One for My Baby: A Novel [Paperback]

Tony Parsons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

From the bestselling author of Man and Boy and Man and Wife comes the charming story of a widower who doesn't believe you get a second chance at love. Full of biting social commentary and overwhelming emotion, One for My Baby is a warm and witty novel of love, family, sex, and Tai Chi.

Returning to London from Hong Kong after a brief, idyllic marriage ends in tragedy, Alfie Budd finds his world collapsing. Believing his chance for love has passed, he takes comfort in fleeting affairs with his students at Churchill's Language School while watching his parents' marriage, his grandmother's health, and his career ambitions rapidly deteriorate. But then Alfie meets two people who help him to start healing: the old Chinese man he sees practicing Tai Chi in the park every morning and a single mother who needs Alfie's help in completing her education. Soon, our bereft widower is learning much more than Tai Chi and falling for one student above all others. But can Alfie give up meaningless sex for a meaningful relationship? And how much room in our hearts do we really have for love?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This third novel from the author of the immensely appealing Man and Boy is the amusing story of sad sack Alfie, who has returned to London from Hong Kong following the death of his wife, Rose, the one and only true love of his life, in a scuba diving accident. Alfie, 34, is given to making sensitive, introspective remarks such as "she was my reason" and "That's what love did to me. Love messed up my heart." An affable enough fellow, he's barely living life in his skin as an English language teacher at Churchill's International School, narcissistically sleeping with his students while trying to cope with his parents' breakup and his grandmother's illness and death. Of course, he gradually comes out of his sleepwalking existence to recognize the error of his ways and begin down a path of spiritual fulfillment that includes tai chi instruction and the insight of professional TV wrestler the Slab and his book, Smell the Fear, He-Bitch. There are some lovely moments in the novel, when the author subtly reveals the details of Alfie's loss, mixed in with some clever humor, such as when he plays on the class differences between Alfie's lawyer pal Josh and Alfie's cleaning woman girlfriend, a romance that heads somewhat predictably in the direction of Pygmalion and Educating Rita. At its best, the novel is enjoyable fluff. One only wishes the author had created in Alfie a more dynamic character worthier of the reader's sympathies.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Popular British author Parsons' third novel to be published in the U.S. (after Man and Boy [2001] and Man and Wife [2003]) is a heartfelt, true-to-life look at a young man grappling with the death of his wife. Alfie Budd found The One when he met Rose in Hong Kong. But when a tragic accident takes her away from him forever, he is completely lost. He returns to his parents' home in London only to discover his father, the best-selling author of a memoir about growing up poor, is having an affair with the family's au pair. Alfie finally gets himself a job teaching English as a second language to immigrants, and there he discovers a bevy of women who are willing to sleep with him. But it isn't until he meets Jackie Day, a tough young cleaning lady who wants him to be her literature teacher so that she can go to the university, that he actually starts to feel again. Like Parsons' other novels, this one deals with a man having to grow up and move on and is filled with details and observations that are moving, painful, and compellingly true. Another winner from Parsons. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743236092
• ISBN-13: 978-0743236096
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,799,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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, May 29, 2002

By 

Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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, March 14, 2003

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, April 27, 2004

By 

David Harris (Kuwait University) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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.