Rating: 
Summary: What is all the talk about?
Review: What is the point of this book? A nice story of starting over. But nothing that happens is too spectacular or so extraordinary that a bestseller is written about it. Seems like everything that this story has, has happened to me or someone close to me. Hmmmm...maybe I should write a book. However, am looking forward to an opportunity to see the movie, if only for Ioan Gruffudd. Hope it comes to the US. The narrator on this audio book did an outstanding job with defining the voice of each character.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it
Review: I found this a hilarious read while still being very touching.
Rating: 
Summary: Like Nick Hornby but a touch more poignant
Review: Parsons' book was far more emotional than I expected, far more complex, too. Dealing with marriage, fatherhood, life and death, it runs the gamut of emotions. There are some funny moments, but it is not quite the same hip glibness you'll find in Nick Hornby's "About a Boy."Really a very touching story of one man's coming to terms with encroaching middle age, single parenthood, and the concept of lasting love. I found Harry's reflections about his relationship with his dad especially poignant. A nice all-around read, very thoughtfully and realistically rendered.
Rating:
Summary: Man and Boy
Review: Torn Apart Harry Silver, one of the luckiest men in the world, has everything a man could ever want: a beautiful and lovely wife, a wonderful son, and a job he really loves. All this was lost and taken away from him in one night.
Harry is a thirty-nothing man with everything to lose. He is the type of guy who wants to feel young again. And because of that he tears he whole life apart.
After his wife left him and his boss fired him, he had to find a new and suitable job for himself because he also has a boy to take care of. Not easy for a single man to do. His Struggle Throughout the novel, Harry tries to carry on and get a job, but his main concern was his son, Pat. He had to take care of him and go to work at the same time, which was rather depressing. As time goes by, he learns how to take good care of his son by earning his son's trust and for example, allowing Harry to help Pat wash his hair. Pat used to only allow his mother to do it for him.
Harry meets another woman although she is not any better off then Harry financially. She is a waitress and she has a daughter named Peggy.
This book is mainly about human relationships but most importantly there is a moral to be learned. Being faithful and honest is important in living a good life. One mistake can cause your whole life to break away from you.
This book is suitable for any reader who is interested in modern fiction. It gives the reader a view of what reality is. 'Man and Boy' by Tony Parsons, is a page turning novel, which will glue you to your seat and leave you damp with tears.
Rating:
Summary: Good start, then slowed down
Review: Harry Silver has a great life. A lovely wife, a cute little boy, and a great job in the television world. All he needs is a sports car to celebrate his 30th birthday. And, as it turns out, a one night stand with a co-worker. His wife finds out. We knew she would. And she leaves him ... and her son. Harry instantly becomes a single parent, with only his own parents to help him find out how. Man and Boy started out great, interesting and amusing, and I read the first chapter with high expectations, but from there on it was a downhill slide, especially once I discovered all of Harry's tribulations were brought on by his own infidelity and his apparent inability to realize that or truly make amends. The writing is decent, but the plot meanders and finally turns into more of a story about Harry and his father's relationship than about Harry and his son. While the book does have some very touching moments, I kept looking back at the author profile, expecting it to say somewhere that Tony Parsons was recently divorced, the father of a young son, etc, etc, because I had the feeling the author wrote Man and Boy because of a grudge against someone, namely an ex-wife. I can't really recommend this book, although it does have some good parts between Harry and his father and if those strike a cord with you, you might enjoy Man and Boy.
Rating:
Summary: Nice
Review: I probably had a high expectation due to the rave reviews this book gets. Well, it has a nice story, with interesting expressions of what's going on in the main character's mind. But that's it.
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Summary: a heart catching book for 30 somethings
Review: Just turned 30, with an totally unsettled life compared to our author, I caught this book by its simple name and cover. With no wife, kids and living nowhere close to any member of my family, I feel Harry is a lucky guy: although he almost lost everything in his life, at least he had them when he was 26, when it's only a tender age for me to hang out wiht buddies in graduate school and dream of promising career and beautiful wife when we grow older. True: life isn't about what you have, it's about how you value them. Every guy wants to have a sweet, young, beautiful, intelligent woman as you wife, but what's really valuable to a man is someone who can share every moment of their life, rich or poor, up or down. I guess that's why a mere waitress from Texas eventually made a pair with Harry, who realized just how important sharing could be when two persons are together. This book will made you think.
Rating:
Summary: Endearing and Moving
Review: I enjoyed Parson's "Man and Boy" immensely. It was not only readable, humorous, and witty but also insightful and wise. There has been a plethora of recent literature about middle aged men and in the middle of their relatively settled life, making a massive change in utter stupidity, risking everything, or making a change in their quest for happiness. Parson's novel far surpasses the rest. His story of a man confronted with the true meaning of life and his development and growth into a man and father to his little boy is sentimental but real. The passages written about father and son, family and relationships are moving and truthful and makes us pause to think if we have led our lives the way we wanted it to be. We never have our lives figured out and no matter how we seem to know what we want fully or how our lives progress, there is never a certainty. Parson makes us realise that things we might have valued and hold dear now might be trivial when we look back at them further down our lives. Makes you wanna swing your light saber around and be glad to be alive, but also have the strength to change your life radically to seek what you want out of it.
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Summary: Slow at the at first, but then it picks up
Review: I went into reading this book not knowing what it was about. I saw it in the bookstore and liked the title. I have to say, it was slow at first but it picked up. I really enjoyed it. Being a Newlywed, it made me think about when we do have kids and the fight of who get's them. This book really made me think. We really don't "own" our kids. If you feel like opening your mind about divorse, children, and growing up, I would say this is a good summer read!
Rating: 
Summary: What is all the fuss about?
Review: What a huge disappointment. This story line has been written 100 times over. It offered absolutely nothing new and wasn't even written very well. The only reason I finished reading the whole book was because I thought surely, it will turn around and come up with something original. But no...a hugely predictable ending. Don't waste your time reading this one.
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