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Man and Boy (Paperback)

by Tony Parsons (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (234 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.48 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Man and Boy + Man and Wife + One for My Baby
Price For All Three: £16.53

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  • This item: Man and Boy by Tony Parsons

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

  • Man and Wife by Tony Parsons

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  • One for My Baby by Tony Parsons

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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Harper; New edition edition (6 Mar 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006512135
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006512134
  • Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9 x 2.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (234 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 20,712 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #4 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > P > Parsons, Tony

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

"Some situations to avoid when preparing for your all-important, finally-I-am-fully-grown thirtieth birthday.
Having a one-night stand with a colleague from work.
The rash purchase of luxury items you can't afford.
Being left by your wife.
Losing your job.
Suddenly becoming a single parent.

If you are coming up to 30, whatever you do, don't do any of that.
It will fuck up your whole day.

So begins Man and Boy, Tony Parson's foray into fiction. Or non-fiction. Rumoured to be a roman à clef, the well-known journalist and broadcaster writes the story of a successful TV executive who brings up his child alone after a failed marriage--much like Parson's own life.

Harry Silver, the book's anti-hero, has it all: a beautiful wife, an angelic son and a high-paying job. His life is just about perfect, until one night he casually sleeps with a slim redheaded coworker who has "that kind of fine Irish skin that is so pale it looks as though it has never seen the sun". After the fateful night, his life falls apart. He loses his job and his wife in rapid succession, and finds himself a single, unemployed parent. It is an excellent education for a man who up until now has been immature and irresponsible, and Parsons has some strong points to make about the puerility of far too many contemporary males: "Being a man is like being chained to the village idiot." At times he piles on the disasters and plot-twists a little too thickly, but the ending is wildly romantic, redemptive and optimistic. In other words, Harry grows up. -- Christopher Hart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Review

'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 '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 touching novel! full of quiet tenderness, and written from the heart' Independent
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Man and Boy
81% buy the item featured on this page:
Man and Boy 3.8 out of 5 stars (234)
£5.48
Starting Over
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4% buy
Man and Wife 2.9 out of 5 stars (39)
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Customer Reviews

234 Reviews
5 star:
 (111)
4 star:
 (51)
3 star:
 (24)
2 star:
 (17)
1 star:
 (31)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (234 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother. I wish I hadn't!, 3 Aug 2001
By A Customer
I did really try to give the book a chance but it's so full of male self pity that I couldn't stand it anymore by the time I got to the end of the book. Throughout the book the main character keeps getting annoyed with his wife for being a bad mother since she left him after finding out about his fling with another woman. Are we actually supposed to sympathise with this pathetic mysogynistic character? The author appears to be fighting some sort of single father cause for all men, but I just felt that it was all a bit lame...
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Awful., 6 Aug 2000
By J. Mcgregor "jiy126" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Taken in by the dust jacket blurbs, undoubtedly penned by his London media mates, I was soon reaching for the sick bag. I knew I was going to hate this book when the lead character protests his downright unremarkable personality and looks but has managed, somehow, to hook a goddess of a woman for his wife. What a guy! He then has a one night stand with a colleague who just can't resist him - she's only a woman after all - but what got me was how Parsons tried to make this somehow understandable. He paints a thumbnail sketch of what is attracting his character to this forbidden fruit and includes this classic description of her budding taste in music: "CD's of Oasis and U2 next to Stan Getz, Chet Baker, and the softer side of Miles". Well that explains it then - we'd all betray our wife and child for a girl who likes the softer side of Miles, eh? Can there be anyone alive, outside of London, who lead lives as shallow as this set of cardboard characters? I found this book to be moronic, boorish, misogynistic and about as insightful into relationships as the front page of Loaded. Avoid at all costs.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Slightly flawed in places but packs a strong emotional punch, 23 Aug 2000
By A Customer
Having finished this book I was left with mixed feelings. Whilst it started promisingly enough, the development of some of the characters seemed to stall a little midway through. I was left slightly confused by the actions of Gina, who claimed to be so opposed to any infidelity that she willingly threw away an apparently happy 7 year marriage, yet still felt comfortable in getting involved with a married man. I would also have expected Harry to fight a little harder to save his marriage than he actually did and the time scale in whih everything happened (just over 6 months) seemed unrealistically fast. However I still found this book to be funny, endearing and very very touching. The high point was most definitely Harry's relationship with his Father which was beautifully written and had me in floods of tears far more times that the 4 promised by a reviewer on the jacket. I've always thought of Tony Parsons as a somewhat cynical writer, so this aspect of the story came as a very pleasant surprise.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Averagely Entertaining.

I only read this book at the request of my husband,(not an avid reader himself)who was so whole heartedly excited about every aspect of the book it seemed rude not to... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Ms. C. L. Baldwin

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully sculpted
I found this book hard to put down - I really wanted to read it in one sitting. Lots of characters and relationships, but the only ones that mattered were between the father and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Alison Mallaghan

1.0 out of 5 stars Cynical emotional exploitation
Reading the positive reviews of this book, and seeing the sales figures it has achieved, leaves me feeling bewildered at the gullability of the public in the hands of a hack like... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Crocus

5.0 out of 5 stars Man and Boy - every man's life under a microscope
When someone says 'You must read this, it's brilliant', that usually means I will hate it. MAN AND BOY was an exception. Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Saint

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful !
One of those books that, within a few pages, you just know won't get any better but you keep ploughing on optimistically. Read more
Published 10 months ago by P. Maley

5.0 out of 5 stars Man & Boy
A great story written with real feeling, an honest take on the emotional hurt of a marriage breakdown.

Slow to start, but stick with it - it's well worth it.
Published 10 months ago by Mr. J. Hancock

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, really liked this book
i enjoyed reading this book i got into it straight away deftintly read another one of his
Published 13 months ago by Ms. D. L. Parkinson

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixture of great, and grating
I really liked the basic storyline and a lot of the characters. It was a refreshing change from the history, detective and chicklit which most novels nowadays seem to be... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Apple-eater

5.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed this book - and the ones that followed.
I will admit that in parts it does tend to grate, but it`s the sort of grating that you would get if - say your brother had seperated from his wife and he`d sit there, chin on the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Leeds lass

3.0 out of 5 stars 'Nice'
Pretty engaging and heartwarming, as long as you've got a soft spot for 'bloke lit' and don't want to be challenged.
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Stuart Bruce

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