About a boy...Hornby

Will, a rich, self-involved do-nothing Londoner meets Marcus, a 12-year old who needs to grow up as badly as Will does.

Nick Hornby brings them together with his usual dry delivery and insight. During the course of this book, Hornby skewers parental manipulation, provincialism, stereotypical males (irresponsible, emotionally stunted), stereotypical females (bitter divorcees, overly emotional), and anything else that gets in his way. The part on parental logic (about 4 pages) I actually read aloud to my 18-year old son (we were in a car, so he couldn't get away).

The debate at book club was:

1. Is there an equivalent of chick lit for men?
2. Would this be it?

If there is a genre of dude lit, I am not certain what it would be, but I am pretty certain this is not it. High fidelity or Fever pitch, maybe, but not About a boy. Rather, this book, plays into the female fantasy that emotionally unavailable men just need the right stimulus to become warm fuzzy types.

The other thing that stops this from being dude lit is that this is really a small story, about a small circle of people and their small lives. Nobody here is living on a large stage, scaling mountains, curing cancer, or tackling crocodiles.

I admit to having a great fondness for all Nick Hornby's books that I have read so far. This is a quick enjoyable book, full of insightful passages and humor.