One for My Baby

Rating:
Summary: So-so.
Review: "One for My Baby" written by Tony Parsons centers around Alfie, an English as Second Language instructor who has to deal with the tragic loss of his wife, Rose. Alfie returned to Britain after residing with Rose in Hong Kong for several years. Without Rose, Alfie never seem to fit in and frequently wallowed in self-pity. On top of that, his family was torn apart when Alfie's father left his wife for a younger woman.

I read "One for My Baby" after reading "Man and Boy" which I was very impressed. I didn't enjoy "One for My Baby" because I feel that the story seems to drag itself. At times, the main character Alfie seems to be forever wallowing in self-pity and after 50 pages or so, it can get tiring. Regardless of that, the Tony Parsons's writing is still remarkable and he has the ability to make his readers identify with his characters.

Rating:
Summary: So-so.
Review: "One for My Baby" written by Tony Parsons centers around Alfie, an English as Second Language instructor who has to deal with the tragic loss of his wife, Rose. Alfie returned to Britain after residing with Rose in Hong Kong for several years. Without Rose, Alfie never seem to fit in and frequently wallowed in self-pity. On top of that, his family was torn apart when Alfie's father left his wife for a younger woman.

I read "One for My Baby" after reading "Man and Boy" which I was very impressed. I didn't enjoy "One for My Baby" because I feel that the story seems to drag itself. At times, the main character Alfie seems to be forever wallowing in self-pity and after 50 pages or so, it can get tiring. Regardless of that, the Tony Parsons's writing is still remarkable and he has the ability to make his readers identify with his characters.

Rating:
Summary: Too predictable and unconvincing
Review: '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.

Rating:
Summary: An extreme disappointment
Review: I bought this book after reading Man and Boy which I could hardly put it down and finished in 2-3 days. On the contrary, One for my Baby has been a real disappointment. It's been two weeks and I'm finally into the last few pages! The story line is loose and vague. I cannot feel and understand how strong was the relationship between Alfie and Rose. Was it explained how Alfie was behaving the way he did or did I miss it all together. It was not so much as curiosity or interest that I continued reading the book. It's more like wanting to finish what I started. A real disappointment!

Rating:
Summary: Similar to Nick Hornby's writing
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Second As Enjoyable As His First
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Leaves much to be desired
Review: I was sadly disappointed with this book because it failed to live up to the reviews it received in the British press. In contrast to his earlier work "About the Boy", this book seems to be written in a rush to satisfy the public's and the publisher's demand for another book with the same formula. It fails to develop any of the characters in detail - Alfie Budd, his dead wife, his dad, his Tai Chi friend etc. The attempts to pull on the reader's heartstrings to feel for the characters fail miserably as all of the events are dealt with on a very superficial level, and the emotions of the characters are not explored very deeply.
Other things that I found irritating included the fact that although Alfie had been living in HK for a long time, he was still surprised by the "Happy New Year" salutations in February which were greetings for the Chinese New Year. For Alfie to have lived there for so long, without understanding the most important three days of the year - for some HongKongers the only three days of vacation they have in the entire year - makes me think that the author wrote this in a rush as he thought that the element of surprise was probably the best way to explain it to a culturally illiterate audience. In addition, although Parson's description of the Scuba equipment and pre-dive preparation is very easy to understand, it seemed so basic that it appeared as though he was writing for low-IQ readers.
In short, a really badly thought-out book, with no character development, and a book which I would not recommend to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Well written character study
Review: Language teacher Alfie Budd leaves Hong Kong after several years there to return home to London fueled by grief for a lost loved one. However, London may swing, but no where near the way Alfie remembers the town. Everything is different, but mostly his parents act strangely. Alfie thought they shared a loving relationship, but now his father piteously discos with a foreign au pair younger than his son while his mother has a love affair with her rose garden.

Stunned, Alfie fears he will never capture what he once had in Hong Kong so he wanders through meaningless sexual encounters with his students (once a taboo, but more acceptable in this amoral 1993 London). As Alfie wonders about living without love, he descend deeper into a cesspool of immorality that gives him no solace except through the wizened teachings of Mr. Chang.

Alfie is a solid center of this well written character study that leads to fans feeling empathy towards the lead protagonist still suffering from his loss and coping through hollow encounters. The secondary cast enables the readers and Alfie to see that life without love is empty. ONE FOR MY BABY raises philosophical issues of how to live (not just survive) and forge or keep relationships after a loved one dies yet the entertaining story line fails to truly respond to the concerns posed by Tony Parsons; thus readers will ask what's it all about Tony?

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Well written character study
Review: Language teacher Alfie Budd leaves Hong Kong after several years there to return home to London fueled by grief for a lost loved one. However, London may swing, but no where near the way Alfie remembers the town. Everything is different, but mostly his parents act strangely. Alfie thought they shared a loving relationship, but now his father piteously discos with a foreign au pair younger than his son while his mother has a love affair with her rose garden.

Stunned, Alfie fears he will never capture what he once had in Hong Kong so he wanders through meaningless sexual encounters with his students (once a taboo, but more acceptable in this amoral 1993 London). As Alfie wonders about living without love, he descend deeper into a cesspool of immorality that gives him no solace except through the wizened teachings of Mr. Chang.

Alfie is a solid center of this well written character study that leads to fans feeling empathy towards the lead protagonist still suffering from his loss and coping through hollow encounters. The secondary cast enables the readers and Alfie to see that life without love is empty. ONE FOR MY BABY raises philosophical issues of how to live (not just survive) and forge or keep relationships after a loved one dies yet the entertaining story line fails to truly respond to the concerns posed by Tony Parsons; thus readers will ask what's it all about Tony?

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Not for me this time
Review: Like other readers I was a little disappointed by this. It had much of the formula used in Man and Boy - the emotion, the humour, the eastern flavour. But it did nothing for me. I found it hard to get close to any of the characters. It deals with the difficult subject of loss - but never quite gets there. In fact it began to get on my nerves after a while.

Having said all that I still read in two days. It isn't boring. Maybe it just isn't a holiday read.