På engelska så klart!:
My expectations on this book were high. And as soon as I finaly got it from the library I Couldn't keep myself away from it. I Loved it from the first page to the last! On the cover it says that James brown has said in the Observer that he cried five times and laughed out loud four. I didn't really really cry, even thou the grandfaither died. He was after all 70 something. And such happens everyday. I'm not saying that it isn't a big dela, cos it is, but I can never get that engaged. Whatever, I don't know why I'm writing this. As for the laughing. I alughed a lot more that four times. Pat, the boy, was just so cute.
Anyway. Man and Boy was Nick Hornby indeed, but even better actually. The book and the characters were just so symphatetic. Funny and hilarious and everything. Man and Boy is really about men in three generations. Gradfather Paddy, 70 something, typical for his generation, has been in the war, that is a very manly man. Father Harry, 30, left by his wife, forced to take care of his child by himself. Pat, 5, little cute boy with small worries. On the backcover Mail on Sunday says that the book is a love letter to a son from his father, and to a father from his son. That is absolutely right. A perfect way to describe the book.
Thames in the book are fathers and families in the chaotic world of today and the peaceful world of yesterday. (Ok, that's a little too rough.) Anyway. The role of the father in a family. Is the mother supposed to do all houswork and mind the children and the father to go to work and bring in money? Hardly. Not today. But some men and woman still take for granted that there are separate men's and women's duties. Dad drives the car, and mum does the cooking. It's all about the upbringing. I mean, take our house. Mum seratinly used to do all the cooking and cleaning etc, and now when she can't, I do it. Well, not the cleaning, cos most of the time I don't see that necessary, but the cooking. Cos dad can't cook, but I can, even thou I hadn't cooked that much before I took over mun's duties. I couldn't imagine anything else. Well, I wonder if there's a point in this.
Anyway. I just loved the book, and am eagerly looking forward to reading the sequel and anything ekse by Tony Parsons.