About A Boy (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Nick Hornby is perhaps the premier writer of lad-lit, the male counterpart of chick-lit. And "About A Boy" is one of his best novels, with its sensitive looks not only at male fears, but at how they relate to women and children. It's a far smarter, wittier book than you'd think.

Will is a single thirtysomething, self-absorbed and consumed with his own coolness, unattachedness and ability to live off his dad's song royalties. After dating single mom Angie, he realizes how to instantly give his sex life and image a boost: date single mothers, beautiful and desperate. So he invents a nasty ex-wife and a toddler son, and begins going to SPAT (Single Parents, Alone Together).

But when he meets attractive Suzie, he also meets the boy she's babysitting -- Marcus, a troubled, intelligent preteen who is picked on at school. Marcus's home life isn't much better -- his depressed mother has just attempted suicide. Despite Will's commitment to noncommitment, he finds himself slipping into the role of father and friend for Marcus.

Single moms, precocious kids, immature lads -- none of these things are terribly original. It's Hornby's way of handling them that is really original. And the way he wrote "About A Boy" gives unusual life to what could have been a TV-movie-of-the-week/lame-sitcom plot, with cliched characters.

Instead, Hornby has created a surprisingly mature book, by showing a realistic portrayal of an immature man growing up whether he likes it or not. But Hornby's quietly insightful prose is a little less self-consciously cool than in "High Fidelity," and it's also more focused on human experiences. And no, not just Will picking up single mums.

Will is a pretty accurate portrayal of men who work hard at being immature -- believe me, he's accurate. And that makes it even more satisfying to see him graduating into adulthood. Marcus's chapters are deeper, however, and it's this pensive kid who grounds the book. He may be young, but thanks to his saddening life, his mind is a lot more mature than Will's.

Postmodern Peter Pans and precocious preteens are at the heart of "About A Boy," Nick Hornby's sensitive look at the sexes and their children.

I read this book in one evening and laughed so often that my upstairs neighbours must have wondered what was going on. The two main characters, Will and Marcus, are individually very funny, because they are both so abnormal for their ages -- Marcus too serious and Will too irresponsible -- and have such a quirky way of observing and thinking about things that most of us never really analyze. But when the two get together, their conversations are just wild! They have such different ideas and thought processes that half the time they're talking past each other and the other half they're learning from each other. And because the author takes you essentially inside their heads, you can observe how each of them changes over the course of the novel.

In my opinion, this is the ultimate feel-good book. It should be prescribed for anyone who is depressed. And I’m definitely going to look for anything else that Nick Hornby has written.

After watching the film of 'About A boy' I decided to give the book a read, after finding the film extremely funny. I was not disapointed. Nick Hornby paints a very realistic image of life as a twelve year old who is 'different'. Marcus's attitude towards life is very interesting, and at times extremely amusing, esspecially his lack of understanding of sarcasm.
Will's character, though not quite as interesting as Marcus, is still readible. His outlook on life is quote original, and you find yourself wondering if he will change before the end of the book (which of course he does).
However, I did find that Marcus's relationship with Ellie, his friend from school seemed slightly unbelievable, and I quite frankly lost interest in their exscursion.
Nick Hornby shows 2 'boys' who both have a completely different outlook on life, who come together in unusual circumstances, and hilarity in-follows.
It's quite a quick read, but good for a lazy afternoon.