About a Boy - Chapters 1-18.

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INGLÉS INSTRUMENTAL III (NIVEL B2)

1º Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad de Granada

Reservados todos los derechos.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 About a Boy – Chapters 1-18
Contents
- Character analysis

- Style of the novel

- Chapter analysis

- Context
- Quotes

- Differences between movie and novel

Characters

Marcus Brewer

Marcus is a socially awkward and sensitive twelve-year-old boy who struggles to fit in at school, or
anywhere. He is intelligent and perceptive but often feels displaced, or like an outsider, in the modern
society due to his mother’s eccentricities and his unusual upbringing. Marcus is compassionate and
empathetic, who is only looking for a friend to talk to, but his lack of social skills makes him an easy target
for bullies. Despite all of this, he possesses a resilience and inner strength that enables him to navigate the
complexities of his peculiar adolescence. He is incongruous (unusual or different from what is around or
from what is generally happening.), and precocious (showing mental development or achievement much
earlier than usual or behaving as if much older than one is).
Will Freeman
Will is a thirty-six-year-old man who lives a carefree and superficial lifestyle. He is charming, witty, and
enjoys his independence. Will avoids all types of commitment and responsibilities, preferring to focus on
casual relationships and trivial pursuits, he’s an emotionally undeveloped man who wanders through the day
with nothing else in his mind than spending the upcoming night with a beautiful woman. However, beneath
his confident façade, he withholds a sense of loneliness and emptiness, which we see him attempt to fill with
material possessions and shallow pursuits. We see Will as a self-absorbed man who lacks meaningful
connections with others, but soon we see this start to change once he becomes more involved in Marcus’
life. He is hedonistic (living and behaving in ways that mean you have as much pleasure as possible,
according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself.), indolent (showing no real
interest or effort, or lazy.) and sardonic (humorous in an unkind way that shows you do not respect someone
or something.)
Fiona Brewer

Fiona, Marcus’ mother, is a single parent who is dedicated to her son but is also struggling with her own
mental health issues. She is unconventional and eccentric, with strong beliefs in alternative lifestyles and
ideologies. Fiona wants Marcus to be independent and to think for himself but doesn’t realise that her
unconventional parenting style sometimes isolates Marcus from his peers, but she loves him deeply and
wants the best for him. Despite her quirks, Fiona is a caring and devoted mother who is trying her best to
navigate the challenges of raising a child on her own. We see Fiona’s overprotectiveness shift slightly as the
story progresses.

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 Roger – Fiona’s ex-boyfriend.

Clive – Marcus’ dad

John and Christine – Will’s friends who have recently had a baby, Imogen.
Imogen and Barney – John and Christine’s children

Jessica – Will’s ex-girlfriend

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Angie – Will’s pivotal girlfriend, making him aware that single mums are revolutionary.

Maisy and Joe – Angie’s children, aged 5 and 3.

Simon – Angie’s ex and the reason why Angie broke up with Will.

Lee Hartly – one of Marcus’ classmates who bullies him.

Nicky and Mark – two boys from Marcus’ computer club that he wanted to befriend.

Frances – the first person that Will meets at the SPAT meeting.
Suzie – also from SPAT, she’s the link between Will and Marcus and Fiona.

Sally, Moira, Lizzie, Helen, Susannah, Saskia – more women from the SPAT meeting.
Lindsey – Clive’s girlfriend

Megan – Suzie’s daughter

Paula – Will’s made-up ex-partner.

Ned – Will’s made-up son.

Style
The novel is written in the third person and omniscient point of view. The narrator alternates between Will
and Marcus, which allows the reader to see the action of the novel through the eyes of each of the main
characters, which occasionally includes a different view on the same event. It also helps to see how their
lives interconnect and influence each other.

Chapter 1

What are Marcus and his mother talking about at the beginning of chapter 1?
The book begins with Marcus asking his mother, Fiona, whether she had just split up with her boyfriend,
Roger. He’s interested as to why they broke up, and so they have a conversation about this.

Why is Fiona sad? Does Marcus know why?

Marcus has no idea why his mother is sad, only that she cries a lot more now than she did before they moved
to London. He hoped it had something to do with boyfriends as then it would be easy to sort it all out, and if
it wasn’t about boyfriends then he knew it would be bad. To attempt to avoid making Fiona even more sad,
he chooses trouble-free films to watch that won’t remind her of any of her problems.

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 How old is Fiona? How does Marcus describe her?

Fiona is thirty-eight, Marcus describes her as pretty, nice, and funny sometimes.

What does Fiona mean when she says Marcus has had “two different sorts of life”?
His ‘first life’ had ended four years ago, when he was eight and his mum and dad had split up. The ‘second
life’ was messier, with more people and more places in it: his mother’s boyfriends and his dad’s girlfriends;
flats and houses; Cambridge and London.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
What has happened in London since they moved?
Apart from Roger, nothing much has happened since they moved as they’d only been there for a few weeks.
He’d been to see two sequels, both of which he says weren’t as good as the first ones. Despite this, Marcus
states that he sometimes prefers the second sort of life as more things happened than the first.

Chapter 2

What is Will doing at the beginning of chapter 2?

At the beginning of chapter 2, Will is filling out a questionnaire to define how cool he is, accumulating point
for every shallow activity he’s ever done in the entirety of his life; taken ecstasy, spent more than twenty
pounds on a haircut, owned more than five hip-hop albums, etc. We immediately see what Will is like,
shallow and superficial.

Why does Will think he belongs to a “specialised group” of people?

As Will doesn’t have to, or want to, work or do anything all day, he believes he’s part of a special group of
people, stating that there couldn’t have been anyone like him sixty years ago as no adult could have had a
father like his who made money the way he did.

What are the things that Will relies on to get him through the day?

daytime TV, glossy magazines, questionnaires, Nirvana (an American rock band, with Kurt Cobain as the
lead vocalist and guitarist, who ended up committing suicide), listening to Snoop Doggy Dogg
How old is Will? What are your first impressions of him?

Will is thirty-six-year-old ‘teenager’, he cuts his hair right, wears the right clothes, listens to the right music,
reads the right magazines, goes to the right clubs, etc. he comes off as carefree, self-absorbed and he revels
in his bachelor lifestyle.
Who are John and Christine? Why does Will go to their house?

John and Christine are Will’s friends, and Will had been ‘summoned’ to their house to meet their newborn
baby. He’d deliberately waited a week so that they wouldn’t talk anymore about the baby, but obviously,
that’s not the case. This just shows how clueless and shallow he is.
What does Will think about John and Christine’s lives?

He believes that they’re making themselves unhappy but they’re in a brain-washed state, so they don’t even
realise it.

He also thinks their house is a disgrace, full of clutter and stains.

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 What do John and Christine ask Will? And what was his response?

They ask him to be Imogen’s godfather, to which he immediately asks if they’re kidding. He reinstates that
he really is this shallow, he couldn’t think of anything worse and soon after leaves.

Chapter 3

Why does Marcus wake up every half-hour during the night in chapter 3?

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He wakes up every half-hour as he was so nervous going to school the next day, hoping every time he woke
up that there would be some way around going to school. He mentions that even if Fiona moves him to
another school, it wouldn’t make much difference as he’d still be the same Marcus, and that’s what seems to
be the problem.

Who is Macaulay Culkin and why does Marcus think about him?

Macaulay Culkin is the actor who played the role of Kevin McAllister in home alone. Marcus was thinking
about any way to get out of having to go to school. He says that Macaulay was the only child he knew that
didn’t have to go to an actual school but was privately tutored instead. He wished he could make as much
money as him so he could pay his mother to tutor him. Once he realised that to be like Macaulay, he’d have
to be good at drama, he decides to forget about it, as he was ‘crap’ at drama because he hated standing up in
front of people.

Why does Marcus compare some of the kids at his school with sharks?

Marcus compares his peers to sharks as they patrolled up and down the school corridors in a similar way to
sharks, except they weren’t on the lookout for flesh, but the wrong trousers, haircut, or shoes.

Why does Marcus describe himself as weird?

Marcus knows he’s weird because he knows that his mother is weird. It wasn’t all his mum’s fault.
Sometimes he was weird just because of who he was, like what happened in English class.

Why wasn’t it so bad in Cambridge? Why is London different?

It wasn’t so bad because there were many children who weren’t right for school, and many mothers who
made them that way, like him. In London, the children were meaner, harder, and less understanding.

Why did things go bad in English class on his second day at school?

While the teacher was reading, he started to sing out loud in the class, making everyone laugh at him.

Chapter 4

Who is Angie? Where did Will ‘first’ see her? Where and when did he really meet her? What did Will have
when they finished their second cappuccino?

Will thought he first saw Angie in Championship Vinyl, a record shop. She had honey-blond hair and a
vaguely husky voice which he found sexy. She mentions to someone that her niece doesn’t know who Pinky
and Perky were. Two days later, he found her in a café, recognising her hair and voice, but soon we find out
that he mistook Angie for the girl in the record shop when he goes up to her mentioning Pinky and Perky.
After finishing their second cappuccino, Will managed to get her phone number and a second date.

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 What does Angie tell Will in their second meeting? What does Will say and why?

Angie tells Will that she has children, which made Will want to immediately leave, instead, he responds with
‘so?’ and saying that he would’ve been disappointed if she hadn’t, only saying it because he thought it
sounded smooth and winning.

How does Will describe Angie?

He says that her beauty was not irrelevant to his decision to reassess his affinity with children and that she
had long blond hair, a calm, open face with big, blue eyes and ‘extraordinarily sexy’ crows’ feet. she was
beautiful in a winning, wholesome, Julie Christie-type of way.

Why was Will ‘the good guy’ for the next two weeks? How did he get on with Angie’s children?

Will was ‘the good guy’ or ‘the redeemer’ due to his new life-changing strategy; faking being interested in
children just to sleep with their mother. He mentions to not have struck up much of a rapport with Maisy,
Angie’s 5-year-old daughter, but Joe, the 3-year-old, took to him instantly. Mostly because during their first
meeting, Will held him upside down by his ankles.

How/why do his feelings for Angie change?

He began to find it unsatisfactory how Angie wasn’t very flexible due to the children. He’d bought tickets to
the cinema, but she arrived late due to babysitter problems. She also never stayed over at his place, so he
always went round to her house, but she didn’t have many CD’s, no VCR, satellite, or cable.

Why does Angie decide to finish her relationship with Will?

Angie says it isn’t working out because Simon, her ex and the father of her children, wasn’t happy with her
seeing other people and how neither of them have come to terms with splitting up. she mentions that she’s
not ready to launch into a new relationship yet.

Why does Will think single mothers are the best invention he has ever heard of?

He says that he’ll be able to have great sex, an ego massage, temporary parenthood without tears and a guilt-
free parting.

Chapter 5

Why was Marcus frightened when his mother started crying one Monday morning before breakfast? Why did
Marcus never say anything when his mother cried?

Marcus was frightened because his mother crying in the morning was something new, and it was a bad sign.
It meant that she could start crying at any point in the day without warning so there was no safe time.
Marcus never knew what to say, so he never says anything at all. He didn’t understand why she cried and
because of that, he didn’t know how to help her.

What is Fiona’s job?

Fiona is a music therapist, which means she helps people- or in Fiona’s case, children, manage with
disabilities, injuries, or illnesses with the help of music. Marcus remembers Fiona telling him how the
money she earned was pitiful, pathetic, lousy and a crime.

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 Why did Marcus forget about it all when he was inside the school gates? Who is Lee Hartly?

The instinct for self-preservation made Marcus forget about everything once he entered through the school
gates. He noticed Lee Hartley, the child who bullies him, and his friends distracted by something, so he
managed to make it to his tutor room easily.
Who are Nicky and Mark? What are they doing? Why does Marcus feel he was being left out deliberately?

Nicky and Mark are Marcus’ ‘friends’ who he had met through the computer club. When Marcus arrived,

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they were huddled around Mark’s Gameboy playing Tetris. Mark didn’t even acknowledge Marcus and the
boys didn’t budge to allow Marcus to see the screen. They didn’t even offer him a game, so that’s why
Marcus felt deliberately left out.
What do a couple of year 8’s tell them?

The year 8’s shouted over at Marcus, telling him to give them a song and then they started calling the three
boys names such as ginger, speccy, Chris Evans, midget.

Why has Marcus taken to making lists in his head? What type of lists?
Marcus plays a game, similar to one his mother played with him, where you are given a topic, and you have
to give twelve examples. He makes these types of lists in his head to distract himself from what the bullies
are saying, and he’ll play this game until the bullies get bored of the fact that he gives no reaction, and they
leave him alone.

What does Mark tell Marcus when the older boys leave? What does Marcus think about that?

Mark tells Marcus that they don’t want him to hang around with them anymore since they never had any
trouble with the bullies until Marcus started hanging around with them. Marcus realised that if he was any
kind of a friend at all, he’d leave them alone so they wouldn’t have to suffer too.

Chapter 6

Why didn’t Will feel like a father?

He didn’t know enough about children, he was too young, too old, too stupid, too smart, too groovy, too
impatient, too selfish, too careless, too careful (by wearing condoms whatever the contraceptive
circumstances of the woman he was seeing), he went out too often, drank too much, took too many drugs, he
didn’t see a father when he looked in the mirror.

What was the frustrating truth about deciding that single mums were the future?
The frustrating truth was that he didn’t have the phone number of any single mums, Angie was both the
beginning and the end of his supply of hot single mums.
What is SPAT?
SPAT, an acronym for ‘single parents – alone together’, is a support group for single parents and children.
The group provides a supportive environment where single parents can share their experiences, struggles,
and advice with one another. It also serves as a social outlet for both parents and children, offering
opportunities for friendship and companionship.

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 Where do the meetings take place? Why does the centre depress Will?

They meet on the first Thursday of the month in a local adult education centre which depresses Will as it’s
been 20 years since he’d set foot inside a place with classrooms and corridors. He possibly views this place
as a symbol of his lack of purpose and direction in life.

Who is the first woman Will meets here? How does he describe her?

Will notices Frances setting up for the meeting, he describes her as having pointy features and red cheeks,

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looking like Worzel Gummidge’s friend Aunt Sally.
Who are the other members of SPAT? How does Will describe them?

All but one of the other women were in their thirties. There was Sally and Moira, who looked tough, and
Moira was wearing a Lorena Bobbitt T-shirt (Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband’s penis with a knife while
he was asleep one night and claimed that he had raped and abused her for years, to which he was charged
but later acquitted). Lizzie was small, sweet, and scatty, Helen and Susannah, who regarded SPAT as beneath
their dignity, making rude comments about the wine and location. Saskia looked 10 years younger than
everyone else, and then there was Suzie, who was tall, blond, pale, nervy-looking and beautiful.
What does Suzie tell Will about her life? Why does she like SPAT meetings?

Suzie tells Will about how she was married to a man called Dan who had started an affair when she was six
months pregnant and how he left her the day before she went into labour. He has only seen Megan, her
daughter, once – unintentionally. She also mentioned how she is now poor and bitter but is trying to retrain
as a nutritionist. She likes to go to these meetings because she can be angry, and no one thinks any less of
her.
What does Suzie tell Will about the other women at SPAT?
She says that one of their partner’s left because he thought that their child wasn’t theirs. Helen’s partner
went off with someone from work, Moira’s partner came out, Susannah’s partner was running two families
and that there was one man who goes to SPAT, to Will’s content thinking that women are also the ones who
leave, but Suzie cuts him off by saying that his wife passed away. By the end of her list, Will understood
Moira’s sanctification of Lorena Bobbitt and wanted to cut off his own penis with a knife.
What does Will tell Suzie about himself?
Will tells Suzie that his ‘ex’ isn’t really bothered about seeing Ned, his fake son, and that he’s a brave boy
about it all. He honestly believes that his acting is so good that he’s like Robert De Niro.

Chapter 7
Where did Marcus go for the weekend? Who is Lindsey?

Marcus went to Cambridge for the weekend to visit his dad and his girlfriend, Lindsey. He also went to visit
Lindsey’s mother in Norfolk where she gave him a fiver for no reason.

What happened when he went back to school on Monday? What happened in the news agents?
He realised that everyone was okay, and that his family didn’t think he was weird, so he went back to school
on Monday thinking that maybe he’d been making a fuss about nothing. When he went to the news agents, a
group of bullies walked in and started laughing at him, calling him ‘fuzzy’, and asking what he was singing.
He was thinking about Joni Mitchell’s song big yellow taxi and ended up singing out loud again. He ignored

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 them and started to make another list of chocolate bars. The boys had filled up Marcus’ pockets with
chocolate bars and packs of chewing gum and tells Mr Patel that he has been stealing, but Mr Patel saw the
boys do it.
What is Fiona doing when Marcus arrives home? What does Marcus tell his mother? Is Marcus happy?
Marcus walks in to see Fiona lying on the floor with a coat draped over her, watching children’s cartoons.
He tells her that if she isn’t capable to look after him then she’ll have to find someone who can, he feels that
she only makes his meals, which he could do, and cries. He seems to be fed up with this situation and goes

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up to his room to play video games, which he isn’t allowed to do on school nights.

What does Fiona tell Marcus when he comes downstairs after being in his room for a while?
Fiona tells Marcus that on Saturday he’s going to a picnic with the SPAT group, much to his despise.
Why does Marcus want to start crying at the end of the chapter?

Marcus gets upset when Fiona tells him that they’re not doing each other any good. He knew that she wasn’t
doing him good, but he didn’t realise that it was reciprocal.

Chapter 8
Why was Suzie angry with Paula?

Suzie was angry with Paula because Will made up a lie that Paula had rang up 5 minutes before and took
Ned so that Will couldn’t bring him along to the picnic.
What does Will say when Suzie asks him what he does/what his job is?
He tells the truth and tells her that he does nothing, and that he lives off the royalties of the popular
Christmas song his father wrote, ‘Santa’s super sleigh’.
How does Will describe Marcus?

Will describes Marcus as ‘the strange kid’ at the beginning of the chapter and then ‘the weird kid’ when he
cuts off Will and Suzie’s conversation to talk about how much money Michael Jackson makes from
royalties.

Chapter 9

What happened to the duck in the pond?

Marcus was trying to hit a duck on the head with a bit of his sandwich and accidentally killed it. The things
he usually tries to do never work out, so it was a shock to him that he’d actually hit it. Marcus goes over to
Will and Suzie and tells them what happened, so they go over to take a look. Marcus gets annoyed with Will
because he starts being sarcastic.

How do they explain it to the park-keeper?

When the park-keeper comes over, Will tells him that one of the ducks had died, and Marcus starts to like
him because of how good his acting was. Will begins to lie to the keeper, saying that Marcus loves ducks
and that the duck was already dead, he was just throwing bread at the body to sink it because Megan was
getting upset.

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 What happened when they arrive at Marcus’ flat? How did Marcus feel?

Marcus walks in on his mum half on and half off the sofa, with her head lolling towards the floor and an
empty pill bottle nearby. “He couldn’t speak. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t cry either. It was much
too serious for that. So he just stood there.”

Chapter 10

For the first time it occurred to Will that Marcus was ‘probably pretty bright’. Why does Will think this?
What other evidence in the chapter shows that Marcus is indeed bright and mature beyond his years?
Will realises that Marcus is ‘probably pretty bright’ when Will tells him that Fiona will be okay, and Marcus
responds with “that’s not the point, is it?” obviously noticing that the point is that she is mentally unstable
and will continue to be for a while.

Chapter 11

Which parts of the suicide note do you think were particularly harmful to Marcus?

The most harmful part was when Fiona wrote that she doesn’t know why being his mum isn’t enough for
her. It sounds like Marcus doesn’t mean enough to her to make her not attempt to commit suicide, especially
when she says that she can’t think of any reason to keep it going. It’s not fair on Marcus because it isn’t his
fault, but this situation will leave him traumatised for the rest of his life.

Why did Marcus think two was not enough?

Marcus had always thought that being two was fine, but then once he realised that his mum could leave at
any given moment, he decides that having another person around wouldn’t be so bad as then he wouldn’t be
left on his own.

Why did it take Marcus ages to get a video from the newsagents? Why did he turn off the film?

Every movie that Marcus saw at the newsagents seemed to all be about death, which was a topic he wanted
to avoid, to protect his mum. In the end, he chose Groundhog Day, not knowing that it’s a movie about a
man who lives the same day on repeat and tries to kill himself in every possible way. Marcus was so angry
since the cover on the movie didn’t say anything about suicide, he couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to
turn off the film with the remote.

What was Fiona’s reaction to this?

Fiona didn’t understand why Marcus had turned off the movie until Marcus was forced to blatantly tell her
that the man was trying to kill himself like she did. She apologises and says that she didn’t eve notice and at
the end of the chapter, she says she wants to se how the movie turns out.

Chapter 12

Why had filling days never been a problem for Will? What did he do in the evenings?
Will never had a problem with filling up his days as he had copious amounts of time to fill with all the
activities that he enjoys doing. He knew lots of people, many of which he doesn’t even know how he knows
them, but from record shops, playing football or squash, pub quizzes, etc.

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 What did he do during the day?

The days were harder for him to fill seeing as everyone he hung out with in the evenings had to work during
the day. He thought of activities as units of time, each consisting of about 30 minutes seeing as most things
he could do in a day only took half an hour. He would read the paper, have a bath, tidy the flat, watch home
and away and countdown, do crosswords on the toilet, eat breakfast and lunch, go to the shops, etc.

Why was Will somewhat distracted that morning? Why did he phone Suzie?

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Will was distracted by the events of the previous weekend as he barely encountered real drama in his life.
He kept on thinking of Fiona and Marcus and wondering how they were. He phoned Suzie to ask how they
were doing and decided to ask her if there was anything he could do to help them out and decided to take
Marcus out. Before Will could ask Marcus, Suzie had already rung him to let him now, and Marcus tells Will
that he’ll go only if Fiona can go too. He doesn’t beat around the bush, and tells Will that she doesn’t have
any money, so they’ll have to go somewhere cheap, or Will will have to treat them.

Why did Will buy a car seat?

He bought the car seat because he knew he had to go and pick up Marcus and Fiona, so he didn’t want to
give away the fact that he doesn’t actually have a son. To make it even more realistic, he bought lots of
biscuits and crisps and crunched them all up to spill all over the brand-new car seat.

Chapter 13

Why did Marcus want his mum to come with them?

Inviting his mum was part of his plan to become three. He wanted to set up Will and Fiona and so he thought
it would be a good idea to bring her along.

What had Marcus discovered while following Will home like a private detective?

Marcus had followed Will into the shops and all the way back to his flat and he noticed how Will was
always on his own, with no girlfriend and no child.

Where did Marcus want to go for dinner? Where did they go in the end?

Marcus wanted to go to Planet Hollywood because he heard that a lot of famous people went there, but when
they arrived, the queue was long, and it was raining. Will suggested going to pizza express but Marcus
reckoned that pizza was too cheap. They ended up going to Twenty-Eight, which turned out to be a normal
place, with no famous people.

Why did Marcus want his mother to order the same food as Will?

Marcus thought it would help for them to order the same food as then they would have at least one thing in
common and they could talk about it.

Chapter 14

How did Will know that Fiona was not his type?
Fiona didn’t look the way that he wanted woman to look, and he felt like she didn’t even care how she
looked, which he doesn’t think is a good thing. He believes that everyone should care about how they looked
unless they were uninterested in having sex. She makes no effort; her hair was too frizzy and the clothes she

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 wore didn’t matter to her. The most attractive thing about her was that she tried to kill herself, he found that
to be sexy.
What happened after supper at Fiona’s?

Will enjoyed the conversation they had at supper, but once it was over, Fiona started playing the piano. What
was worse, according to Will, was that she began to sing, her voice wasn’t awful, but she played the piano
better than she could sing. She even began to sing with her eyes closed, feeling like she was inside the song.
They soon to begin singing killing me softly with this song and Will couldn’t do anything but stand there

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awkwardly. He thought it couldn’t last forever and singing around a piano with ‘a depressive hippy and her
weirdo son’ wouldn’t kill him.
What did Will do when he got home?

As soon as he got home, he put on a Pet Shop Boys CD, watched tv and got drunk. He said he thought it was
hard to imagine that he would ever try to kill himself.

What happened when the doorbell went one Thursday? Who was at the door and what did they want?
Will thought it would be some door-to-door salesman, but it was Marcus, so he invited him in. Marcus
wanted to propose a deal where he wouldn’t tell his mum or Suzie that he doesn’t have a child if he dates
Fiona, but Will shuts down his proposal by saying that to date someone, he would have to actually be
interested in them.
Chapter 15

Why did Marcus not tell his mum and Suzie everything he had discovered about Will?
Marcus knew that if he told someone about Will being childless, it would be the end of everything and then
there’d be no chance of him dating Fiona and he knew that Fiona wouldn’t allow him to go and visit him
anymore.

How did Marcus describe Will’s flat?

Marcus noticed that Will has a flash hi-fi, hundreds of CDs, thousands of records and tapes, black and white
photos of people playing saxophones, and loads of film posters on the wall. He thought that if Will earned as
much money as he thought he earned, then he should have a much bigger flat. The kitchen was smaller than
his kitchen, but it had a lot more gadgets, all of which looked unused, unlike the stained appliances in
Marcus’ home.
Why did Marcus hate school?

Marcus says that he’s the wrong personality type to be a school sort of person, remembering how his mum
had told him once that they were both introverts, which made making new friends, starting new schools and
jobs was more difficult for them. Marcus tells Will that some of the kids give him trouble due to his random
singing, his hair, and his glasses.
What happened when the visits to Will’s flat became routine? What did Marcus and Will talk about?

Marcus felt that Will was getting used to him being around, so much to the point that Marcus would ring the
bell and Will wouldn’t even bother to check who was at the door. They didn’t talk about much at first but
soon Will thought that they should have deeper conversations, like asking about how everything was going
at home. Once he realised that the suicide attempt really did traumatise Marcus, he swore, which made
Marcus feel better, validating him for getting nervous or scared about the situation.

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 What was the main reason for Marcus’ visit to Will’s after school?

The main reason was to put off going back home after school to put off potentially finding Fiona in the same
situation as Dead Duck Day.

Chapter 16

Did Will get used to Marcus’ visits? Why did Will think Marcus was difficult?

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Will found himself purposefully being home at 4:15 to wait for Marcus but there were a few times where he
went shopping or to the cinema to avoid him. Marcus wasn’t difficult to talk to nor because of his behaviour,
it was because he was always in his own little world. There would be periods where he disappeared into his
own thoughts and then returned just to ask questions after questions.
Why had Will spent most of his life avoiding real stuff? Why did Will think Marcus, Fiona, and Clive
(Marcus’ father) came from another country?
Will states that he avoided real stuff because his father bought him everything he could possibly need, reality
was not in his genes, that’s why he watched things like Eastenders and listening to Kurt Cobain/Nirvana.
Will states that Marcus and his family come from another country because they’re lives are full of things
that Will doesn’t know or heard about; like music therapists, housing officers, health-food shops,
aromatherapy oils, brightly coloured sweater, difficult European novels, and feelings.

What happened one day when Will was watching countdown?

Will was interrupted from watching countdown when there was something thrown at his window and the
doorbell ringing frantically. He opened it to find Marcus being bombarded with sweets so he ushered
Marcus inside and started shouting at the bullies.
Why did Marcus sound as though he were a hundred years old and why did it break Will’s heart?
Marcus sounded older due to his maturity and resigned acceptance of unhappiness and difficulties in life.
The way Marcus accepts his suffering without seeking any change is disheartening for Will to witness
because he cares for Marcus and wants him to be happy.

What did Will do to help Marcus? What happened the following day?
Will tells Marcus that he makes it too obvious that he’s a weird child and tell him that he needs a disguise to
blend into the crowd. To help him out, Will takes him to go and buy some stylish shoes to ‘learn to become a
sheep’. The following day, Marcus shows up at Will’s house shoe-less. They’d been stolen.

Chapter 17
What happened when Fiona learnt that Will had bought Marcus new trainers and that they got stolen?

Fiona’s mind immediately starts thinking that Marcus was being groomed by Will when Marcus tells her that
he’d bought him new trainers and he doesn’t actually have a child.

What happened when Fiona and Marcus went to Will’s flat? What did Will tell Fiona about Marcus?
Fiona starts accusing Will of taking advantage of Marcus, but Will cuts her off by telling her that she hasn’t
got a clue about what’s been happening. Will tells her how Marcus is getting bullied at school and she
doesn’t even notice. Fiona denies all of this which angers Will even more causing him to raise his voice.

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 What did Fiona tell Marcus on the way home? What was Marcus’ reaction?

Fiona told Marcus that he’s not allowed round Wil’s flat again, and that if he needs new clothes, she’ll get
them for him to which Marcus replies that she doesn’t know what he needs.

What did Marcus say to Fiona that made her change her mind about him going round to Will’s house after
school?

Fiona tells Marcus that although she may tell him what to do sometimes, he wants him to think for himself,
so he tells her that he has been thinking for himself and he wants to continue visiting Will. Fiona tries to give
him reasons why he can’t and asks Marcus for a good reason why he should be able to go and see Will.
Marcus shuts her up completely by saying that he needs a father.

Chapter 18

What happened on November 19th? Why did Will hate Christmas?

November 19th was the first time that year that Will heard ‘Santa’s super sleigh’ played in public, much
earlier than the year before and he jokes that when he’s older, he’ll be hearing it in July or August. Will
hated Christmas because people would knock on his door and sing that song, expecting him to give them
some money.
Why did his father hate Christmas?

When Will was younger, he thought his father hated Christmas because of how over-played the song was,
but as he grew older, he realised that it was a yearly reminder of how badly he failed at life due to being a
one-hit wonder.
Did Will have any plans for Christmas?
Will didn’t have any plans for Christmas, he’d usually spend it with friends or with a girlfriend’s family, but
this year there was no girlfriend. He just wanted to get drunk and stoned.

Will refers to his father as ‘the unexorcizable ghost of Christmas past’, why?
Will refers to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, where the ghost of Christmas past is a symbol of
revisiting and confronting one’s past. He’s saying that there’s an enduring presence and influence of his
father every year due to his famous song.
Why did Will make a link between Marcus’ childhood and his own?

Will had also grown up with a batty parent, so he understood Marcus.

What happened on November 20th?

On November 20th, Fiona rang Will to say that Marcus didn’t need a father, especially not Will, and that
Marcus seems to think he needs adult male company. Will states that he also isn’t in need of any junior male
company and doesn’t need a son figure and that Marcus should use his father as a father figure. The
conversation begins to get heated once again, and Fiona asks him if he’s free tomorrow night to meet up and
talk over a drink.
What happens when they Will and Fiona meet?
Will realises that he’s never been to a pub with someone that he isn’t sexually attracted to, except for Jessica,
his ex, since she’s married, but he wouldn’t be against sleeping with her again if she brought it up. Fiona

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 mentions how upset she was when Marcus stated he needed a father figure, and Will tells her he purposely
did it to hurt Fiona. Their conversation ends with Fiona telling Will that Marcus is now a part of his life, and
he can’t just shut him out.

Context

Holloway – it’s an area in North London

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Cambridge – Cambridge is about 2 hours north of Holloway.
Nirvana – Will liked listening to Kurt Cobain because he sung about real problems, something he doesn’t
have in his own life until Marcus showed up.

Eastenders – one of the longest-running British TV soap operas, full of drama and suspense.

Countdown – it’s a British TV game show involving word and mathematical tasks.

C.S. Lewis – he was a British author and wrote the book Narnia, there’s a reference to this in chapter 8.
Groundhog Day – It’s a movie about a weatherman covering a story on Groundhog Day, who becomes
trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly. Phil eventually becomes depressed and is
desperate for a way to escape this loop. He commits suicide in a variety of ways.
Leicester Square – it’s a pedestrianised square in the West End of London.

Covent Garden – it’s a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End. Usually associated with
markets and a popular shopping destination.
Killing me softly with this song – it’s a song by the Fugees about unrequited love and needing a connection
but not finding it.
The ghost of Christmas past – it’s a fictional character from ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. This
ghost is one of three who visit Ebenezer Scrooge to offer him a chance of redemption.

Steve Martin films – they tend to be cringey and boring, which is why Will compares them to Marcus.
Liquorice allsorts – the most disgusting sweets ever, mainly only grandparents or adult men eat them.

Quotes

"People quite often thought Marcus was being funny when he wasn't" – Chapter 1

“If Will had anything approaching an ethical belief, it was that lying about yourself in questionnaires was
utterly wrong” – Chapter 2

"He just wasn't right for schools. Not secondary schools, anyway" – Chapter 3

"But this was the scariest thing he'd ever seen, by a million miles, and he knew the moment he walked in
that it was something he'd have to think about forever" – Chapter 9,

“He couldn’t speak. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t cry either. It was much too serious for that. So he
just stood there.” – Chapter 9

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 "Filling days had never really been a problem for Will. He may not have been proud of his lifelong lack of
achievement, but he was proud of his ability to stay afloat in the enormous ocean of time he had at his
disposal; a less resourceful man, he felt, might have gone under, and drowned" – Chapter 12
"He was one of life's visitors; he didn't want to be visited" – Chapter 14,

“It shut her up, and it made her cry. It did the job.” – Chapter 17

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Differences between movie and novel
- In the movie, Will says that John and Christine set him up on a date with Angie, but in the novel we know
that he met her in a record shop/café.

- In the novel, Will solely lies to the park-keeper when Marcus kills the duck, but in the movie, Marcus joins
in and lies too.

- It was Will’s idea to take out Marcus after Dead Duck Day, but in the movie it was all Marcus’ idea.

- In the movie, the SPAT group meet in a church, not an education centre.
- Marcus shows up at Will’s flat after the bullies stole his shoes but, in the movie, he goes directly to Fiona.

- The argument between Fiona and Will takes place in his flat but in the movie, they’re in a restaurant and
Fiona interrupts a dinner between Will and Christine.

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