The good - four distinct voices, as the individual characters each get their own chapters.
The bad - this reads like a sitcom - one of the older ones with a laugh track.
The ugly - either a) Maureen is clueless about caring for her own son, or b) the author is clueless about writing this situation. Either way his incarceration in a chair was painful to read.

This is the first Nick Hornby I've read, and unfortunately it lives down to it's rating. While I like much of his writing style (and humour), the plot of this book just doesn't work. The last few chapters are an attempt to escape the corner, and I think they fail. The last lines of the book, regarding the London Eye, are:

"We stared at it for a long time, trying to work it out. Martin was right. It didn’t look as though it was moving, but it must have been. I suppose."

I understand this was made into a movie with pretty horrible reviews also. 1½ stars.