Book report
The title of the novel I have chosen to read is “About a Boy”. It is written by Nick Hornby. The novel was published for the first time in Great Britain in 1998.
The novel had 286 pages and it has thirty-six chapters.
EXPLAIN THE TITLE
I would say that you can explain the title of the novel in two ways, because the novel is actually about two boys. The first boy is Marcus Brewer. He is a teenager and he has a lot of problems. Most of the problems are caused by his mother, who is depressed almost all the time.
And then you have the second boy, Will Freeman. He is an adult and he is the “cool-guy”. Will’s father once wrote one (according to Will) crappy Christmas song and now he lives from the royaties from that.
THE THEME
I think that the theme of About a Boy is to accept the things that you have to live with on your own age. I would say that for Marcus that would be that he must not worry so much about his mother. He is a child and he is supposed to live like any other child.
For Will it would be that he must stop to act like a child and start to grow up and be the adult he’s supposed to be.
MAIN CHARACTERS
The main characters are Marcus Brewer and Will Freeman.
Marcus Brewer: Marcus is a teenager. His mom and dad are divorced and his mom is depressed. Marcus dresses strangely and his hair is strange. He sings out loud and he does not notice. That is why Marcus is being bullied.
Will Freeman: Will is a single adult, who is cool and he dresses very well too. He is the opposite of Marcus. Will had no job and he does not care about people.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
The characters are developing throughout the book. At the beginning of the book Will is not involved with others. His relationships don't last very long and he feels it is unnecessary to care about others. When Will meets Marcus his view upon his isolation (which he saw as the best way of living) is changed. He let Marcus become a part of his life and therefore it is too late to retreat. Thanks to Marcus he meets new people and he falls in love. He opens his heart for Rachel and realizes he cannot live without other people around him.
Then there is Marcus. At the beginning of the story Marcus is a shy, insecure boy with a deranged mother. He wears outdated clothes and does not fit in with the popular kids at his school. However, Will helps him to become more modern by, for example, buying brand new trainers. You could say that the blank, outdated Marcus becomes more modern and cool during the book. But not only his clothing undergoies a magnificent change. With regards to his new wardrobe Marcus gets many new friends and does not feel insecure anymore. His fear of his mother committing suicide while he is not paying attention is disappearing because he realizes now that he is not alone. After all, Marcus has his friends and Will to look after him and his mother.
FLAT/ROUND CHARACTER
Marcus is definitely a round character. There is far more than the eye can see. He is not just a boy with silly clothes. He has all kinds of problems next to the bullying at school, for example, his mother.
You could say Will Freeman is flat. He admits that in the book. He is shallow; he likes to buy a lot of cool stuff and he does not care about other people.
MINOR CHARACTERS
The minor characters in the book are:
Fiona: She is the mother of Marcus. Sometimes she is depressed and she tries to commit suicide and fails.
Rachel: Will falls in love with this woman. Rachel has a son called Alistair.
Ellie: She becomes Marcus’ friend.
SETTING (time/place)
The novel takes place in the years around 1994 in London. To be precise; “Flat 2, 31 Craysfield Road, Islington, London, N1 2SF, England, the world, the universe.”(Page 84)
POINT-OF-VIEW
About a boy is written in the third person and the chapters are sometimes narrated from Marcus’ point-of-view or from Will’s point-of-view.
THE AUTHOR
Nick Hornby is born on the 17th of April, 1957 in Redhill, Surrey, England. He is an English novelist and essayist. Nick Hornby is best known for the novels About a Boy and High Fidelity.
Nick Hornby taught English and he worked as a journalist before he began to write books. In 1998 he divorced from his wife Virginia Bovell. Nick Hornby lives in Maidenhead, England.
More books of Nick Hornby:
- Fever Pitch (1992)
- High Fidelity (1995)
- About a Boy (1998)
- How To Be Good (2001)
- 31 Songs (2003)
- A Long Way Down (2005)
SUMMARY
Will is thirty-six years old, single, and he has no job. He acts like a teenager and he knows precisely what is hot and what’s not. Will lives off the money of his dad, who wrote the famous Christmas song ‘Santa’s Super Sleigh’. Will doesn't have job, but he is so busy that he has not got the time for it. His day is having a massage, taking care of his hair, driving trough London, watching his favorite TV-show and doing groceries.
Will wants a girlfriend so he winds up at SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together). SPAT is a club for single parents and Will thinks that he can find a girlfriend there. He makes up a son, Ned, to get in touch with single moms. He meets Suzie and they have a picnic in the park with the SPAT-group. Of course Ned couldn’t come. Suzie brings her own daughter and the son of her best friend: Marcus Brewer.
Marcus is twelve years old. He is very smart and Will cannot stand him. Marcus dresses weird and the kids at his school bully him because he is different than the rest. For example, he sings out loud in class without even knowing it.
That day Will, Suzie and Marcus go to Marcus' home. They find Marcus’ mother; She has tried to commit suicide. Marcus asked Will to take him and his mother out to lunch. Will agrees and later on Marcus keeps on coming to Will’s apartment. Marcus finds out that Will does not have a kid.
Will and Marcus become friends.Will teaches Marcus how to be cool and Marcus shows Will how shallow his life actually is.
Marcus gets cooler and therefore he is not being bullied anymore at school. He meets Ellie and they become friends.
Will and Fiona become friends too, but they are not dating. Will meets a beautiful woman on New Years Eve. Her name is Rachel. They started to talk about all sorts of things and also about Marcus. Rachel thought that Marcus was Will’s son.
At the end Rachel knows that Marcus is not the son of Will, but all turns out OK. Rachel gets to know Fiona and they celebrate a Happy Christmas all together.
PERSONAL EVALUATION
I really liked the book. It is written with much humour and it really gave me a smile on my face. Marcus and Will their personalities are very different and that’s is probably the reason why I liked this book so much.
Here is a part from the book. I thought it was really funny and maybe you will understand why I like this so much!
Book: About a Boy, writer: Nick Hornby, page 121 and 122:
“‘Stolen,’ he said eventually.
‘Stolen? Why would anyone steal your shoes?’
‘Because...’ He was going to have to tell the truth but the problem was that the truth would lead to a whole lot more questions. ‘Because they were nice ones.’
‘They were just ordinary black slip-on shoes.’
‘No, they weren’t. They were new Adidas trainers.’
‘Where did you get new Adidas trainers from?’
‘Will bought them for me.’
‘Will who? Will the guy who took us out to lunch?’
‘Yeah, Will. The bloke from SPAT. He’s sort of become my friend.’
‘He’s sort of become your friend?’
Marcus was right. She had loads more questions, except the way she asked them was a bit boring: she just repeated the last thing he said, stuck a question mark on the end of it and shouted.
‘I go round his flat after school.’
‘YOU GO ROUND HIS FLAT AFTER SCHOOL?’
Or:
‘Well, you see, he doesn’t really have a kid.’
‘HE DOESN’T REALLY HAVE A KID?’
And so on. Anyway, at the end of the question session he was in a lot of trouble, although probably not as much trouble as Will.”
The title of the novel I have chosen to read is “About a Boy”. It is written by Nick Hornby. The novel was published for the first time in Great Britain in 1998.
The novel had 286 pages and it has thirty-six chapters.
EXPLAIN THE TITLE
I would say that you can explain the title of the novel in two ways, because the novel is actually about two boys. The first boy is Marcus Brewer. He is a teenager and he has a lot of problems. Most of the problems are caused by his mother, who is depressed almost all the time.
And then you have the second boy, Will Freeman. He is an adult and he is the “cool-guy”. Will’s father once wrote one (according to Will) crappy Christmas song and now he lives from the royaties from that.
I think that the theme of About a Boy is to accept the things that you have to live with on your own age. I would say that for Marcus that would be that he must not worry so much about his mother. He is a child and he is supposed to live like any other child.
For Will it would be that he must stop to act like a child and start to grow up and be the adult he’s supposed to be.
MAIN CHARACTERS
The main characters are Marcus Brewer and Will Freeman.
Marcus Brewer: Marcus is a teenager. His mom and dad are divorced and his mom is depressed. Marcus dresses strangely and his hair is strange. He sings out loud and he does not notice. That is why Marcus is being bullied.
Will Freeman: Will is a single adult, who is cool and he dresses very well too. He is the opposite of Marcus. Will had no job and he does not care about people.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
The characters are developing throughout the book. At the beginning of the book Will is not involved with others. His relationships don't last very long and he feels it is unnecessary to care about others. When Will meets Marcus his view upon his isolation (which he saw as the best way of living) is changed. He let Marcus become a part of his life and therefore it is too late to retreat. Thanks to Marcus he meets new people and he falls in love. He opens his heart for Rachel and realizes he cannot live without other people around him.
Then there is Marcus. At the beginning of the story Marcus is a shy, insecure boy with a deranged mother. He wears outdated clothes and does not fit in with the popular kids at his school. However, Will helps him to become more modern by, for example, buying brand new trainers. You could say that the blank, outdated Marcus becomes more modern and cool during the book. But not only his clothing undergoies a magnificent change. With regards to his new wardrobe Marcus gets many new friends and does not feel insecure anymore. His fear of his mother committing suicide while he is not paying attention is disappearing because he realizes now that he is not alone. After all, Marcus has his friends and Will to look after him and his mother.
Marcus is definitely a round character. There is far more than the eye can see. He is not just a boy with silly clothes. He has all kinds of problems next to the bullying at school, for example, his mother.
You could say Will Freeman is flat. He admits that in the book. He is shallow; he likes to buy a lot of cool stuff and he does not care about other people.
MINOR CHARACTERS
The minor characters in the book are:
Fiona: She is the mother of Marcus. Sometimes she is depressed and she tries to commit suicide and fails.
Rachel: Will falls in love with this woman. Rachel has a son called Alistair.
Ellie: She becomes Marcus’ friend.
SETTING (time/place)
The novel takes place in the years around 1994 in London. To be precise; “Flat 2, 31 Craysfield Road, Islington, London, N1 2SF, England, the world, the universe.”(Page 84)
POINT-OF-VIEW
About a boy is written in the third person and the chapters are sometimes narrated from Marcus’ point-of-view or from Will’s point-of-view.
THE AUTHOR
Nick Hornby is born on the 17th of April, 1957 in Redhill, Surrey, England. He is an English novelist and essayist. Nick Hornby is best known for the novels About a Boy and High Fidelity.
Nick Hornby taught English and he worked as a journalist before he began to write books. In 1998 he divorced from his wife Virginia Bovell. Nick Hornby lives in Maidenhead, England.
- Fever Pitch (1992)
- High Fidelity (1995)
- About a Boy (1998)
- How To Be Good (2001)
- 31 Songs (2003)
- A Long Way Down (2005)
SUMMARY
Will is thirty-six years old, single, and he has no job. He acts like a teenager and he knows precisely what is hot and what’s not. Will lives off the money of his dad, who wrote the famous Christmas song ‘Santa’s Super Sleigh’. Will doesn't have job, but he is so busy that he has not got the time for it. His day is having a massage, taking care of his hair, driving trough London, watching his favorite TV-show and doing groceries.
Will wants a girlfriend so he winds up at SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together). SPAT is a club for single parents and Will thinks that he can find a girlfriend there. He makes up a son, Ned, to get in touch with single moms. He meets Suzie and they have a picnic in the park with the SPAT-group. Of course Ned couldn’t come. Suzie brings her own daughter and the son of her best friend: Marcus Brewer.
That day Will, Suzie and Marcus go to Marcus' home. They find Marcus’ mother; She has tried to commit suicide. Marcus asked Will to take him and his mother out to lunch. Will agrees and later on Marcus keeps on coming to Will’s apartment. Marcus finds out that Will does not have a kid.
Will and Marcus become friends.Will teaches Marcus how to be cool and Marcus shows Will how shallow his life actually is.
Marcus gets cooler and therefore he is not being bullied anymore at school. He meets Ellie and they become friends.
Will and Fiona become friends too, but they are not dating. Will meets a beautiful woman on New Years Eve. Her name is Rachel. They started to talk about all sorts of things and also about Marcus. Rachel thought that Marcus was Will’s son.
At the end Rachel knows that Marcus is not the son of Will, but all turns out OK. Rachel gets to know Fiona and they celebrate a Happy Christmas all together.
PERSONAL EVALUATION
I really liked the book. It is written with much humour and it really gave me a smile on my face. Marcus and Will their personalities are very different and that’s is probably the reason why I liked this book so much.
Here is a part from the book. I thought it was really funny and maybe you will understand why I like this so much!
Book: About a Boy, writer: Nick Hornby, page 121 and 122:
“‘Stolen,’ he said eventually.
‘Stolen? Why would anyone steal your shoes?’
‘They were just ordinary black slip-on shoes.’
‘No, they weren’t. They were new Adidas trainers.’
‘Where did you get new Adidas trainers from?’
‘Will bought them for me.’
‘Will who? Will the guy who took us out to lunch?’
‘Yeah, Will. The bloke from SPAT. He’s sort of become my friend.’
‘He’s sort of become your friend?’
Marcus was right. She had loads more questions, except the way she asked them was a bit boring: she just repeated the last thing he said, stuck a question mark on the end of it and shouted.
‘I go round his flat after school.’
‘YOU GO ROUND HIS FLAT AFTER SCHOOL?’
Or:
‘Well, you see, he doesn’t really have a kid.’
‘HE DOESN’T REALLY HAVE A KID?’
And so on. Anyway, at the end of the question session he was in a lot of trouble, although probably not as much trouble as Will.”
REACTIES
:name
:name
:comment
1 seconde geleden
J.
J.
Heay,
Thank you for the summary, it's realy good.
Bye,
Jackie
13 jaar geleden
AntwoordenD.
D.
The actual explination of the book is that there is a song by Nirvana (a major band in this novel), that is called "About a girl". But as this book is about a boy, it is called "About a boy."
10 jaar geleden
AntwoordenG.
G.
Hoi
6 jaar geleden
Antwoorden