TCWriter

I love Hornby's ability to create odd, flawed, weird -- yet wholly sympathetic characters. In About A Boy, a nerdy 12 year-old is getting bullied at school, and he turns to a disconnected, slacker 30-something -- who invented a two year-old son to make it easier to meet single moms -- for help.Along the way we become acquainted with a whole raft of interesting people, and like all Hornby's stuff, the dialogue crackles with energy.Hornby's protagonists are usually cynical 30-something males who are lost and rudderless, and by the end of the book, this one is moving in a purposeful direction, though it's all done without any cloying, Hollywood-style (re: unbelievable) miracles.It's another reason Hornby has become a favorite writer.