About a Boy

AUTHOR: Nick Hornsby
PUBLISHED: 1998
GENRE: Fiction

Round two of well-known, prolific writers that I've never read: Nick Hornsby.  He got picked because he also falls under that strange category of guy lit.  Hornsby has a knack for writing books that are later turned into good movies: "Fever Pitch", "High Fidelity", and this one,"About a Boy".  The movie version showcases Hugh Grant at his Hugh Grant-iest, which is to say full of quips and cadish and all, "by gum, I seem to have fallen in love".  Hugh Grant - at least public figure Hugh Grant - is kind of the same person as Will Freeman.

If you've seen the movie, you know the story: Will Freeman is an island, too cool for school, too rich for a job (due to his father's one musical hit, an obnoxious Christmas song).  Marcus is an incredible awkward 11-year old with a suicidal mother who even if the best of times thinks Joni Mitchell is completely normal listening for a pre-teen boy.  A strange series of events - including a dead duck, a fake son, and a new pair of sneakers - bring them all together.  Whether or not they stay friends or go their separate ways is a matter of debate.

The book and the movie follow very close paths, diverging only at towards the end - in the movie, Will accompanies Marcus on stage to sing Roberta Flack, but in the book, Will must accompany Marcus's mother to go get him from a police station and deal with Marcus's father.  Both situations work well.  The mood of both versions is very much the same - the same language, the same long paths of thought.  Book Marcus sounds and acts just like movie Marcus.  It's a testament to Hornby's writing that his works translate to both mediums. 

Now, this is guy lit worth reading.

LENGTH: 307 pages
MAINSTREAM OR NOT: Hugh Grant in the late '90s?  Definitely mainstream.
SO, SHOULD I READ IT OR NOT?: Yes.  It's a rare case of a good book and a good movie.