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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Second As Enjoyable As His First,
By
This review is from: One for My Baby (Paperback)
I think British writer Tony Parsons is just fantastic. His "Man & Boy" was one of my favorite books last year, and this may end up being one of this years. I think he's great because he creates real, honest, and flawed protagonists. They don't have all the answers and more often than not will probably do something that produces hideous results, but their reality makes me root for them all the more. In his newest book, it's Alfie Budd, a teacher at a language school who is slowly moving through the unbearable grief caused by the tragic death of his wife. Like "Man & Boy" Parsons revisits themes of love and loss, & children's relationships to their parents.Equally moving and very funny, the book unravels with not a great amount of surprise, but a boudless supply of heart.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too predictable and unconvincing,
By tony mac (Dunfermline) - See all my reviews
This review is from: One for My Baby (Paperback)
'Man and Boy' was in many ways a lazy and formulaic book, but got by due to Parson's sometimes insightful and well expressed understanding of love lost and the emotional bonds of family.He tries the same tricks again here, but with markedly poorer results. The book is much too long for its basically slight story. The central character, though initially sympatheic, quickly becomes a self-pitying bore. His lothario activities just don't ring true; how can all these attractive young women be so taken by this morose, unappealing slob? The loss of a loved one due to cancer is basically just repetition from his previous book. The character of Josh is all over the place, as if the author never got a proper handle on him and just uses him as a convenient prop. Finally, the rather reactionary longing for a quaint, almost ideallised Britain of clear values and upright standards is starting to get a bit grating. Come on Tony, things never have been that perfect! As other reviwers have noticed, the book often appears rushed and not properly considered. There's no doubt Parsons has talent and could write a really good book; but he needs to take his eyes off film-friendly formula and over-repeated situations.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Similar to Nick Hornby's writing,
By
This review is from: One for My Baby (Paperback)
I haven't read Man and Boy, but it sounds like it may be better than this one. I enjoyed this one, though. It sort of reminded me of Nick Hornby's About a Boy in parts, although the two main characters aren't very similar.I gave it three stars because there probably are better books around, but if you happen to find yourself with this one in hand, it's not a bad read. There are some good characters in the book (the Chinese family who run the restaurant, The main character's parents and grandmother, the foreign students at the Churchill Language School, Plum and her obnoxious classmates, etc.) To wrap up, I liked it enough that I was willing to do enough research to track down Man and Boy, another book by the same author. I guess that's a reasonably decent recommendation.
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