Man and Boy by Tony Parsons - 2 stars **This book has been sat on my shelf for a while, as I wasn't massively bothered about reading it based on the blurb. It sounded decent, but a little typical, and I like reading novels with a bit of depth. Not one to judge a book by its cover though, I eventually got around to reading it, and actually enjoyed it, finishing it in less than a week (the joys of short, simple books!).
It is about a man in his early thirties, who, bored by his mundane life, cheats on his wife, who subsequently packs off for a new job in Japan, leaving him to look after their four year old son, Paddy. It is a pretty stock story - he has to learn to be a father, deal with the guilt of having ruined his family life, and get back onto the dating scene, but it has some comedic moments, and the lead character Harry is believable and honest with the reader.
There are some issues I have with Man and Boy though. It contains lots of overt cliches - the ex wife gets with a new hot shot businessman, Harry loses his job as soon as he has been dumped, babysitters are gum-chewing chavs with piercings, gays are pink-wearing snakehipped dancers... you get the idea. Towards the end it also got quite preachy and OTT, throwing comments around about learning from mistakes, and saying that children are the most beautiful things on Earth, and that we have to learn to let go. Basically, it is a story to be taken with a pinch of salt, and though I won't be rushing out to buy the latest Tony Parsons instalment, it was a pleasant read that made me chuckle.
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