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This month's book
The novel is about Will
Freeman, a 36-year-old
bachelor, and Marcus, an
eccentric, introverted,
bullied twelve-year-old
who lives alone with his
suicidal mother, Fiona.
Will, who has never had
to work thanks to the
royalties from his
father’s Christmas song
hit entitled “Santa’s
Super Sleigh”, has a lot
of spare time. Most of
this he spends smoking,
watching TV, listening
to albums and looking
for female temporary
companionship.
After a pleasant
relationship with a
single mother, Angie,
Will comes up with the
idea of attending a
single parents group as
a new way to pick up
women. For this purpose,
he invents a
two-year-old son called
Ned.
It is through one of
these single parents
meetings that he comes
to know Marcus. Although
their relationship is
initially somewhat
strained, they finally
succeed in striking up a
true friendship. Will
helps Marcus to fit into
the modern world. He
takes him shopping, buys
him shoes and introduces
him to the music of
Nirvana. Marcus and
Will’s friendship blooms
as the story progresses.
Marcus is “adopted” by
Ellie McRae, a very
tough fifteen-year-old
girl, who is constantly
in trouble at school
because she insists on
wearing a Kurt Cobain
jumper. He also spends
some time with his dad
Clive, who visits Marcus
and Fiona for Christmas,
together with his new
girlfriend Lindsey and
Lindsey’s mother.
Meanwhile Will starts
going out with a single
mother called Rachel,
whose son Alistair—“Ali”
for short—is about the
same age as Marcus. In
the end, Marcus evolves
into a “normal” child
for his age. On the
other hand, Will becomes
more mature and ends up
wanting to marry Rachel.
Therefore, both Will and
Marcus have started to
live according to their
age.
Some books are harder
to read than others but
all have been
discussable. Sometimes
people don’t manage to
finish them because of
time constraints or they
just don’t like the
book. Amazingly, we
still have good
discussions. It is also
a great way to get to
know people.
It would seem that no
topics are barred and we
always have a good
turn-up. Different
people make different
contributions and even
the quietest people are
valued members. Whereas
we are pretty good at
staying on topic, there
is at least some time of
the evening where we can
exchange light-hearted
or serious concerns. This club
is not confined to
purely women members...
it's just that no men
have opted to join.
For further information
please speak to Mary -
also see the
Events Calendar.
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