About a boy door Nick Hornby

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Naam: Nicole Madajczyk

Klas: 5C

Optie: ASO

Nr.: 6

Vak: Engels

Leraar: Mnr. Maesen

Datum: 27/03/2017

Book report English

Book; About a boy

Author: Nick Hornby

First impressions:

I was immediately attracted when I saw the title. You can expect so many thing about the book and that’s why it is interesting. The book is very popular and there is also a movie based on the book. The cover isn’t so special but not bad. The boy looks a little bit like a homeless person why I thought that the story would be a realistic story.

First chapter / expectations:

The book began with a dialogue between Marcus and his mother. It’s a conversation about the relationship of his mother. It’s funny because Marcus made a joke about who is going to eat the third pizza but they were only two. It isn’t complicated yet and I want to read the rest of the book. The only characters that I know now are Marcus, Marcus mother and Roger.

Characters:

One of the protagonist of the story is Marcus Brewer:

He is twelve years old and lives with his mother called Fiona. He is a little bit weird because his mother is a hippie, listens to weird music and is a vegetarian because of his mom. Marcus is being bullied at school because he doesn’t look that pretty, his clothes are ugly and he talks like an adult.(pag.35) At the end of the story he changes because of Will. Will helps him to choose new clothes, which music is ‘the shit’ now and Marcus gets new friends. (pag. 209)

The other protagonist is Will Freeman:

Will is 36 years old and lives in London. He has no job, no family or even a dream to look out for in his life. But he still has money from his father heritage. Will is lazy, nonchalant and is also a bit shallow. He lies to women when he sees that they are interested. But after he met Marcus, he changed. He looked at the world a different way and he was looking for a serious relationship.

Last but not least there is Fiona:

She is Marcus mother and is 35 years old. She cries a lot and had many depressions, whereby she wanted to kill herself. She look like a hippie and is very stubbornly.

Other characters are: Rachel, Suzie, Ellie, Clives father and Lindsey.
 

Genre:

The genre is a novel. The book has love, adventure, drama and humor in it.

World / time frame:

The story is set in England, London where Marcus and Will live. The story is in 1993-1994 because Marcus was in the train on the day that Kurt Cobain died. ( pag. 13 = How was it possible to spent less than twenty pounds on a haircut in 1993?”). There is not told much about the place because most of things happens in the house of Marcus or Will and sometimes at the SPAT club and outside.
 

Deeper meaning:

The author is Nick Hornby, he was born in 1957. He is the author of Fever Pitch and of three novels: High Fidelity, About a Boy and How to be good. He also lives in London. The title that he gave the book has two meanings: about a boy can be a story about Will is going to be an adult or Marcus is going to be a child.

Your personal conclusion:

I really liked the book, it’s definitely recommended. It’s easily write and not boring because of the funny jokes. The story is creative because a close friendship between a kid and an adult is not standard. At the beginning I was struggling with who is telling what because the story is write through the eyes of Marcus but also through Will his eyes. Luckily it was a good ending because I hate bad endings and it makes me sad. The ending was good and you know that there life’s going to be good. My expectations where not that high but now that I read the book I was surprised because there happens a lot. I’m sure I’m going to watch the movie and I hope it’s going to be as good as the book.