Story Of Our Times (Man and Boy - Tony Parsons)

Member Name: TigerTiger

Product:	Man and Boy - Tony Parsons
Date:	22/11/01 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Characters that you will start to care about, One of those books that is hard to put down, Brings out emotions! You will laugh and cry

Disadvantages: Good, but not great

Tony Parsons is well known as a newspaper columnist for the Mirror. He has written for many other publications over the years, including The Daily Mail, Elle, Marie Claire, Sunday Times and GQ to name but a few. I was however interested to see how he faired when it came to writing longer pieces such as a novel, so I decided to try his first novel "Man and Boy". Once again this novel had been sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust for quite some time

"Man and Boy" is actually a story of our times. It tells of a marriage that ends and deals with the issue of custody and raising children as a single parent. There are indeed quite a few books of which have dealt with just this, however "Man and Boy" differs because it shows a man struggling to bring up his son alone.

Harry did indeed have it all. He had a fabulous career in the media, a beautiful wife who he can't quite believe he ended up with and an equally beautiful son. Yet one night in some madness he throws it all away by having a one night stand with a woman from work. Due to the circumstances that Harry and his wife Gina find themselves in it is agreed that Harry will look after their son Pat whilst Gina goes to work in Japan. This is only a temporary measure. It is reminiscent of the whole "Three men and a baby" situation where Harry thinks raising a child is extremely easy, only he finds out it isn't so when he is left with the reality of it each day. No it isn't just a case of playing with them! However, somewhat predictably I guess he gets it all very wrong to start with, but then ends up doing it really well in the end.

For me "Man and Boy" was in many ways predicable, however that didn't stop the enjoyment. I loved the characters in the book. Harry and Gina were both sympathetically portrayed and you could see it from both sides. Harry's parents as the couple together forever, Gina's eternal rockstar da
d, the famous Marty, to name but a few were all memorable in their own way and you got a real feeling for all of them.

I also liked the way the novel dealt with many issues relating to being a single parent, like finding another partner, trying to work and raise a child, finances and even down to coping when your ex partner finds love elsewhere. If I have one complaint it is the usual that everything works out "too" well and I would possibly describe it as somewhat unbelievable in places. One of the best scenes in the book for me was when Harry was debating how he should deal with his new girlfriends daughter and how he should behave with her. It was a really nice section where you saw him debating it all in his head and going over whether he could ever love her or whether she would always be " a reminder of another man's shag" Yes, Man and Boy was thought provoking at times and I liked that, I liked the way Tony Parsons mind worked.

One of the reviewers of the book said, " cried five times and laughed out loud four" "Man and Boy" is most certainly an emotional rollarcoaster and I found myself either laughing or close to tears. There are some situations in the book that are really sad indeed. Some of them are overtly sad, such as when Harry and Gina make the decision to split up, but then there are some situations which are quite subtly sad, such as the way Gina behaves and how you can see this is predominantly because of the way her parents have treated her.

Man and Boy is well written, both funny and sad and the kind of novel that keeps you turning the pages right until the end, I was even quite sad when I reached the last page. This novel costs £6.99, however many retailers are including it in their 3 for 2 offers which makes it even more worthwhile reading. A definite thumbs up from me.

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