Book Review
The novel “About a Boy”, written by Nick Hornby and published in 1998, really got me right from the start.
Nick Hornby has got this great talent to tell you such important things about life by showing you how it sometimes can hit you in the head with a brick without ever getting flat. He rather creates a mixture of cynicism and seriousness throughout the story, providing an impression of lightness. So even though the novel deals with such touching themes, it never gets melodramatic. It is written in such a detailed, amusing kind of way – the characters are so well described and unbelievably hilarious - that you just honestly enjoy reading it.
In fact, the two main characters are just the each opposite, ironically perfect for helping each other out of the situations they are stuck in.
Will is a 36 year old version of Peter Pan. A kid in an adult’s body, having a life which is all about music, shopping, drugs, and women, and that is too scared to take responsibilities or to care for anyone else than himself. His philosophy is staying out of trouble.
Marcus is a nerdy twelve-year-old, who is much older in his way of thinking affected by the experiences he has made, for instance his mother trying to kill herself or to be bullied in school. Marcus is peculiar. He does not understand any sort of irony or sarcasm, but the serious way he is saying things is often perceived as hilarious by others, because it sounds like deadpan humour.
Will never had to work in his life, because of his dad being a “one-hit-wonder”. Therefore he never had anything to be proud of. So he started to invent new versions of himself to catch the people’s interest. He discovers that single mothers are an easy prey, because they are searching for a “nice single dad” who understands their feelings. Thus Will, pretending to be a single dad, starts going to single-parents-meetings. He gets introduces to Marcus by Suzie, a friend of his mum Fiona, who is a bit eccentric and besides depressive.
On the “Dead-ducks-day” (Marcus killed a dug by shying a bread at it) Suzie, Marcus and Will find Fiona on the couch after she had tried to commit suicide. This changes the lives of Will and Marcus completely.
By and by Will teaches Marcus how to be a child again, how to be cool and to be accepted from the people around him – and Marcus, with his persistence to show up at Will’s flat, ignoring Will’s attempts to push him and any emotionality away, forces Will to deal with feelings, to care and to act like a grown up. Marcus manages to get Will out of his egocentric life to give it a meaning.
The novel is variantly written from Will’s and Marcus’ perspectives. Along with great dialogs and extraordinary characters Nick Hornby creates a phenomenally good novel!
I personally have mixed feelings about Marcus. I actually love him, because he is just so – individual. He does not fit into anywhere. He is too honest, too weird, too smart, too thoughtful, too emotionless, and too different. But he is great just the way he is, too, even just because the fact that he is so different. And I think that is the most important message the novel provides us. That, no matter how different and weird human beings can be, we all have our quirks and nobody is perfect, that it is just that what makes life interesting and worth living.
Nick Hornby has got this great talent to tell you such important things about life by showing you how it sometimes can hit you in the head with a brick without ever getting flat. He rather creates a mixture of cynicism and seriousness throughout the story, providing an impression of lightness. So even though the novel deals with such touching themes, it never gets melodramatic. It is written in such a detailed, amusing kind of way – the characters are so well described and unbelievably hilarious - that you just honestly enjoy reading it.
In fact, the two main characters are just the each opposite, ironically perfect for helping each other out of the situations they are stuck in.
Will is a 36 year old version of Peter Pan. A kid in an adult’s body, having a life which is all about music, shopping, drugs, and women, and that is too scared to take responsibilities or to care for anyone else than himself. His philosophy is staying out of trouble.
Marcus is a nerdy twelve-year-old, who is much older in his way of thinking affected by the experiences he has made, for instance his mother trying to kill herself or to be bullied in school. Marcus is peculiar. He does not understand any sort of irony or sarcasm, but the serious way he is saying things is often perceived as hilarious by others, because it sounds like deadpan humour.
Will never had to work in his life, because of his dad being a “one-hit-wonder”. Therefore he never had anything to be proud of. So he started to invent new versions of himself to catch the people’s interest. He discovers that single mothers are an easy prey, because they are searching for a “nice single dad” who understands their feelings. Thus Will, pretending to be a single dad, starts going to single-parents-meetings. He gets introduces to Marcus by Suzie, a friend of his mum Fiona, who is a bit eccentric and besides depressive.
On the “Dead-ducks-day” (Marcus killed a dug by shying a bread at it) Suzie, Marcus and Will find Fiona on the couch after she had tried to commit suicide. This changes the lives of Will and Marcus completely.
By and by Will teaches Marcus how to be a child again, how to be cool and to be accepted from the people around him – and Marcus, with his persistence to show up at Will’s flat, ignoring Will’s attempts to push him and any emotionality away, forces Will to deal with feelings, to care and to act like a grown up. Marcus manages to get Will out of his egocentric life to give it a meaning.
The novel is variantly written from Will’s and Marcus’ perspectives. Along with great dialogs and extraordinary characters Nick Hornby creates a phenomenally good novel!
I personally have mixed feelings about Marcus. I actually love him, because he is just so – individual. He does not fit into anywhere. He is too honest, too weird, too smart, too thoughtful, too emotionless, and too different. But he is great just the way he is, too, even just because the fact that he is so different. And I think that is the most important message the novel provides us. That, no matter how different and weird human beings can be, we all have our quirks and nobody is perfect, that it is just that what makes life interesting and worth living.
592 words
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen