- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Atria Books (Mar 23 2004)
- ISBN-10: 0743456645
- ASIN: B0009W8AVK
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14.2 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This third novel from the author of the immensely appealing Man and Boy is the amusing story of sad sack Alfie, who has returned to London from Hong Kong following the death of his wife, Rose, the one and only true love of his life, in a scuba diving accident. Alfie, 34, is given to making sensitive, introspective remarks such as "she was my reason" and "That's what love did to me. Love messed up my heart." An affable enough fellow, he's barely living life in his skin as an English language teacher at Churchill's International School, narcissistically sleeping with his students while trying to cope with his parents' breakup and his grandmother's illness and death. Of course, he gradually comes out of his sleepwalking existence to recognize the error of his ways and begin down a path of spiritual fulfillment that includes tai chi instruction and the insight of professional TV wrestler the Slab and his book, Smell the Fear, He-Bitch. There are some lovely moments in the novel, when the author subtly reveals the details of Alfie's loss, mixed in with some clever humor, such as when he plays on the class differences between Alfie's lawyer pal Josh and Alfie's cleaning woman girlfriend, a romance that heads somewhat predictably in the direction of Pygmalion and Educating Rita. At its best, the novel is enjoyable fluff. One only wishes the author had created in Alfie a more dynamic character worthier of the reader's sympathies.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Popular British author Parsons' third novel to be published in the U.S. (after Man and Boy [2001] and Man and Wife [2003]) is a heartfelt, true-to-life look at a young man grappling with the death of his wife. Alfie Budd found The One when he met Rose in Hong Kong. But when a tragic accident takes her away from him forever, he is completely lost. He returns to his parents' home in London only to discover his father, the best-selling author of a memoir about growing up poor, is having an affair with the family's au pair. Alfie finally gets himself a job teaching English as a second language to immigrants, and there he discovers a bevy of women who are willing to sleep with him. But it isn't until he meets Jackie Day, a tough young cleaning lady who wants him to be her literature teacher so that she can go to the university, that he actually starts to feel again. Like Parsons' other novels, this one deals with a man having to grow up and move on and is filled with details and observations that are moving, painful, and compellingly true. Another winner from Parsons. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY HEART. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY HEART. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, good deal, delivered fast,
This review is from: One For My Baby (Paperback)
I had been wary of third party sellers in the past, but I'm very pleased with this purchase. It was delivered quickly, the book is in great shape & the cost was an excellent deal. Thank you. The book itself is a great one, but for some reason not readily available in my area. I look forward to reading it again.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written character study,
By
This review is from: One for My Baby: A Novel (Hardcover)
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
5.0 out of 5 stars
Second As Enjoyable As His First,
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This review is from: ONE FOR MY BABY (Paperback)
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.
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