LIFE IS NOT LIKE IT IS IN THE FILMS.....ITS MUCH HARDER (Man and Boy - Tony Parsons)

Member Name: chrissypops

Product:	Man and Boy - Tony Parsons
Date:	14/11/01 (920 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A brilliant insigh to what parenting is all about

Disadvantages: My hubby has just pinched it so I cant read it again :-(

Isn't that the truth. The title I mean. Life isn't what you see in films is it? Real life is hard, cruel, bitter and twisted. Life can also be joyous, ecstatic, meaningful and full of love. Love. Love that lasts. Can love really last for eternity? Well this is what Harry Silver is about to find out just as he hits his thirtieth birthday. What it is with men and middle age? Well thirty is hardly middle age is it, I thought fifty was nearer the mark. Why is it when some men hit thirty and all of a sudden they want to recapture their youth?

Harry has what he wished for in life. A beautiful wife who gave up her dreams of going to Japan to be with him. A wonderful son, with a cheeky manner and a passion for Star wars. And a great job in the media, something which he had always loved doing. So why did he need that MGF sports car? Why did he need to throw it all away... for a one night stand? A one night stand which was a product of a disastrous night on live T. V when Marty Mann flips out at hits his interviewee, who also turns out to be a bit of a nut case himself.


Silly silly man eh? Harry wasn't even going to tell his wife and who could blame him. It was a one night stand. A silly one night stand, which was meaningless. So it was a very big shock to him when he got home that his wife, Gina already knew and was packing her bags at the very moment he walked in. Tears. Hate. More tears. Heart rendering. Separation. But what about their son, Pat. Where would he go? Gina had decided to follow her dreams and head back to Japan but Harry wanted him to stay, even for a few months until she got settled. It was decided that Pat would stay while his mum got herself sorted in Japan. It was now that Harry would learn what life is all about, especially in the middle of all this mess, he loses his job.



As Harry takes on his new role as a full time father, you can see him make mistakes, you can see him change, swell, become a
different person to what he used to be. Harry has to learn that parenting is the most hardest job in the world and his priorities shift as he realises what he has been missing from his son. Harry also learns that he is not his father. Harry's father was married to a wonderful women and his only partner. Harry from a young age was aware that he was opposite to his father and through this book, it becomes imminent that Harry has always secretly been envious of his father, his achievements in life and how strong he is. But looks can be deceptive cant they?

After his wife, Gina, heads to Japan to find the self she lost in their marriage, he meets a new love, Cyd Mason, a feisty waitress from Texas. He takes a part-time job with an anxiety-ridden Irish comic and briefly hires an inept nanny with a mind-boggling method for cooking soup. Adapting to single parenthood leads Harry to reassess the wobbly relationship with his own caring father, a World War II hero.




It says on the front of this book by Tony Parsons, " Book of the Year" and " I cried five times and laughed out loud four" J.Brown, Observer. Two very apt statements which will carry this book on and on in the book industry. Tony parsons has definitely surpassed himself writing such an in-depth, true to life, heart rending book about life and love. Believe me, it is very true to life. Not having been through a separation or divorce as an adult and although the book is from the view of Harry, the father. I can see this book through the child's eyes, Pat. I have seen through my own eyes as a child how hard it is for a child to understand why two people cant love each other anymore. Or just say sorry and make up like most kids do. Adults make things so much more complicated don't they? Children love people unconditionally, whole heartedly without a question asked. Adults love on conditions, terms and commitment.

You know I must be behind wi
th the times as Man and Boy was published in 1999, then in 2001 it was published in America and its only then I have heard of Tony Parsons. You see this book has been written very close to Tony's heart. Why? Because Tony has had first hand experience of separation and divorce and when Tony Parsons was 29 years old, he was awarded custody of his four-year-old son. It wasn't until I read this on a web site, that I realised why the book is so real. Tony Parsons portrays each character with such vibrancy, with such life, you could almost see yourself within that book. A person that knew him, a neighbour, anyone who had contact with Harry, Pat, Gina you could taste the tears, hear the laughter, feel the pain and anger. But in all this mess, things might turn out for the best?

I found the novel really easy to read, even though in a few parts I was actually crying. with both laughter and sadness. In fact a few nights ago when I was lying on the sofa sniggering away to myself, my husband asked me why I was laughing. Well he must of been intrigued because I finished the book last night, he has picked it up today and started reading it. Its sharp, witty and even if you have no or little imagination you can picture everything as its so detailed.

Man and Boy is a great book about the intimacy which builds between father and child, in this case son. Unfortunately so many career minded men miss their opportunity with their children to have quality time with them. Is this the way forward for novels for men? I hope so because there are rumours that this brilliant book will be made into a film. I just hope they keep the sincerity of the book in the film.

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