I am back home in Los Angeles. I am no longer sick. I have started a new job as a teacher of at risk kids in a very cool private school, just 10 miles from my house (in LA, this is huge. No long freeway drives to get to work.) So that is just to fill in the missing weeks. Meanwhile I was, of course, reading and have lots of books to blog about. I don't know if anyone is reading this because I have not had a comment in a while. If you are reading, please at least say HI.
So About A Boy, by Nick Hornby was made into a successful movie, which I liked very much. ( I am a sucker for stories about people who help messed up kids, because that is my profession. ) I must say though that the book is so much better than the movie. At first, as I was reading, I kept seeing the movie in my head, with Hugh Grant featuring in my mental image pictures. The movie follows the book pretty faithfully at first, with all of Will's sick tactics for getting women, all his shallow ways, etc. But once we meet Marcus's mother, it all veers into a much better and more real vein. The portrayal of Marcus as a pre-teen who is emerging from the world of his parents and finding his own identity is so well done. Will also does actually grow and change as a character into a guy who is facing real life.
The emotional impact of the book is stronger and deeper than the movie. It does not have that really stupid thing with the school talent show at all. Amazing what they do in Hollywood. I am glad I read the book and must give a shout out to the lone male in one of my reading groups who recommended the book.
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