Rating: 
Summary: So-so......
Review: "Man and Wife" by Tony Parsons is a sequel to "Man and Boy" and it deals with Harry and the complications of an extended family. This particular extended family consists of Harry, his son, Pat from his previous marriage and his second wife Cyd and Peggy, from her previous marriage. In "Man and Wife", Parsons deal with the difficulties of staying together as family as compared to the more traditional families. Harry's relationship with Cyd soon became strained and they started drifting off from each other. In addition, Harry became attracted to Kazumi, a friend of his former wife. On top of that, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and Harry's life was soon turned upside down.I didn't really enjoy this book as I feel that I cannot relate to Harry. His first marriage failed because of he had a one night stand with his colleague and now he is on the verge of repeating that mistake. However, "Man and Wife" did provide interesting perspectives from a male point of view and it also touched on an issue that is becoming increasingly common these days - extended families and its complications. This is an okay read for me and I think his first book, "Man and Boy" is a much better read.
Rating: 
Summary: A True Look Inside A Man's Head
Review: "Man and Wife" by Tony Parsons is a wonderful and enlightening look into the mind of married men everywhere. This sequel to the very well received "Man and Boy", is a tremendous picture into the lives of "the husband, the ex-wife, the new wife, the son and the new stepdaughter. "Man and Wife" explores the questions that face every blended family and really tackles the tough questions. The most intriguing part of this book is the fact that it is told from the male perspective and that was really interesting. I loved this amazingly smart, thoughtful and heartfelt journey of a man and his new life. Great book and would make an interesting book club selection. I bet there are tons of families out there with these same questions.
Rating:
Summary: A True Look Inside A Man's Head
Review: "Man and Wife" by Tony Parsons is a wonderful and enlightening look into the mind of married men everywhere. This sequel to the very well received "Man and Boy", is a tremendous picture into the lives of "the husband, the ex-wife, the new wife, the son and the new stepdaughter. "Man and Wife" explores the questions that face every blended family and really tackles the tough questions. The most intriguing part of this book is the fact that it is told from the male perspective and that was really interesting. I loved this amazingly smart, thoughtful and heartfelt journey of a man and his new life. Great book and would make an interesting book club selection. I bet there are tons of families out there with these same questions.
Rating:
Summary: A real relationship book for men
Review: First the bad: This book is a lot like 'Man and Boy' and it does have a lot of plot elements. It is not a long deep look at one day or one relationship.
Now the good: This book is a lot like 'Man and Boy.' It is the most riveting, yet real, book on relationships this 36-year-old divorced guy has ever read.
The relationships between me and my Dad, me and my Mum, and the new 'blended' families of ex- and step- fathers wives and girlfriends. There are some truly wonderful pages. It's a framework to measure yourself with, a metric to begin to ask questions about yourself with. I am never going to take 'The Grand Tour' of teenage lovers turning into newlyweds into babies and boys and retirement together and grand parenting. It is too late for me now. Instead it's Tony Parsons' world of wanting and understanding too late. Emotional guys trying to do right and somehow not getting there yet. The book aims deep inside and hits the target. Somewhere between the heart and the gut.
Rating:
Summary: Such Insight!
Review: I read Man and Boy and was so excited for the next book. True to form, in Man and Wife, Mr. Parsons continued with his insightful documentation of the emotional turmoil he went through during his divorce. I secretly hoped in his second work, he and "Gina" would get back together. This series is so real, I recommended it to a man fighting over custody of his son. It documents with clarity what children of divorce should know about thier parents anguish, making decisions with and without regard to thier children's emotional outcome. It put into words, what causes a man to want to stray and sometimes with horrible outcomes. Such a sensitive author! Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Such Insight!
Review: I read Man and Boy and was so excited for the next book. True to form, in Man and Wife, Mr. Parsons continued with his insightful documentation of the emotional turmoil he went through during his divorce. I secretly hoped in his second work, he and "Gina" would get back together. This series is so real, I recommended it to a man fighting over custody of his son. It documents with clarity what children of divorce should know about thier parents anguish, making decisions with and without regard to thier children's emotional outcome. It put into words, what causes a man to want to stray and sometimes with horrible outcomes. Such a sensitive author! Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: Same formula, lack originality
Review: Man and Wife was a sequel to Man and Boy. It suffered the same sequel syndrome, telling a similar plot with different characters. In the first book, Harry's father died of cancer. In this book, his mother had breast cancer but survived. In the first book, Harry had a one-night stand that triggered his divorce. In this book, Harry was close to have an affair, in fact, it was as good as having an affair minus sex, and his second marriage was on the verge of collapse. In the first book, Harry got jealous with Gina's new boyfriend and subsequently her husband. In this book, Harry got jealous with Cyd's business partner. If I had not read the first book, this book might be interesting. However, having read the first book, this sequel looked too suspiciously similar thus lost the originality. I was quite put off with the flip-flopping of Harry with his life. He was always on the verge of making the same mistake again. In the end, Harry exhausted our sympathy and became a jerk in our eyes. He appeared to be a whim, unlike Kazumi who took the break-off with such dignity, unlike Cyd who tried to build something of her own. These 2 ladies had the courage to look forward but Harry was always looking at the past, always so insecure. In the end, I felt that it would be just a matter of time before history repeated itself in Harry's life. This sequel could be more promising if the author tried to have new angle for plot twists, instead of copying the old formula. I like the first book much more.
Rating:
Summary: Same formula, lack originality
Review: Man and Wife was a sequel to Man and Boy. It suffered the same sequel syndrome, telling a similar plot with different characters. In the first book, Harry's father died of cancer. In this book, his mother had breast cancer but survived. In the first book, Harry had a one-night stand that triggered his divorce. In this book, Harry was close to have an affair, in fact, it was as good as having an affair minus sex, and his second marriage was on the verge of collapse. In the first book, Harry got jealous with Gina's new boyfriend and subsequently her husband. In this book, Harry got jealous with Cyd's business partner. If I had not read the first book, this book might be interesting. However, having read the first book, this sequel looked too suspiciously similar thus lost the originality. I was quite put off with the flip-flopping of Harry with his life. He was always on the verge of making the same mistake again. In the end, Harry exhausted our sympathy and became a jerk in our eyes. He appeared to be a whim, unlike Kazumi who took the break-off with such dignity, unlike Cyd who tried to build something of her own. These 2 ladies had the courage to look forward but Harry was always looking at the past, always so insecure. In the end, I felt that it would be just a matter of time before history repeated itself in Harry's life. This sequel could be more promising if the author tried to have new angle for plot twists, instead of copying the old formula. I like the first book much more.
Rating: 
Summary: great insights for steppparents....
Review: My wife and I married 2 years ago, both second marriages with kids. Her friend, also remarried, gave us this book just when we realized a second marriage was much harder then the first! Made us realize we were just like everyone else as the book could have been writen about us with minor variations. A must read for anyone just remarried or about to be, I couldn't put it down once I started reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Real Life Today
Review: My wife and I married 2 years ago, both second marriages with kids. Her friend, also remarried, gave us this book just when we realized a second marriage was much harder then the first! Made us realize we were just like everyone else as the book could have been writen about us with minor variations. A must read for anyone just remarried or about to be, I couldn't put it down once I started reading it.
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