About a boy door Nick Hornby

NOVEL READING FORM 
EXTENSIVE READING
 

Date                           :12/09/11
Title                            : About a boy
Author                        : Nick Hornby
Number of pages      : 278                                       Points : 4
 
 
1.      What is the setting?
time    : It takes place around the year 1993, 1994, because at one point they get the news that Kurt Cobain died, which happened at the 5th of April, 1994.
place   : The story takes place in London, England. Here do all the characters live.
 
2.   Explain the title.
The title ‘About a boy’ is based on both ‘boys’ in the book: Marcus and Will. Marcus is twelve, but is in fact already very wise. Will is thirty-six but behaves like a boy. I think what is written on the back of the book describes it really well: “Perhaps Will can teach Marcus how to be a kid, Marcus can help Will grow up and they both can start to act their age.”
 
3.       What is the theme of the novel ?
I think ‘Acting your age’ is a very important theme, because Will and Marcus, the main characters, both don’t do that but start to change as the story progresses. With an older age comes more responsibility, what Will at his age doesn’t have but Marcus has to have because of his mother.
 
4.   Opinion
a. What is your opinion about the book after reading the first chapter?
The first chapter describes humorous the life Will has, and lets me think the whole book is written like that: a combination of seriousness and humour. It is very easy to read (what I expected of a 4-point book) and makes me want to read more.
 
b. What is your opinion about the book after reading the last chapter?
The story is more serious than funny, but at times I have laughed. It tells the rather though life of the main characters, but the writer succeeds in keeping it light. 
 
c.   Has your opinion changed? Explain why.
Yes, my opinion has changed while I was reading the book. I thought it was going to be a funny book, and it kind of was, but less funny than I formerly thought. The whole book was very easy to read, so my opinion about that hasn’t changed.
 
2. Who would you recommend this book to (based on contents not on level)?
Someone older, younger or the same age as you? Why?
I would recommend it to someone the same age as me. It is very easy written, but has some things in it I don’t think a younger person would like (like the recurring theme of suicide).
 
3. Change the setting (time and/or place) of the story. What would the effect be?
I don’t think it would make much of a difference, because the story isn’t based on ‘modern’ or ‘temporary’ things, but on relationships, friendships and, as I mentioned before, acting your age. If the time would be different, little things like the devastation of Ellie because of the death of Kurt Cobain and the time Will spends on watching TV would change, but the important things of the story would not.
 
4. Character development:
(eg: changes in behaviour, state of mind, outlook on...) Choose one person from the novel and describe his/her character. Also describe 3  changes in his/her character.
I think the person that changes the most in this book is Will. His character, as described at the beginning of the book, he is very shallow and doesn’t care about people. He doesn’t care about anything, really, all he does is sit on his couch, watch TV and listen to music. He is very egoistic. When he meets Marcus, that starts to change. He lets the boy into his apartment, lets him watch TV with him and talks to him. They become friends and Will starts to like it. He even starts to care about Marcus and his mother, and helps them at times. The changes in Wills character aren’t sudden, they happen very slowly, and sometimes he ‘falls back’ (for example, when he tells Fiona, Marcus’ mother, he doesn’t care about Marcus and will not let him into his apartment again). But in the end, he has really changed. I think one fragment in the book describes how very well:
“Will couldn’t recall ever having been caught up in this sort of messy, sprawling, chaotic web before; it was almost as if he had been given a glimpse of what it was like to be a human. It wasn’t too bad, really; he wouldn’t even mind being human on a full-time basis.”
 
5. Compare the story to another novel you have read or a film you have seen.
(think of: setting, characters, climax, plot, etc.)
I have seen the  movie that is made out of this book, also titled 'About a boy'.  The movie was pretty much the same as the book. The novel isn't very thick and is written in easy words, so it wasn't very hard to make a movie out of it, I reckon. There were some differences between the movie and the book that I noticed, nevertheless. At first I noticed Will was introduced as a nice man in the movie. A little egoistic, maybe, but he is still sympathetic. In the book, on the contrary, Will isn't that nice. He doesn't care about anyone or anything and is so egoistic you can't like him.
Also, in the book it seems Fiona is kind of handsome and Will and she are almost suited to each other, but in the movies this isn't the case. She isn't handsome at all, but pitiful and sad.
You wouldn't expect a moment the cool Will and she will get a relationship (which doesn't happen either), but in the book there is an actual possibility.