Wednesday 24 August 2011

About a Boy

The following post contains spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

The first time I heard about the novel About a Boy by Nick Hornby was at my first year of social work, where we read a few excerpts at the English class. It wasn't until much later that I watched the movie and liked it. A few weeks ago the movie was on TV again and I rewatched, liked it again and decided to read the book as well. Now I finished the book and it's really good.
So, what are the differences? Up to about half the book the movie was quite a good adaptation, only leaving out a few minor things (Marcus renting Groundhog Day) and changing others (in the book, they went to the picnic with Suzie's car). The later part contained more discrepancies and the ending is totally different. Where the ending in the movie with Marcus and Will singing Killing me SoftPovezavaly was very sweet, the ending in the book with the jail was much better at showing how much the characters have grown during the story.
In conclusion, this is a very nice story, the differences make it worth both reading and watching it. They are both new entries in my favourite books/movies :)