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The Best a Man Can Get
 
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The Best a Man Can Get (Paperback)

by John O'Farrell (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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The Best a Man Can Get + May Contain Nuts + This is Your Life
Price For All Three: £16.93

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  • This item: The Best a Man Can Get by John O'Farrell

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • May Contain Nuts by John O'Farrell

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan; New edition edition (4 Jun 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552998443
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552998444
  • Product Dimensions: 19.9 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 92,702 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #23 in  Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Families & Parents > Fatherhood

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Some men are born fathers, while others have fatherhood thrust upon them. The protagonist of John O'Farrell's The Best a Man Can Get belongs indisputably in the latter category. When his first daughter is born, Michael Adams imagines her as the warden of a prison that will permanently deprive him of his youth and freedom. Terrified by his new responsibilities, he regularly escapes to a bachelor pad across the Thames, pretending to be at work. Another child arrives--and with still another on the way, it is only a matter of time until Michael's wife discovers his double life. At that point, he must make a choice between his family and his hedonistic haven.

By turns hilarious and touching, O'Farrell's book delves deeply into the anxieties of modern parenting. Yet the novel is not without empathy for the 21st-century father. After all, it's easy to imagine the lure of a child-proof hideaway, insulated from sleepless nights and dirty diapers. At the same time, Adams often wonders whether "just being tucked up warm and cosy" is really "the best a man can get". With its charming prose and its truant protagonist, this first novel is sure to win over even the most reluctant parent. --Greg Bensinger



Review

"'Excellent...Things Can Only Get Better will make you laugh out loud' Angus Deayton 'Very funny' Mail on Sunday 'Punchline fuelled, relentless humour... I don't think a woman is going to get much closer to the workings of a man's mind than this. Giggling several times a page with plenty of out-loud laughs is guaranteed. Is John O'Farrell funny? Very' The Mirror 'So funny because it rings true...Packed with painfully well-observed jokes' The Times 'This is SO good. It is howlingly funny. Madly well-written, astutely and ruthlessly observed and so insightful about men, women, love and parenthood that you read every page with a wince of recognition. Fab, fab, fab' India Knight 'A hilarious confessional narrative. This wickedly observed page-turner lets bachelor nostalgia joyride to its absurd conclusion...Piquant and irreverently sardonic' Literary Review"
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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
4 star:
 (12)
3 star:
 (12)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Funny book, well worth a read, 2 Jun 2005
I really enjoyed this book, it drew me in at the start, and kept me laughing throughout. While the ending is arguably weak, and the funnier parts are at the start, the book is about a journey of self-awareness.

Michael Adams is essentially a good father and a loving husband, caught up perhaps in his own selfishness and always aware of the mess his own father made of being there for him. As he tells the story, O'Farrell adds observational, sardonic humour but still manages to produce a tale that should resonate with any father, or anyone who has ever questioned their commitment in any long term relationship.

Well worth a read.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars If there has to be a 'lad dad' genre, O'Farrell's your man., 17 Oct 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Best a Man Can Get (Paperback)
I really enjoyed "Things Can Only Get Better," and ordered this one not knowing the plot. But quicker than you can say Nick Hornby, I had finished it. Let's put in perspective: is this earth-shaking literature that will stand the test of time? Will they one day be talking about Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and O'Farrell? Of course not. What this is is an incredibly enjoyable, well-observed book that will make you laugh out loud and annoy whoever is around by saying, "Just read this paragraph." The book won't tax your brain, but it will put a smile on your face. And really, what's wrong with that?
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Few books make you laugh out loud..., 22 Jan 2004
By nicjaytee (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
But… this is one. Featuring English humour at its best and similar to, but even better than, Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity”, “The Best a Man Can Get” surrounds a clever storyline with more superb “one liners” than any other book I’ve read. Well written, and genuinely reflective on the dichotomies facing men when their lives become totally disrupted by childbirth, it’s addictive and above all “funny”. How good?... well my wife, children & I watched with great amusement as our male friend (one loving wife, two loving children) completely disrupted a day and a half of a recent holiday as he raced through it, accompanied by regular and wholly disconcerting hoots of laughter. Once finished, I picked it up and read it straight through in similar time accompanied by similarly uncontrolled outbursts. It’s totally “non-PC” but it’s honest, brilliantly witty and, in the end, charmingly tender. If you’re male, if you shared a flat when you were younger and if you’ve had children, you will definitely relate to it – if not, well… treat it as an instruction manual on how men in that situation really think.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars good laugh
One for the couple that want a good excuse not to have kids. A good laugh
Published 1 month ago by Daniella Thompson

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out Loud!
If you have seen John O'Farrell on HIGNFY don't be put off. He really is very funny; he just doesn't come across that way on the television. Read more
Published 3 months ago

5.0 out of 5 stars really, genuinely good
I really liked this book. No, it didn't change my life, or make me look at things in a different way, or stay with me for days after. Read more
Published 3 months ago by H. Seymour

3.0 out of 5 stars The Best A Man Can Get
I recently purchased several copies of this for our book club reading, and we were all amazaed at how funny it was. A damn good read and we would recommend it to anyone. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Karen Obee

4.0 out of 5 stars Which football team contains no letters that you can colour in?
This book was written just for me. I'm sure of it. John o' Farrell must have heard how I was feeling and decided to write me a novel. Honestly, that's how it feels. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Alan Campbell

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best a Man can Get
A very well written story of a man who leads a duplictious life - married with wife and kids one side of the Thames whilst having a weekday bachelor existence on the other... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Allen Tsui

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and Well Observed
It was one of those chance things. Staying in a converted barn on holiday in Pembrokeshire the owners of the barn had kindly provided some books and DVD's for use by the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by JFD

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny, but boring on every other level
The plot is a man living with three other men in London while pretending to his wife (on the other side of the Thames) that he is secretly always working late. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2007 by Phil Latham

5.0 out of 5 stars the best a man can get!!!!!!!!!!!
great book. should be read by all the "SINGLE" blokes who cant or wont commit!! So reminds me of so many blokes living in London, South London.....
Published on 28 Jan 2006 by pavla

4.0 out of 5 stars The best I can get in the States
Kudos to John O'farrell. I write this perhaps, prematurely, (I'm only half way through the book) but judging by his other literary pieces, this one follows suit in the same genre... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2005

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