Rating: 
Summary: Laughed more, cried less...
Review: Yes, I laughed more than cried despite the sad plight of our protagonist in his battle to survive a new life -- wifeless, bringing up his son alone, seeing his father die, etc. etc. Just like the way we would have laughed on our own silliness or errors upon looking back (assuming we have reached a triumphant stage at the end).When I first read the title, "A man & a boy", I initially concluded it would be about our lead character & his son. But upon reading it, it could have been several things afterall...Him (man) & his son (boy), him (boy) & his father (man), & lastly, him & himself both as man & boy. I learned that being a real man isn't measured simply by your success or what kind of car you drive, or how many women you have laid. It is about living life & finding its true meaning. The problems we have experienced & overcome mold us to a certain character; & what we do with our selves & our lives give the true meaning to our existence.
Rating: 
Summary: Whiney man and potential girly boy a better title?
Review: I have never read such a cliched, self pitying attempt before. Every soap opera turn takes place, right down to the happy-ever-after-reunion-tagged-on-ending. ... This book was annoying. Avoid it. Read something worthwhile and not so contrived.
Rating:
Summary: Great summer read
Review: Tony Parsons has a great way of setting up his characters so you really feel like you know them. I found the book so funny I laughed out loud at times, while at other times, I almost felt a tear. a very "real" story.
Rating: 
Summary: Dive into someone else's real life
Review: This book is easy to fall in love with! Parson's writes with such ease that the words melt off of the page as you read! The writing is so fluid and so real that it is very difficult to believe that it is not an autobiography! The lives are everyday lives that are filled with everyday problems and written with everyday language. The lives in the story aren't pretty. The main character cheats on his wife, she runs off to Japan, the son struggles, the other characters make bad choices about boyfriends and lives. The honest writting makes you fall in love with the characters and want to read more!
Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking and Heartwarming
Review: Though relatively simple and somewhat predictable, Man and Boy is an excellent first novel. While the book's title could certainly be taken as a reference to Harry Silver and his son, Pat, I believe it refers solely to Harry. As Harry begins to discover who he is, he defines himself by his relationships with his son and with his father-as man and boy. Harry's tribulations and growth were realistically portrayed, and the author's frequent use of humor was a welcome break from the sometimes heavy drama. My biggest quibble with the book was the editing. Use of plural verb forms when singular was correct, and the repeated substitution of "you're" for "your" distracted from an otherwise well-told tale.
Rating:
Summary: Man and Boy
Review: Man and Boy by: Tony Parsons This book is about love between a father and a son and yet there are sacrifices to be made in order to keep this love strong and from dissappearing. The father, also known as Harry, has a beautiful wife, a smart and cute son, and also a job in the media. However, he looses everything after a one night stand with another women. His wife, Gina, decides to leave him and go back to Japan with their son, Pat. Though, because the place they were staying in was too small, Gina decides to send Pat back to his father. This is when Harry truely learns about life and how love is very important. While he is taking care of his little boy he goes through many experiences which soon makes him become a true and reasponsible father. Harry tries with all his heart to be a good father to Pat as hard as he can knowing that Gina would have done a much better job then him. Although he acknowledges the fact that he will never get back Gina again, he now knows how to really and truely love another person. In the end, even though he brought up Pat all by himself, he turns Pat over to his mother because he knew Pat needed his mother more then anything else. Also, because he loved his son so much, he didn't want Pat growing up without a mother or a father.
This book has truely touched me in every way. Every page was filled with either humor or sadness. However, after reading this book, it really made me feel more mature about how real adult life is and how important it is when you have a kid. Tony Parsons has really made this book a very excellent book for everyone and no doubt will he touch the hearts of others when they read this book. This book shows and tells the reality of life and how love is so important but yet very fragial.
Rating:
Summary: Tender, intensely moving and piercingly true to life
Review: Rummaging for a bargain in the new year sales I picked up this book, with the simple, non-pretentious yet curious cover, read the first page, and fell in love. It is the story of Harry Silver and his developing relationship with his adoring four year old son. It is the story of growing up, of being young, of growing old, of dying, of starting over. It is a story which teaches us how beautiful and precious and yet ruthlessly frail life can be. Ultimately, it is a story about love, and what this really means when it is lived out in the real world, with real people who are flawed. Parsons does not write with an all ominiscient hand. His central character Harry is far from perfect. He lacks insight into his wife and because of this, even after his marriage and his whole life as he knows it falls crashing to the ground, he is still unable to grasp why his fatal act was so necessarily fatal. Truly heartbroken over his loss, he never manages to acknowledge fully his own part in bringing about this loss, and yet his act nearing the end, although unable to restore that which was irredeemably broken, does bring about some sense of absolution and hope for the future. Its one failing, the plot, moves unnecessarily fast. It all takes place in the space of 6 months and so events which are all too common and perhaps even inevitable and predictable (healing, falling in love again, etc.,) come across as somewhat contrived and forced. Nonetheless, neglecting the pace of events, the characters in this novel are depicted superbly and resoundingly true to life, and as the poignant story unfolds, developed with impressive skill and compassion. We are angry with Harry for having thrown away his perfect life, and yet we grow to love and admire him for how he then goes on to take responsibility for his son Pat, becoming a real father for him despite the sacrifices that this entails. I emerged from the book having felt like I had truly lived through all the events of the book (namely, I felt like I had just been run over by a fourty ton truck and had somehow emerged miraculously alive) more vulnerable and frail than I have remembered feeling before, yet grateful for being enriched by its humanity and revived with a new deeper appreciation for life and love. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!
Review: This book is such a great read. It shouldn't be limited to any particular group, meaning if you're human, whether or not you have children, you'll probably love it. I bought this book in a Heathrow airport bookshop, and read the whole thing by the time I landed stateside. Laughing and crying on the flight as a result was a bit embarrassing, but that's another story!! The narrator's foibles and adventures throughout the book are entertaining, but his relationship with his aging father is particularly poignant.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant
Review: Parsons has an engaging style that brings Harry Silver to life. He stirs empathy and creates a morbid intrigue in what will slip next from his unraveling existence. At heart, a simple story, I guess, one that is played out a tedious number of times in our culture.
Rating:
Summary: perfectly poignant
Review: Why more people haven't caught on to this book is beyond me. The parent of two boys, I read this when it first came out and just finished it again. It is one of a very few books that I will keep and read again later. Tony Parsons writes personally, his story stirs and inspires and helps me to see myself better. He clearly is one of the mosted gifted storytellers of our time. Don't miss out on meeting Harry Silver!
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