About a Boy

By: Nick Hornby

Narrated by: David Cale

Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

About a Boy stars a guy called Will, who doesn't really want any children. He wonders why it bothers people that he lives so happily alone in his fashionable, Lego-free flat, with massive speakers, and an expensive cream-colored rug that no kid has ever thrown up on. Then Will meets Angie. He has never been out with a mom before. And it has to be said that Angie's long blond hair and big blue eyes, are not irrelevant to his sudden reassessment of his attitude toward children. She is truly beautiful. And truly beautiful women do not, traditionally, go out with him. Then it dawns on Will that maybe Angie goes out with him because of the children. Maybe children democratize beautiful, single women.

©1998 Nick Hornby (P)1998 Putnam Berkley Audio

Critic reviews

"A follow up to High Fidelity...About a Boy is an acerbic, emotionally richer yet no less funny tale...shrewdly hilarious." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Hornby is a writer who dares to be witty, intelligent and emotionally generous all at once. He combines a skilled, intuitive appreciation for the rigors of comic structure with highly original insights about the way the enchantments of popular culture insinuate themselves into middle-class notions of romance." (The New York Times Book Review)

"The conversations between Will and Marcus are hilariously loopy." (The Boston Globe)

good, with reservations

I love Nick Hornby. He's got a magical, masterful way of bringing characters to life, of making it impossible to stop reading because you are dying to find out what happens to them. In this book there are strong chords of story that make you think about the meaning of life, what love is, and other ponderables, but the writing is so fluid, the characters so vivid, and so much humor sparkles that it's not overwhelming. It's a lot of fun. Yet... quite a few times I found myself thinking that I must have accidentally clicked the jump forward button on my ipod, because there seemed to be big bites of plot missing. My suspicions were verified: this book is abridged and I didn't notice when I downloadeded it. I hate abridgements. If the author wanted the book to be shorter, he would have written less! This book has been hacked roughly with a machete-shaped editing pen. I recommend this book because Nick Hornby is really great, and the narrator does a good job too. But if you're like me you will be compelled to immediately go out and get an unabridged copy to see what's missing, so caveat emptor.

Had cuts

The audio book skipped a lot of paragraphs in the actual book so if you want to read along, it's very difficult

did i miss something?

I listened to this book, but was confused when it abruptly ended. There is a spoiler ahead, so only read if you know the basic plot...

So Will meets Rachel, and lies by saying that Marcus is his son. I was waiting for the eventual confrontation when the truth came out, but somehow it never caught up with him, never came to light despite the fact that their "sons" become best friends, as do Rachel and Marcus' real mother Fiona. huh?!? I really don't think I missed anything; I listened to it straight through. I even went back through it.

Can someone explain, I know this is abridged, but could they really have cut out such a huge part of the story? Or is it really possible that it's not addressed in the book? Marcus even mentions about his real father to Rachel's son and in front of Will, and there is no astonishment or recognition from Rachel's son nor embarrassment on Will's part.

Totally confused.

Otherwise "About a Boy" has a good reader, interesting and witty story, but like I said -- confusing, unresolved and abrupt ending, like they slapped on a "The End" three quarters through.