Man and Boy
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4.3 • 38 Ratings
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- £4.49
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- £4.49
Publisher Description
The 20th anniversary edition of the multi-million copy bestseller!
‘Wistful, touching and funny’ Mail on Sunday
‘Hilarious and tear-jerking in turns’ Express
‘A sharp, witty and wise book straight from the heart’ Daily Mail
Harry Silver has it all. A successful job in TV, a gorgeous wife, a lovely child. But in one moment of madness, he chucks it all away.
A modern classic, Man and Boy is a hilarious and touching novel about how Harry comes to terms with his life, brings up his son alone and, gradually, learns what words like love and family really mean.
Reviews
‘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
About the author
Tony Parsons is an award-winning journalist and a bestselling novelist. He left school at 16 to work in Gordon’s gin factory and his first job in journalism was as a staff writer on New Musical Express. His novel Man and Boy became a publishing phenomenon – a multi-million copy bestseller, winner of the UK Book of the Year award and translated into over 40 languages. Tony lives in London with his wife, daughter and their dog, Stan.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The theme of this alternately wry and maudlin debut from London writer Parsons "love means knowing when to let go" won't make Love Story's mantra obsolete, but this novel shimmers with a sentimentality that could appeal widely to those who enjoyed Segal's romance classic and to their progeny. On the eve of his 30th birthday, Harry Silver blows everything by indulging in a one-night stand with a young assistant on the English TV talk show he produces. When Harry's wife, Gina, discovers his adultery, she jets off immediately to pursue job opportunities in Japan, leaving Harry in temporary custody of their adorable four-year-old son, Pat. Parsons captures the free-floating angst of a man who senses his horizons constricting and the panic of a suddenly single father confronting the issues of child care. Harry's misery is compounded by the subsequent loss of his job; his conviction that he's failed his own loving father, a WWII war hero; and the reluctance of the new woman in his life, an American waitress, to commit emotionally to him. Parsons knows how to pace his pages turn as if in a high wind and he has a flair for pushing emotional buttons, perhaps particularly those of men on the far side of 30 or singledom. Many readers will love this novel; others will decry its obvious calculation, but most will agree that Parson deals in a highly entertaining manner with personal issues of import and that, more often than not, he tells it very true.
Customer Reviews
Heartening read
A must read book......something for everyone, a story very true to life. Just read it.
Tommy tr
Great book ! I have not reading for so as long as I can remember but this is made me laugh out loud with the all ways ...interesting book !
Great read
A great summer read... Sometimes humorous, sometimes emotional but always compelling. Took it on holiday and finished before the end of the second day.