Kurt Cobain, Joni Mitchell and Two Boys (About a Boy - Nick Hornby)

Member Name: Ophelia

Product:	About a Boy - Nick Hornby
Date:	05/12/01 (1233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, easy reading

Disadvantages: Not quite as good as 'High Fidelity'

Nick Hornby has set himself a high standard to live up to in his previous two books, ‘Fever Pitch’ and ‘High Fidelity’. He does not disappoint with this third offering.

THE STORY

Will is thirty-six and single. He listens to Chet Baker, Charlie Parker and Nirvana and reads NME, Arena and the Face. He doesn’t work, as years before his father wrote a Christmas hit song, ‘Santa’s Super Sleigh’ and Will has always lived off the proceeds.

Marcus is twelve. He listens to Joni Mitchell and thinks Kurt Cobain plays football for Manchester United. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother and has become old before his time.

In a normal world the two would never have met. However, Will has discovered that single mothers are desperate to find Mr Right; he has happened upon the easiest way to pick up women! He joins a support group for single parents and has to invent a son, even going to such lengths as buying a baby chair for his car to seat his invisible child. It is on one of the group’s outings that he meets Marcus.

Marcus’ mum, Fiona, is not a happy woman. She starts crying in the mornings and that is always a danger sign. When she finally tries to kill herself Marcus suddenly realises that their mother and son family unit is not secure; two is a dangerous number because if one of you leaves the other is left alone. So, he decides that he should encourage his mum and Will to go out together.

Will’s cover is blown one day when Marcus follows him home and finds out that not only does his house only have one bedroom but there are no toys or even pictures of Will’s ‘son’. From this day onwards Marcus continues to call in on Will every day after school, determined to increase his safety zone from that dangerous number two.

Not surprisingly for a boy who enjoys listening to Joni Mitchell, knows nothing about fo
otball, wears sweaters his mum has chosen for him and doesn’t own a pair of trainers, Marcus is not popular at school. He begins to discover that Will, who seems to know how to know about everything, is also useful in helping to educate him to be a teenager.

Marcus continues to expand his security zone when he is befriended at school by Ellie, an older girl who cuts her own hair, wears black eye make-up and insists on wearing a T-shirt of Kurt Cobain. She also lives alone with her mum and is obsessed with Nirvana. The day the Kurt shoots himself can only lead to disaster with Marcus left to mop up the pieces.

This is a coming of age drama. Not focussing on the maturation of a teenage boy but of the too youthful Will. Through association with Marcus he learns to be an adult, and Marcus learns how to be a child.

WORTH A READ?

The book is written in fairly short chapters. The focus of the chapters alternates between the viewpoint of Will and Marcus. It is extremely easy to read and, although it is written in useful bite sized chunks, you won’t just be able to pick it up and put it down after one chapter, as it is too compelling.

Only the characters of Will and Marcus are developed in detail, although the other people are personalised by the opinions formed by our two heroes. Marcus is supposed to be mature for his age but, even so, it would have been a challenge to write in the manner of a twelve-year-old adolescent boy. Hornby avoids this problem by not utilising the first person narrative. Instead emphasis is strongly placed on the circumstances and influences surrounding the character and his reactions (physical and emotional) to them.

The book is also certain to raise a few laughs; on one occasion Marcus is throwing bread at a duck on a pond and manages to kill it. A thing like that could not happen to anyone other than someone with as much bad luck as Marcus. And, how could a tale involv
ing a man who fantasises about having an ex-wife and estranged son, not involve a touch of farce and resulting hilarity?

Nick Hornby has done it again. This will be another book, which remains on my shelf forever to be read and reread.

About A Boy is about as good as it gets.


OTHER INFO

Publisher: penguin, www.penguin.com
ISBN: 0-140-29345-0
Price: £6.99

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