03:51
|
|
Get up to 65% off some of our top titles. Shop now |
Watch a Related Video
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Nick Hornby
|
by Tony Parsons
|
by Tony Parsons
|
by Tony Parsons
|
by David Nicholls
|
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Product Description
This is the story of how we grow old -- how we give up the dreams of youth for something better -- and how many chances we have to get it right. George Bailey has been given the gift we all dream of -- the chance to live his life again. After suffering a heart attack at the age of 42, George is given the heart of a 19-year-old -- and suddenly everything changes...He is a friend to his teenage son and daughter -- and not a stern Home Secretary, monitoring their every move. He makes love to his wife all night long - instead of from midnight until about five past. And suddenly he wants to change the world, just as soon as he shakes off his hangover. But George Bailey discovers that being young again is not all it is cracked up to be -- and what he actually wants more than anything in the universe is to have his old life back.
From the Author
Tony Parsons on Starting Over
Starting Over is the story a man who gets the chance to do what many of us dream of – to be young again, to go right back to the start and to have a second chance at getting his life right.
George Bailey is 47 years old – a husband, a father, and a policeman. He is an old-fashioned guy who is about become young again.
A hereditary heart condition means that George is what the police call a canteen cowboy; a desk-bound copper who rarely leaves the station. But when his old partner gives him a chance for a morning of mild adventure, running red lights and chasing petty criminals, George can’t resist, and tragedy strikes. Confronted by an armed man, George has the heart attack that he has been dreading for years. And when he is given the heart of a 19-year-old wild boy, nothing is ever the same again.
It is like Peter Parker being bit by that spider. Overnight George is transformed from being a stern patrician father who breathalyses his son when he comes home to an idealistic, rebellious free spirit who wants to change the world and get off his face. And overnight George goes from being a settled, staid once-a-week married man to being a three-times-a-session, is-it-good-for-you-baby? love machine, forcing his wife Lara to leave the bedroom light on, “Just so I know it’s really you.”
But George discovers that what we wish for is not necessarily what makes us happy. Soon George’s teenage son and daughter grow weary of a father who wants to be their friend. And soon enough Lara tires of a husband who only has one thing on his mind – getting his hand inside her bra – and yearns for the man she knew to come back. Lara doesn’t want an overgrown teenager. The children do not want another friend to give them Facebook hugs. They want their dad. Lara wants her husband.
When that happens, George learns what it is really like to go back to the start and begin again. And he must learn how to be a husband and a father and a man before he loses all the people he loves. George Bailey suddenly has to grow up fast, while at the same time uncovering the mystery of where his new heart really comes from.
Starting Over is a book about how we live our lives. How do we balance the longing for family with the need to be free? How do we weigh our concern for the planet with our concern for the few people we actually live with? And is there an age when a man in Diesel jeans just looks stupid? Starting Over asks - what do we lose when we finally let go of being young? And what do we gain?
I hope that Starting Over is a light book about a heavy subject. Really, it is the story of one man’s search for enlightenment. I think that many of us have an endless appetite for stories about the getting of wisdom, and in that category I would include everything from the movie Groundhog Day to the Buddhist classic Siddhartha. There is something about watching dumb men become smarter that pulls at our soul.
Starting Over is the story a man who gets the chance to do what many of us dream of – to be young again, to go right back to the start and to have a second chance at getting his life right.
George Bailey is 47 years old – a husband, a father, and a policeman. He is an old-fashioned guy who is about become young again.
A hereditary heart condition means that George is what the police call a canteen cowboy; a desk-bound copper who rarely leaves the station. But when his old partner gives him a chance for a morning of mild adventure, running red lights and chasing petty criminals, George can’t resist, and tragedy strikes. Confronted by an armed man, George has the heart attack that he has been dreading for years. And when he is given the heart of a 19-year-old wild boy, nothing is ever the same again.
It is like Peter Parker being bit by that spider. Overnight George is transformed from being a stern patrician father who breathalyses his son when he comes home to an idealistic, rebellious free spirit who wants to change the world and get off his face. And overnight George goes from being a settled, staid once-a-week married man to being a three-times-a-session, is-it-good-for-you-baby? love machine, forcing his wife Lara to leave the bedroom light on, “Just so I know it’s really you.”
But George discovers that what we wish for is not necessarily what makes us happy. Soon George’s teenage son and daughter grow weary of a father who wants to be their friend. And soon enough Lara tires of a husband who only has one thing on his mind – getting his hand inside her bra – and yearns for the man she knew to come back. Lara doesn’t want an overgrown teenager. The children do not want another friend to give them Facebook hugs. They want their dad. Lara wants her husband.
When that happens, George learns what it is really like to go back to the start and begin again. And he must learn how to be a husband and a father and a man before he loses all the people he loves. George Bailey suddenly has to grow up fast, while at the same time uncovering the mystery of where his new heart really comes from.
Starting Over is a book about how we live our lives. How do we balance the longing for family with the need to be free? How do we weigh our concern for the planet with our concern for the few people we actually live with? And is there an age when a man in Diesel jeans just looks stupid? Starting Over asks - what do we lose when we finally let go of being young? And what do we gain?
I hope that Starting Over is a light book about a heavy subject. Really, it is the story of one man’s search for enlightenment. I think that many of us have an endless appetite for stories about the getting of wisdom, and in that category I would include everything from the movie Groundhog Day to the Buddhist classic Siddhartha. There is something about watching dumb men become smarter that pulls at our soul.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
91% buy the item featured on this page: Starting Over £4.42 |
 |
3% buy One Day £6.46 |
 |
3% buy Juliet, Naked £9.48 |
 |
2% buy The Family Way: "His best since the very fine Man and Boy" £5.59 |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > P > Parsons, Tony
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
