Funny and endearing (The Best a Man Can Get - John O'Farrell)

Member Name: Matthew31

Product:	The Best a Man Can Get - John O'Farrell
Date:	20/08/01 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hard to put down

Disadvantages: Hard to put down!

John O'farrell first came to my attention when I read his autobiograhical account about life as a Labour Party supporter called "Things Can Only Get Better" (TCOGB). He also stood for election (and lost) as a Labour candidate in the last general election.....but don't let all this put you off.

As I almost injured myself laughing while reading TCOGB I thought I would have to give his next booka try although I was surprised that it was fictional and not autobiographical. Before I parted with my money I read some reviews on various online bookshops, some of which were bad and some of which were good. As a result I bought my copy along with another 2 books and left this one until last as I wasn't expecting a lot from it.... especially when I read that it was about a man who writes jingles for a living and lives down south...none of which I can relate too, but at least he was 32 and I can relate to that!

Michael, the 32 year old jingle writer, leading the double life, is somewhere, between teenager and adulthood. He observes his wife's biological ability to automatically understand their children's needs, and he becomes very jealous of the attention she lavishes on their babies. He feels unneeded and neglected. She makes it clear that he is unnecessary, and frankly a bit useless, around the house. His wife is highly intelligent and beautiful, his children the love of his life. But he can't quite balance the reality of the sleepless nights, nappy changes and his own receeding hairline. So he lives in a shared house during the week, with a bunch of lads...a lazy posh PhD student, a virgin porn addict and a school teacher. He pretends to his wife that he is working hard in his music studio to pay all the bills that his family burden him with. In the UK men today can be quite confused about their role in society. This book sums it up pretty well, neither condemning or celebrating it, just having a good laugh at the absurd
ity of it all. There are also a few unexpected twists which lift the book out of the average read and a few which nearly physically left me holding my stomach and remembering how I felt when helplessy left at the mercy of a woman you love.

A small cristicism is that at first it's difficult to understand if he is writing about the past or the present and the time frame is confusing but this soon gets sorted out. All in all it's an excellent read, probably more suited to a married male but I would also like to think that a few married females would also read and enjoy the book and this may help them to understand what sometimes goes on in head of the adult male.

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