First Book: Man and Boy

So, I decided an exciting thing to do would be to record all the books I read this year in this journal. My dad urged me years ago to make a list of all the books I'd ever read, sort of a curicculum vitae, I guess... I was intrigued but daunted by the prospect and I never did. However, new year means a new start, and yesterday I finished the first book of the new year. :) It was Man and Boy by Tony Parsons, a book I had heard vaguely about and perhaps seen in the bookstore. I got this book in New York City, when Rachel and I went to meet up with Charlotte and Katie and Julia and see The Gentleman Dancing Master by good old Little Willy. After getting off the Chinatown bus, I discovered there are a dearth of bathrooms in Chinatown, at least that I could find, and ended up taking refuge in a library. Said library had a book sale.... 10 books for a dollar. I couldn't believe my eyes. That meant the books were 10 CENTS EACH. I bought ten, as you might imagine. Well, I bought nine and Rachel bought one, amid much bemusement on her part at my extravagance. Or whimsy, or something. I don't really know, as it seemed the only sensible course of action to me. Anyway, one of these ten books was Man and Boy.

I started Man and Boy because I wanted something engaging, and realistic, and not too heavy. It was, in fact, all of those things. I definitely liked it more at the end than I did in the beginning... I think it's interesting how that happens in some books: you're going along thinking, well, this is ok, but essentially you aren't fully engaged. And then, suddenly, something makes it personal to you, and you're with the story in a different way. For a lot of the book, I felt like it was probably very relevant to a lot of people, but that I was not yet in the stage of life that would make it relevant to me. And the writing was... simple, and straightforward. However, as the book progressed I got more into it, especially Harry(the narrator)'s relationship with his son. Which was, of course, one of the main points of the book. I think I was interested, in general, to see how a man wrote a novel that seemed to parallel a lot of popular novels aimed at women from a male perspective. I found that I understood and was sympathetic to Harry's motivations, even when he was making bad decisions. On the other hand, I was puzzled by Gina, his ex-wife, even though perhaps if I was in her situation I'd have behaved more similarly. I don't really know.

I liked Harry's puzzle about where he was in time and society, and what it meant to be alive and struggling now, as opposed to in the (overly) idealized world of his parents. And one part when he was saying goodbye to his son, Pat, really made me think of my father, and almost made me cry.

I'm not sure what I'm going to to do with the book. I'd be willing to give it up to bookcrossing, but I feel like I want to be sure that somebody receives it, maybe, instead of just dropping it off somewhere. We'll see.

Happy 2006 reading! Or something. :)