From Amazon.com
Man and Wife, the sequel to Tony Parsons's bestselling debut
Man and Boy, follows the marital and parental misadventures of Harry Silver, a mawkish North London television producer. Harry has remarried. Second wife Cyd and her feisty daughter, Peggy, provide him and his
Phantom Menace-obsessed son, Pat, with a family. Harry's luck couldn't be better. His television show,
Fish on Friday, is a hit and Cyd's posh catering company, Food Glorious Food, is thriving. However, Harry is not the only one starting again. His ex-wife Gina has also remarried. Her partner Richard (who must be the only thirtysomething male on the planet who hates
Star Wars) is Pat's "new father." When the couple announce they are moving to America--taking Pat with them--Harry reacts, in time-honored fashion, by attacking Richard. Separated from his son by the Atlantic and struggling as Peggy's stepfather, Harry begins to yearn for a good, old-fashioned "normal, family life"--the kind his lovely old mum and dear departed dad enjoyed. Rather surprisingly, he decides that Kazumi, an attractive Japanese photographer friend of Gina's, could be the answer to his prayers.
Male frailty and the perils of modern parenting are Parsons's forte, but Man and Wife, although occasionally touching, is overburdened by plot twists, unlikely conceits, and whiffs of reactionary sentimentality. Parsons's fans are unlikely to be disappointed but, to indulge in a vaguely pertinent comparison, this follow-up is definitely more Attack of the Clones than The Empire Strikes Back. --Travis Elborough, Amazon.co.uk
From Publishers Weekly
Parsons is the author of Man and Boy, a sentimental tale of a savvy London TV producer learning to come to terms with his small son after a divorce. That book was a runaway success in the author's native land and scored a large paperback sale in the U.S.; now Parsons has a new American publisher. He does not, however, have a very new story to tell, and as the title indicates, this is essentially a sequel. Harry Silver is remarried to upwardly mobile caterer Cyd, who also has a child, Peggy, by a previous marriage. It is hard enough for Harry to make friends with Peggy and cope with a wife whose work keeps her out of the house a lot, but he must also keep in touch with his son, Pat, whom former wife Gina is whisking off to the States with her new husband. There are a lot of rather formulaic situations here, and Parsons is determined to milk every situation for a possible tear or two, including Harry's ill-advised romance with a lovely Japanese photographer. What prevents the book from dissolving into pure mush is Parsons's eye for the humor in awkward situations-the supermarket scene in which Peggy blandly makes Harry out to be a child molester is beautifully done-and his nostalgic feeling for an older generation made of sterner stuff: his portrait of Harry's aging mum, battling cancer, is the best part of the book. There's a real writer at work here.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
