One For My Baby: Amazon.co.uk: Tony Parsons: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

In One for My Baby Hong-Kong-based language teacher Alfie Budd is about to ingest several gallons of the stuff. Returning to London to nurse a broken heart, he finds a world he barely recognises. Terry Wogan plays REM on Radio Two, there are Tai Chi classes on Highbury Fields and the England of Alfie's youth seems a distant dream. Alfie's father is now sporting disco gear and pitifully clinging onto his relationship with a Czech au pair half his age. Alfie's mother, meanwhile, cares a great deal about her rose bushes and not at all about getting her husband back.

Dazed by these changes, Alfie drifts--on a cloud of Tsingtao beer and Sinatra-fuelled reverie--into a new teaching job and into a string of pointless affairs with his students. But a man can only drift for so long before he starts to sink--and Alfie must learn some bitter lessons before he can regain the happiness he once knew in Hong Kong.

Tony Parsons' second novel deserves to match the phenomenal success of his first, Man and Boy--although there are reasons why it might not. One for My Baby lacks the cutesy appeal of single fathers bringing up sons and some readers may find it--with its double portion of deaths and mid-life depressions--a more demanding read altogether. The book deals with tough realities, with people who have ceased to love themselves and each other, with snobbery and prejudice and the acute loneliness of city life. But the tale is redeemed, ultimately, because humour and warmth pervade even its darkest corners. The laughable antics of Alfie's father are balanced beautifully by George Chang, Alfie's serene and dignified Tai Chi instructor. And while our hero's journey is an arduous one, we are invited to laugh with and at him and never to pity him. Mr Parsons deserves praise for creating a book that is not merely different to his first but also bigger, tougher and cleverer. --Matthew Baylis --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for One For My Baby:

‘Subtle and intelligent’ The Times

‘The same combination of self-deprecating humour and well-intentioned bafflement that endeared Man and Boy to millions of readers’ Observer

‘Stylish, polished, complex and it really gets its teeth into the big issues of sex, love, family and friendship’ Mirror

‘Another brilliant novel that combines laughter and tears, love and sex – and real human emotions’ Evening Standard

‘The writing is confident and accomplished…He makes the reader care…This is art shot through with humanity’ Independent on Sunday

‘Heartbreakingly universal and full of killer lines on love and love lost’ Financial Times

Praise for Man and Boy:

‘Wistful, touching and funny, it looks back at the glory days of the family without losing hope for the future. In the end, it is a deeply touching book: a love letter to a son from his father, and to a father from his son’
Mail on Sunday

‘A touching novel… full of quiet tenderness, and written from the heart’
Independent

‘One of the finest books published this year… Hilarious and tear-jerking in turns’
Express

‘Parsons has written a sharp, witty and wise book straight from his heart. His characters are all nitty-gritty, bounce-off-the-page, real people; his dialogue is brilliant’
Daily Mail

‘A grown-up novel that is simultaneously a heart-rending gripping read and suffused with an irresistable reality’
Glasgow Herald

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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Hard to put down 12 Aug 2001

By Matt

Format:Hardcover

I read Tony Parson's previous novel "Man and Boy" last year and was waiting with expectation for his next book. I wasn't disappointed. It's not a great work of literary fiction but it is a book in which you can relate to the characters and imagine yourself in their position, making exactly the same mistakes. Tony Parson's strength is his ability to recognise and describe the workings and emotions of a thirtysomething man.

It's about Alfie Bud, a man in his thirties who has lost his wife and his sense of direction in life and love. It's funny, sad and addictive all at the same time. Do the human thing and buy it.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Disappointing 13 Sep 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Having read the other reviews, I have to assume that the book gets better towards the end. I wouldn't know, because I found it unreadable, and gave up after the first 100-150 pages. The characters just didn't seem real to me, and nor did the emotions of the main character.
It wasn't the type of book that you could get lost in, and everything just seemed fake. I seemed to be repeatedly reminded that I was reading a book, and that it definately wasn't real. I haven't read the other Tony Parsons books, so I can't compare this with them, but I was definately disappointed by it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Fantastically touching, relevant and human. 16 May 2002

Tony Parson's second novel, I feel, surpassed his first. This book was a fantastic read and I often sneaked off from work to get a few pages in. I read this book staight after reading Nick Hornby's 'How To Be Good', and whilst I enjoyed Hornby's novel I was struck by the contrast between the two. Both were touching, thought provoking and, in places tender, however, whilst Hornby's book was ultimately depressing for me, the warmth of Parson's characters provided a glimmer of hope. A tremendous victory for the less-celebrated writer. Maybe Tony Parson's books will soon be being made into Hollywood blockbusters too.

(Another) One for Daily Mirror readers

The gullable will indeed be swept along by this ceaseless tirade of treacle - I can well believe that Daily Mirror readers "laugh" and "cry" at this in much the same way they... Read more

Published 2 months ago by D. Sedgwick

One For My Baby had me hooked within minutes

Waiting for my mum to be discharged from hospital I noticed some books, DVDs and videos on a cupboard. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Ms. P. Williams

One to love and read over

If you have a heart and have been through loss you will be touched by this wonderful book. It was my first Tony Parson's novel and I found it funny, sad, touching, tender,... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Deborah Allin

Utterly depressing

I have thoroughly enjoyed many of Tony Parson's previous books but I found this utterly depressing. The usual wit and flow of Parson's books is replaced by the central character's... Read more

Published on 30 July 2009 by K. WEBSTER

From the cover.......

Alfie Budd found the perfect woman with whom to spend the rest of his life--and then lost her. He doesn't believe you get a second chance at love. Read more

Published on 17 Feb 2007 by Angel Silver

You must read to make your own mind up.

There are few negative reviews on this, and I can see where some are coming from, but I feel that the book as it stands is a great read, after getting through the first few... Read more

Published on 12 Aug 2006 by Mr. Stuart Lindsay

Read all his other books but this one.......................

Having read and enjoyed Parson's other books I looked forward to this read. As with some other reviewers I found it so desperately dull, depressing and predictable..... Read more

Published on 21 Aug 2005 by Baggie Blog

a different story about the same things

Tony Parsons is great, but One form my baby isn't as good as Man and Boy, which was so great/wonderful/lovely. But I definitely likes One for my baby too. Read more

Published on 21 Aug 2005 by Faith

One For My Baby [Paperback]

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