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Suzie
Clive is Marcus’s dad and Fiona’s ex who lives in Cambridge with Lindsey. He has a bit of a marijuana habit and is often chided by Fiona for smoking in front of Marcus. He struggles with vulnerability and acknowledges that he wasn’t the most reliable presence in Marcus’s life after his and Fiona’s breakup. Perhaps as a result of his absence, Clive never learns of Fiona’s suicide attempt. After falling off a window ledge and breaking his collarbone, he confesses to Marcus that he failed him as a father in many ways and should have been more present in his son’s life. Though Marcus once would have agreed, his personal growth and newfound maturity lead him to forgive his father for his failures rather than continue to vilify him.
Clive/Marcus’s Dad Quotes in About a Boy
The About a Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Clive/Marcus’s Dad or refer to Clive/Marcus’s Dad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
One Monday morning his mother started crying before breakfast, and it frightened him. Morning crying was something new, and it was a bad, bad sign. It meant that it could now happen at any hour of the day without warning; there was no safe time.
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Chapter 17
Quotes
‘Give me a good reason.’
He could give her a reason. It wouldn’t be the right reason, and he’d feel bad saying it, and he was pretty sure it would make her cry. But it was a good reason, a reason that would shut her up, and if that was how you had to win arguments, then he’d use it.
‘Because I need a father.’
It shut her up, and it made her cry. It did the job.
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Chapter 34
Quotes
Some of these people he hadn’t known until today; some of them he had only known for a little while, and even then he couldn’t say that he knew them well. But here they were anyway, one of them clutching a cardboard cut-out Kurt Cobain, one of them in a plaster cast, one of them crying, all of them bound to each other in ways that it would be almost impossible to explain to anyone who had just wandered in. Will couldn’t recall ever having been caught up in this sort of messy, sprawling, chaotic web before; it was almost as if he had been given a glimpse of what it was like to be human.
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Chapter 35
Quotes
‘Who are these loads? Ellie and Will and people like that?’
‘Yeah, people like that.’
‘They won’t be around forever.’
‘Some of them will, some of them won’t. But, see, I didn’t know before that anyone else could do that job, and they can. You can find people. It’s like those acrobatic displays.’
‘What acrobatic displays?’
‘Those ones when you stand on top of loads of people in a pyramid. It doesn’t really matter who they are, does it, as long as they’re there and you don’t let them go away without finding someone else.’
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Clive/Marcus’s Dad Quotes in About a Boy
The About a Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Clive/Marcus’s Dad or refer to Clive/Marcus’s Dad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
One Monday morning his mother started crying before breakfast, and it frightened him. Morning crying was something new, and it was a bad, bad sign. It meant that it could now happen at any hour of the day without warning; there was no safe time.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17
Quotes
‘Give me a good reason.’
He could give her a reason. It wouldn’t be the right reason, and he’d feel bad saying it, and he was pretty sure it would make her cry. But it was a good reason, a reason that would shut her up, and if that was how you had to win arguments, then he’d use it.
‘Because I need a father.’
It shut her up, and it made her cry. It did the job.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34
Quotes
Some of these people he hadn’t known until today; some of them he had only known for a little while, and even then he couldn’t say that he knew them well. But here they were anyway, one of them clutching a cardboard cut-out Kurt Cobain, one of them in a plaster cast, one of them crying, all of them bound to each other in ways that it would be almost impossible to explain to anyone who had just wandered in. Will couldn’t recall ever having been caught up in this sort of messy, sprawling, chaotic web before; it was almost as if he had been given a glimpse of what it was like to be human.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35
Quotes
‘Who are these loads? Ellie and Will and people like that?’
‘Yeah, people like that.’
‘They won’t be around forever.’
‘Some of them will, some of them won’t. But, see, I didn’t know before that anyone else could do that job, and they can. You can find people. It’s like those acrobatic displays.’
‘What acrobatic displays?’
‘Those ones when you stand on top of loads of people in a pyramid. It doesn’t really matter who they are, does it, as long as they’re there and you don’t let them go away without finding someone else.’
