Mat Canary’s Reviews > About a Boy > Status Update

The book doesn’t seem dragging at all, it’s just very non-dramatic. Kurt’s death, Ellie & Marcus’s trip to visit his dad, Will’s empathy, and Fiona’s suicidal intention; all things Hornby had interspersed on a plot point. You can feel Marcus & Will even they’re simple-minded characters. You feel that they’re both growing up in a lot of ways.

Kids having trouble with their parents and a man who thinks like a kid is essentially the book’s recipe. Will meeting Rachel was unexpected but it extended the story for Will to be enlightened. But Will, the way you confessed to Rachel, Marcus could choose his words more carefully than you.

Marcus is mature, Will is childish & self-important. They’re polar opposites and their backgrounds fit with each other so well, it makes the story more interesting.

The highlight is Marcus’s relationship with his mom through his straightforward caring demeanor. Marcus alone carried the novel as a character, but Will’s presence made it entertaining. His choices thoughts come off as a joke, which is good for me.

This is great I must say, it’s goodhearted quirky. And it’s great because the film is faithful to the book. Word-for-word and sequences, that’s rare! What’s special about this book is we get to grasp the general ideas of the character and be attracted to them before they meet. Hornby adequately describes stuff, to a point that Will doesn’t sound snotty and Marcus isn’t at all miserable nor helpless.