Penguin: Is About a Boy a book about having to grow up too early - not being a real child and never experiencing childlike things?
Nick: I think it's about learning to experience childlike things in exactly the same way as everybody else in order to survive. All the things that make Marcus unique and such a weird kid are the very same things that are damaging him. So it's more about learning to be the same as everybody else in a slightly depressing way, I think.
P: Do you feel that About a Boy is darker than High Fidelity with its suicide attempts and broken marriages, and screwed up children and so on?
N: I was conscious of wanting to be a bit darker when I wrote About a Boy. I think the process generally is to try and get darker and funnier as much as I possibly can, and I think How to be Good is a step on in that way, as well.
P: I suppose all your novels have slightly ambiguous endings don't they, particularly About a Boy?
N: I think the resolution in About a Boy is not so much ambiguous as double-edged. Clearly Marcus is going to be alright, but in the process of being alright he has completely lost any sense of himself and we lose sense of the child that there was throughout the book. I think that that's quite sad and quite a sacrifice.
P: How do you feel about Hugh Grant playing Will in the forthcoming film of About a Boy?
N: Good. He's wanted to do the part for a long time, which I think is a good sign, and his post-Bridget Jones incarnation as a baddy will serve him well. |
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