybe Marcus's mother will become romantically involved with Will, which seems logical especially after Will gets tired of dancing around Suzie and pretending he has a two-year-old son for reasons I just can't understand.
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