“Two wasn’t enough, that was the trouble…How could you make a family grow if there was no one around to, you know, help it along?”

This quotation epitomises the strong focus on the negative aspect of childhood and growing up seen in both these novels. Both authors concentrate on the distress that children and adolescents feel following circumstances that are, in reality, fairly common. Nick Hornby and Roddy Doyle explore the complex world of childhood thoughts, both having similar agendas in terms of the direction their novels have taken. At the root, or perhaps climax of their plots, both novels show the appalling circumstances revolving around the isolation of children by their friends and families. “About a Boy” and “Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha” superficially appear very close in their intended themes and ideas. Indeed, looking at the general styles of the two authors, there seems to be a great number of similarities to link them. The concept of streams of consciousness is a focal point of all of the novels by both of these authors, leading to the certainty that the underlying plan fo

However, as his life starts to become more and more complicated and sombre, Paddy begins to feel sorry for Francis and treats him in a far more humane fashion, indicated by the use of his real name:

Contrary to these differences in approach however, it is clear that the extent of the isolation that the main character endures is unimportant, as the emotional pain endured is apparently equal. This perhaps indicates the value systems of the two boys. In Roddy Doyle’s novel, the loss of Paddy’s friendship with Kevin appears in fact to be far more hurtful than his parents’ divorce. This is due to the focus on their childish games, making a loss of such a strong bond a devastating shock.

“We put our hands to our mouths and did the Indian stuff.

This shows that something that was as inherent as teasing his brother comes to be a struggle for Paddy when he becomes isolated from his friends and family.

“‘Your mum tried to kill herself, didn’t she?’

At first Marcus does not seem to gain any benefit from Will’s perhaps unintentional humour, but as he spends more time with him and his situation becomes more desperate, he appears to use these moments as a way of easing his torment:

This is perhaps best shown at the times where Marcus makes fun of his situation in front of Ellie:

Some topics in this essay:
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