Advantages: Intelligent, readable, some laughs too
Disadvantages: Maudlin, sentimental, a wee bit over the top

...Tony Parsons, for those of you who don't know already, is a bit of a controversial bloke. In his youth, as a journalist at the then-edgy NME, he was married to Julie Burchill. She famously left him holding the baby, giving the inspiration for Parson's first novel, Man and Boy. As a proper grown up, he has now graduated to contributing challenging, angry pieces to various mags and papers, as well as spraffing pretentious yet compulsive drivel on the wonderful Late Review programme. He is famously outspoken on the subject of women’s equality (sample quote:'there is no sight more degrading than that of a drunken woman') and never shies away from the non-PC. Having said all that, both of his novels have had major success with the masses. In fact, he has been compared with Nick Hornby etc when it comes to chronicling... Read review

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Advantages: a moving read
Disadvantages: not of the highest literary value

...I’ve just discovered Tony Parsons. Don’t snigger, you who’ve known him for ages, in case you’re old enough, from the seventies, first as a music journalist who has become a cult figure on the grounds of his interviews with The Clash, Sex Pistols, Blondie, Talking Heads, later, in the eighties for his journalistic work as a reporter for GQ, Elle et al, and in the nineties as a regular guest on BBC’s Late Review. And in 1999 he published the novel ‘Man and Boy’ which was on the British bestseller list for 50 weeks! It was Book of the Year and won the British Book Awards. How could I not notice him? Well, not living in GB I don’t know everything that’s going on in your country and I obviously always looked and listened the other way when his name came up. How then did our... Read review

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Advantages: A well-written, emotional story.
Disadvantages: Too "girly" for most men!

...I would love to meet Tony Parsons; the author of The Family Way and three other best-selling novels. The man fascinates me, he is a former punk journalist who was once married to the slightly scary Julie Burchell. If you didn't know better you would think he was a typical un-reconstructed male, a bit of a lad, a bit of a yob. But read any of his books and a totally different character emerges - Tony Parsons is (in his own words) "a big softy". I have just finished reading The Family Way and, as usual, Parsons has had me reaching for the Kleenex. There is something so gentle about his writing style that it is almost impossible to believe his books are written by a "bloke". The Family Way centres around three sisters, Cat, Jessica and Megan, who as small children were abandoned by their mother. They grew up with their fairly... Read review

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Advantages: It gives a brilliant insight of what parenting, life and heartahe is all about
Disadvantages: Ummm...mu hubbys pinched it so I cant read it again :-(

...to Japan to find the self she lost in their marriage, he meets a new love, Cyd Mason, a feisty waitress from Texas. He takes a part-time job with an anxiety-ridden Irish comic and briefly hires an inept nanny with a mind-boggling method for cooking soup. Adapting to single parenthood leads Harry to reassess the wobbly relationship with his own caring father, a World War II hero. It says on the front of this book by Tony Parsons, " Book of the Year" and " I cried five times and laughed out loud four" J.Brown, Observer. Two very apt statements which will carry this book on and on in the book industry. Tony parsons has definitely surpassed himself writing such an in-depth, true to life, heart rending book about life and love. Believe me, it is very true to life. Not having been through a separation or divorce as an adult and although... Read review

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Advantages: Great writing, warmth without sentimentality and fantastic comic situations
Disadvantages: None at all!

...Who would have thought that Tony Parsons, straight-talking columnist and regular of The Late Review, would produce a novel like this? I first knew of Tony Parsons through his writings for, amongst other publications, the NME ans incisive books on pop culture. I was a big fan of his sharp style so I was very keen to investigate his novels. Though the punchy, brisk style is no surprise, the subject matter certainly is. Clearly something has happened to Parsons to bring this about. In fact, it was his own experience of fatherhood which gave Parsons the insight he draws upon for this novel. "Man & Boy" recounts the story of Harry Silver, a man who has it all and then loses it in one night. When the story begins, Harry is starting to panic about his impending thirtieth birhday. His solution? Buy a red sports car of course... Read review

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Advantages: good writing style, some excellent characters
Disadvantages: some really annoying characters, repetitive messages

...When I realised that there was a book by Tony Parson's that I had not yet read, I was quite excited. I had very much enjoyed his previous work, especially "Man and Boy", which is an extremely well written novel insofar as it covers a topic that would normally just appeal to women in such a brilliant way that it even appealed to some of the male population. I also very much enjoyed "Man and Wife", even though it did not quite meet the standards of its predecessor. On the cover of "Family Way", the reader is promised that this new bestseller is Parson's best since "Man and Boy", so it indeed sounded like a winner to me. The story deals with the lives of three sisters, aged between 25 and 40, who have not had the easiest life. Their parents divorced early, and they were raised by a mother who never took much interest in her girls... Read review

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Advantages: Darth Vader's on the front cover
Disadvantages: everyone lives Harrily ever after

...Ok so here goes with only the second op of this book! Shopping Girl had fair put me off reading this but as I've read the other 2 TP books, I thought I'd find out what happened in the continued saga of Harry Silver. OK so the recommended price is £6.99 and I got it for £3.84 in Asda so that might have had something to do with me picking it up. Plus the cover is pretty eye catching in paperback - totally black with a mini Darth Vader (red light sabre clutched in left hand - was DV left handed?!) and his pretty dolly bride with curly hair. Big letters in white read Tony Parsons (in lower case, hmm) and also 'man and wife' in lower case. Then at the very bottom 'the unforgettable sequel to the bestselling 'Man and boy'. On the inside cover is a photo of Tony Parsons and a few words about him saying that he was a regular guest... Read review

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Advantages: Did ya like the last one? This one's just the same.
Disadvantages: I mean, it's *identical*.

...Some of the more astute readers out there may be familiar with my op on Tony Parsons’ ‘One For My Baby’ – the book he wrote to follow up the phenomenal ‘Man and Boy’. I gave it a grudging thumbs up, though I had a few reservations. Now – I have no reservations! Tony has truly lost the plot with this one, and here is why. Well, you might have been forgiven for thinking that One For My Baby was actually the sequel to Man and Boy – they had very similar covers, and were both about very similar themes. But it wasn’t. It was about another bloke/ plot entirely. Man and Wife, however, *is* the sequel to Man and Boy, and takes up the story pretty much where it was left off. To refresh your memories, or to fill you in of you’re new to this man’s work, here is what happened... Read review

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Advantages: Everyone can relate
Disadvantages: Slow start

...bits were a little unrealistic and a little to convenient in order to help the plot go where Tony Parsons wanted it to go. For example, I'm always a bit critical when people just happen to bump into each other in the middle of a city etc. Maybe I'm just being too critical as it has even happened to me when you bump into people in unlikely places etc, but I found two of the characters accidentally bumping into each other while coincidentally holidaying in the same resort, at the same time, and being on the same street in that resort a little too far fetched. The other down point would be it can be repetitive in parts. The first time a point is made you will find yourself nodding along agreeing but by the eight time they've laboured that same point throughout the book it gets a little tiresome. The worst case of this is Michaels droning... Read review

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Advantages: Genuinely moving
Disadvantages: Can't think of any.

...If someone had told me a week ago that Tony Parsons would make me cry - and not with irritation - I would have directed them to the nearest loony bin. You may know Tony Parsons. Not personally I mean, but he does tend to put himself about a bit. He's that really annoying mouthy columnist from the Mirror who gets hired by everyone from Question Time to Have I Got News For You to be loud and laddish but just intelligent enough to get away with it. His other main claim is having been married once to Julie Burchill, one of the few people who can actually rival him in the irritation stakes. Personally, he drives me crazy, and my only thought about him was that he and Julie deserved each other. However, having read this book, I may have to revise my opinion. Harry Silver is a successful television producer, a working man made good... Read review

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