"About a boy" “About a boy” is a novel written by Nick Hornby set in London. It is the story of a young teenager, named Marcus and the thirty-six years old Will, which is a single, fascinating, child-free, maintained, immature man. Their meet will change each other lives opening new, unexpected perspectives. Marcus is a sensible guy who has recently moved to London from Cambridge, with his mother Fiona. He has a very bad time at school because his classmates make fun of him for his peculiar way to be. He doesn’t follow fashion, never owned a pair of trainers. Sometime he’s so assent-minded that he sings in the classroom without realizing it. He likes Joni Mitchell and Mozart and looks like a fish out of the water (This is an Italian way to say that it doesn’t suite well with the rest of the world. Do you have in English too?) Marcus will have to face a very difficult situation: his mother Fiona tries to kill herself. It happens the day when Marcus meets Will for the first time and, since then, their life will be bound. Marcus finds in the “superficial” Will somebody who can help him to solve practically his daily survival problems at school and can understand him better than anyone else. The immature Will, whose existence is empty of any kind of affective implications, will be more and more involved in Marcus and Fiona’s lives. He will find himself bindweed in life and in a new love. He will lose the shell he’d been built upon himself and all his distance. Of course, it happens at the cost of his cold and detached tranquility. On the other hand, Marcus develops the kind of skin that Will had just shed. He finally can have friends and look well after himself. “About a boy” is a very entertaining novel. Hornby describes the psychology of the characters so well and you can find a piece of yourself inside them. It is a pleasant read, hilarious and touching at the same time. If you enjoy an endearing read, I suggest you to choose this novel.