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2002년 여름 휴 그랜트 주연의 영화로 개봉된 '어바웃 어 보이'의 원작소설. 이 작품의 지은이는, 영미권에서 상당한 인기를 누리고 있는 베스트셀러 작가로, 대중소설을 쓰면서도 E.M.포스터 상 등의 각종 문학상을 수상한 바 있다.<BR> <BR> 겉모습은 어른이지만 생활태도는 아이 수준을 벗어나지 못하는 36살 짜리 총각 윌과, 나이는 12살이지만 세상 다산 애어른같은 분위기를 풍기는 왕따 소년 마커스의 이야기가 번갈아 등장한다. <BR> 어느 순간 두 '소년'의 인생에 접점이 생기고, 시끌벅적하게 툭탁툭탁하는 사이에 아이는 아이답게, 어른은 어른답게 자신의 모습을 되찾아가는 모습이 경쾌한 필치로 그려져 있다.<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> Will is thirty-six and doesn't really want children. Why does it bother people that he lives so happily alone in a fashionable, Lego-free flat, with massive speakers and a mammoth record collection, hardwood floors, and an expensive cream-colored rug that no kid has ever thrown up on? Then Will meets Angie. He's never been out with anyone who was a mom. And it has to be said that Angie's long blond hair and big blue eyes are not irrelevant to Will's reassessment of his attitude toward children. Then it dawns on Will that maybe Angie goes out with him because of the children. That maybe children democratize beautiful, single women. That single mothers -- bright, attractive, available women - were all over London ... Marcus is twelve and he knows he's weird. It was all his mother's fault, Marcus figured. She was the one who made him listen to Joni Mitchell instead of Nirvana, and read books instead of play on his Gameboy. Then Marcus meets Will. Will belongs to his mother's SPAT group (Single Parents, Alone Together), and Will is cool. Marcus needs someone who knows what kind of sneakers he should wear, and who Kurt Cobain is. And Marcus's mother needs a husband. They could all move in together! Marcus and his mother, Will and his son, Ned. Then Marcus follows Will home to his flat, where there are no toys or diapers, no second bedroom, even -- and certainly no Ned. This was valuable stuff. If Marcus went home and told his mother about this right away, that would be the end of it. But something tells Marcus that he should hang on to this information until he knows what it's worth.<BR> <BR> Winner of the 1999 E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.<BR> <BR>