About A Boy

Title: About a Boy
Author: Nick Hornby
Genre: Contemporary
Format: Paperback
Pages: 307
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

The synopsis made ABOUT A BOY sound like the book is all about Will, but the book’s actually about both Will and Marcus. Each chapter alternates between their POVs in third person. It was really interesting to see the same situation, in many cases, from a different perspective, especially one of a selfish, self-centered adult and one of a lost and lonely twelve-year-old boy.

I’m not sure how I feel about Will. I hated him in the beginning and while he did change by the end, I’m not sure he changed enough. He still seemed to have the same attitude of not really caring about the world around him. He even said he still didn’t want to get involved in the problems around him, but because he cared about the people now, he couldn’t help it. Maybe that’s how it is for a lot of people. And, maybe the fact that he does get involved shows that he changed. It’s definitely something to think about.

I liked Marcus a lot. I felt bad for him. He had so many problems to deal with and as a twelve-year-old boy, I think he handled the situations the best he knew how. It was fun to see him grow, change, and become more confident in himself. It was also good to see him become his own person rather than a product of his eccentric mother and basically absent father.

The story, moral, and writing were interesting. I enjoyed the book. Despite it not being a page-turner, I still wanted to know how everything would turn out.