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One for My Baby
Slightly bent corners
330 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
56 people are currently reading
871 people want to read
About the author
Tony Parsons
65 books898 followersThere is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Tony Parsons (born 6 November 1953) is a British journalist broadcaster and author. He began his career as a music journalist on the NME, writing about punk music. Later, he wrote for The Daily Telegraph, before going on to write his current column for the Daily Mirror. Parsons was for a time a regular guest on the BBC Two arts review programme The Late Show, and still appears infrequently on the successor Newsnight Review; he also briefly hosted a series on Channel 4 called Big Mouth.
He is the author of the multi-million selling novel, Man and Boy (1999). Parsons had written a number of novels including The Kids (1976), Platinum Logic (1981) and Limelight Blues (1983), before he found mainstream success by focussing on the tribulations of thirty-something men. Parsons has since published a series of best-selling novels – One For My Baby (2001), Man and Wife (2003), The Family Way (2004), Stories We Could Tell (2006), My Favourite Wife (2007), Starting Over (2009) and Men From the Boys (2010). His novels typically deal with relationship problems, emotional dramas and the traumas of men and women in our time. He describes his writing as 'Men Lit', as opposed to the rising popularity of 'Chick Lit'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Par...
Tony Parsons (born 6 November 1953) is a British journalist broadcaster and author. He began his career as a music journalist on the NME, writing about punk music. Later, he wrote for The Daily Telegraph, before going on to write his current column for the Daily Mirror. Parsons was for a time a regular guest on the BBC Two arts review programme The Late Show, and still appears infrequently on the successor Newsnight Review; he also briefly hosted a series on Channel 4 called Big Mouth.
He is the author of the multi-million selling novel, Man and Boy (1999). Parsons had written a number of novels including The Kids (1976), Platinum Logic (1981) and Limelight Blues (1983), before he found mainstream success by focussing on the tribulations of thirty-something men. Parsons has since published a series of best-selling novels – One For My Baby (2001), Man and Wife (2003), The Family Way (2004), Stories We Could Tell (2006), My Favourite Wife (2007), Starting Over (2009) and Men From the Boys (2010). His novels typically deal with relationship problems, emotional dramas and the traumas of men and women in our time. He describes his writing as 'Men Lit', as opposed to the rising popularity of 'Chick Lit'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Par...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
November 8, 2017
DNF.
I thought this book is a romantic kind of book. So when I start reading it, it is a romantic book. About finding love at the first sight, the unlucky one and the clueless one. But the more i read the more confuse I become. It seems this book is also about cross culture between west and east.
I try and try to keep going. But I give up. I do not feel THAT chemical connection with the writing style. Hence I can not feel any connection at all with the characters.
I thought this book is a romantic kind of book. So when I start reading it, it is a romantic book. About finding love at the first sight, the unlucky one and the clueless one. But the more i read the more confuse I become. It seems this book is also about cross culture between west and east.
I try and try to keep going. But I give up. I do not feel THAT chemical connection with the writing style. Hence I can not feel any connection at all with the characters.
September 5, 2017
For the most part pedestrian, relying on stereotypical characters and clichéd narrative – Tony Parson’s mildly diverting novels certainly served a purpose in the late 1990’s / early 2000’s when they first starting coming out – giving permission and opening the door the perhaps previously non-book reading 30/40-something lads/men to read about and indulge in stories of other men and the various life dilemmas faced by the pre-millennial male in modern society, providing characters they could identify with and life choices they could relate to.
Ultimately though, these novels are uninspiring, verging on the lazy. After the success of ‘Man & Boy’ the following novels from Parsons essentially followed and relied on the same narrative template.
Whatever happened to the former ‘enfants terrible’ of the UK music press, who along with Julie Burchill terrorised the staid, conservative and self-indulgent writings of their elder music journalist peers? Well I guess they grew up, like we all do – but maybe along the way some of that fire has certainly been lost, that attention grabbing and exciting music journalism became by comparison, utterly mundane in these generic ‘modern/contemporary’ novels. These novels by Tony Parsons, whilst largely proficient, lack excitement and inspiration – ultimately betraying all that early promise. Unless of course all that ‘kicking against the establishment’ was merely a pose, a pretension symptomatic of the time and perhaps rooted in an underlying and cynical careerist agenda all along – who knows?
Whilst Parson was initially kicking against the establishment back in the late 1970’s, he then quite decidedly became the establishment – an inevitable transition perhaps, but such a ‘revolt into style’ doesn’t necessarily have to equate to such a literary decline. Where Parsons once had so much to say, there now seems so little to be told. Parsons is now reportedly a staunch supporter of the UK Conservative Party and now apparently rails against people having tattoos…need I say more?
There is in the end, nothing particularly bad about these novels – they are proficient and mildly diverting, but they do lack any real excitement, seem bereft of inspiration and are – ultimately disposable.
Ultimately though, these novels are uninspiring, verging on the lazy. After the success of ‘Man & Boy’ the following novels from Parsons essentially followed and relied on the same narrative template.
Whatever happened to the former ‘enfants terrible’ of the UK music press, who along with Julie Burchill terrorised the staid, conservative and self-indulgent writings of their elder music journalist peers? Well I guess they grew up, like we all do – but maybe along the way some of that fire has certainly been lost, that attention grabbing and exciting music journalism became by comparison, utterly mundane in these generic ‘modern/contemporary’ novels. These novels by Tony Parsons, whilst largely proficient, lack excitement and inspiration – ultimately betraying all that early promise. Unless of course all that ‘kicking against the establishment’ was merely a pose, a pretension symptomatic of the time and perhaps rooted in an underlying and cynical careerist agenda all along – who knows?
Whilst Parson was initially kicking against the establishment back in the late 1970’s, he then quite decidedly became the establishment – an inevitable transition perhaps, but such a ‘revolt into style’ doesn’t necessarily have to equate to such a literary decline. Where Parsons once had so much to say, there now seems so little to be told. Parsons is now reportedly a staunch supporter of the UK Conservative Party and now apparently rails against people having tattoos…need I say more?
There is in the end, nothing particularly bad about these novels – they are proficient and mildly diverting, but they do lack any real excitement, seem bereft of inspiration and are – ultimately disposable.
October 19, 2007
I wonder how much Tony Parsons bases his characters on himself--his books always seem very personal.
This one is sweet without being saccharine, and still engaging and very fun. The characters are all very much present and well-formed--even the secondary ones. I liked Alfie although I couldn't get worked up enough to love him, but I did really love his Nan. She's the kind of person I'd like to be.
Parsons is very good at looking at family, and he made me think about my own as I was reading. I loved the Changs, of course, and their noisy closeness, and I was sad when the yonger Changs decided to move to the suburbs . . . but it was realistic that they'd leave their bad city neighborhood for the suburbs.
Parsons is also good at looking at loneliness, and come to think about it, that's a logical extension of looking at family, isn't it?
I don't own any Parsons, but I'd like to.
This one is sweet without being saccharine, and still engaging and very fun. The characters are all very much present and well-formed--even the secondary ones. I liked Alfie although I couldn't get worked up enough to love him, but I did really love his Nan. She's the kind of person I'd like to be.
Parsons is very good at looking at family, and he made me think about my own as I was reading. I loved the Changs, of course, and their noisy closeness, and I was sad when the yonger Changs decided to move to the suburbs . . . but it was realistic that they'd leave their bad city neighborhood for the suburbs.
Parsons is also good at looking at loneliness, and come to think about it, that's a logical extension of looking at family, isn't it?
I don't own any Parsons, but I'd like to.
May 24, 2020
Enjoyed this. Had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't an autobiography.
Yes, main character was unlikeable at times but this only added to his charm.
Another of Tony Parson's that I have enjoyed.
Yes, main character was unlikeable at times but this only added to his charm.
Another of Tony Parson's that I have enjoyed.
April 4, 2014
I'm getting really irritated with this book.Actually I've finished getting irritated with it because I 'm not going to finish it. This guy-Tony Parson's a good writer. So why does he use so much trickery and it's the kind of trickery that is just plain annoying.In the very beginning he tells us his wife - who he loved enormously- has died.
Okay Tony- so how'd she die?
Fair question, no?
No apparently not. He keeps us guessing until I feel like some kind of gossipy fishwife- because all I want to know - is how did this broad die?
So he keeps referring to how he lost everything when he lost her but he won't tell us HOW SHE BLOODY DIED.
Why not? because ... because... I'm guessing it's some fancy literary doodad-some kind of classy convention, to keep us guessing but it's a royal pain in the ass.
When he finally alludes to her actual death- he still won't elaborate-it's all so classy and understated that finally I just found this book and this style, like I said- a royal pain in the ass.
Good luck. But it ain't for me.
You have a story to tell- you tell it. You don't play with your reader and manipulate reactions like that.
Thats just plain stupid.Your readers are smarter than that. JM
Okay Tony- so how'd she die?
Fair question, no?
No apparently not. He keeps us guessing until I feel like some kind of gossipy fishwife- because all I want to know - is how did this broad die?
So he keeps referring to how he lost everything when he lost her but he won't tell us HOW SHE BLOODY DIED.
Why not? because ... because... I'm guessing it's some fancy literary doodad-some kind of classy convention, to keep us guessing but it's a royal pain in the ass.
When he finally alludes to her actual death- he still won't elaborate-it's all so classy and understated that finally I just found this book and this style, like I said- a royal pain in the ass.
Good luck. But it ain't for me.
You have a story to tell- you tell it. You don't play with your reader and manipulate reactions like that.
Thats just plain stupid.Your readers are smarter than that. JM
January 1, 2015
One for my baby
This just elbows out 'Man and Boy' for me.
Here Parson's asks, does anyone really get a second shot at finding love?
Shamelessly sentimental, which would be a knock if it didn't work so effectively, Parsons not so much pulls at your heart strings as feeds 'em into a diabolical loom of his own construction and practically makes sweater out of them.
There so much to love here, so many wonderful characters and great wonderfully constructed moments, one that really gets to the heart of why there really is someone for everyone out there.
And should you catch me with my eyes looking a bit pink? It just my hay-fever, man, just my hay-fever...
- John Bowen is the author of 'Where the Dead Walk' and 'Vessel'. You can find him here on GoodReads, and his published work at Amazon.
This just elbows out 'Man and Boy' for me.
Here Parson's asks, does anyone really get a second shot at finding love?
Shamelessly sentimental, which would be a knock if it didn't work so effectively, Parsons not so much pulls at your heart strings as feeds 'em into a diabolical loom of his own construction and practically makes sweater out of them.
There so much to love here, so many wonderful characters and great wonderfully constructed moments, one that really gets to the heart of why there really is someone for everyone out there.
And should you catch me with my eyes looking a bit pink? It just my hay-fever, man, just my hay-fever...
- John Bowen is the author of 'Where the Dead Walk' and 'Vessel'. You can find him here on GoodReads, and his published work at Amazon.
May 26, 2010
First book i read by this author, it was brilliant.
Full of humour, sadness, real life situations and emotions that touch us all.
A great read.
Full of humour, sadness, real life situations and emotions that touch us all.
A great read.
November 9, 2016
Najbolje u vezi ove knjige je to sto se zavrsila. Mukotrpna prica bez nekih posebnih emocija sa iritantnim likovima.
Jedina pozitivna stvar u cijeloj prici je baka, nesebicna i ponosna starica, koja se suocava damski sa svim sto ju snadje i govori istinu o tome ko je kriv pa makar i ne bila na strani svog sina.
Jedina pozitivna stvar u cijeloj prici je baka, nesebicna i ponosna starica, koja se suocava damski sa svim sto ju snadje i govori istinu o tome ko je kriv pa makar i ne bila na strani svog sina.
May 8, 2008
Similar to Man and Boy but maybe better. These books are like candy and you can't put them down. To me that's a sign of a good author.
August 1, 2015
This book was enjoyable enough to read, and Parsons writing is as sharp as ever, but I felt the plot really meandered, and I saw a lot of the same themes and scenes as in his other books.
November 16, 2019
In my top 100 books. Tony Parsons ALWAYS makes me cry. Such an understanding of human emotions, particularly of death.
April 8, 2019
Surprisingly good!
January 4, 2019
Good book, easy to read, funny, poignant. After reading the blurb, I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but I enjoyed this.
September 16, 2021
Enjoyed, like his other books, thought patterns and comments of real life as it happens, simple drama.
July 24, 2020
Looking at the title, I didn’t expect much. I thought it would be a waste of time. This was one of my wife’s books that sit in a collection rarely look at. It was a good read, felt like drinking five pints with a mate, catching up on old times while filling in the gaps in between.
November 30, 2009
Precis: The plot - a guy has it all, living in Hong Kong, married to a wonderful woman, his world falls apart when she dies, and he returns to the UK. Flails about a bit in depression, sleeps around, and then life takes a turn for the better.
I realy enjoyed this book, despite it not being my kind of thing, and not really liking the end. I did not like the protagonist overmuch, but that was okay, as I was kept reading because of the characters that I did like - his students, his Mum, his Nan, George Chang, Rose... in fact, the three characters involved at the end, Alfie, Jackie and Plum are the three characters I didn't warm to at all, which explains why I didn't much like the end.
No, it is more than that - yes, I felt that I did not know Jackie and Plum very well, and both seemed in some way desperate, which is not an endearing trait, but the book ends shortly after a jump in time of over a year to the news that several issues are resolved, and that felt like a cheap gimmick to me.
Still, for some reason I had mistaken Tony Parsons in my mind with another male writer, whose book when I read it a couple of years ago turned out to be chick lit full of steriotypical women. At least I have found out my memory's lie, and would happily read another Parsons' book
I realy enjoyed this book, despite it not being my kind of thing, and not really liking the end. I did not like the protagonist overmuch, but that was okay, as I was kept reading because of the characters that I did like - his students, his Mum, his Nan, George Chang, Rose... in fact, the three characters involved at the end, Alfie, Jackie and Plum are the three characters I didn't warm to at all, which explains why I didn't much like the end.
No, it is more than that - yes, I felt that I did not know Jackie and Plum very well, and both seemed in some way desperate, which is not an endearing trait, but the book ends shortly after a jump in time of over a year to the news that several issues are resolved, and that felt like a cheap gimmick to me.
Still, for some reason I had mistaken Tony Parsons in my mind with another male writer, whose book when I read it a couple of years ago turned out to be chick lit full of steriotypical women. At least I have found out my memory's lie, and would happily read another Parsons' book
March 3, 2020
Meh. 2,5 afgerond naar 2, want ja, eigenlijk was het gewoon dat, "ok". Nog wel graag gelezen omdat het wel gemakkelijk weg leest en dat soms weleens tof is. Maar Alfie is zo’n - om begrijpelijke redenen - bitter personage dat ik een paar keer gedacht hebt dat het mocht gaan gedaan zijn. Het boek had voor mij een kwart dunner kunnen zijn om hetzelfde verhaal te vertellen.
Ik las het trouwens als papieren boek (want uitgeleend van een vriendin) en amai, ik vond dat echt niet meer aangenaam. Zo’n gesukkel met openhouden in bed en licht nodig hebben en mijn lief wakker houden en al!! Dat heeft de leeservaring ook wel een beetje negatief beïnvloed. (Shit, heb ik dat nu echt geschreven?! Maar ja, het was gewoon zo. Don’t shoot me.)
"It's funny. You love something and then one day it's suddenly gone or changed or lost forever. But somehow that doesn't stop your love. Maybe that's how you know it's the real thing. When it doesn’t come with conditions and get-out clauses, when it doesn't have a best-by date. When you just give your love, and never stop giving it, and know that you never will. That's when it is real. That's when they can never touch it or spoil it or take it away from you."
Ik las het trouwens als papieren boek (want uitgeleend van een vriendin) en amai, ik vond dat echt niet meer aangenaam. Zo’n gesukkel met openhouden in bed en licht nodig hebben en mijn lief wakker houden en al!! Dat heeft de leeservaring ook wel een beetje negatief beïnvloed. (Shit, heb ik dat nu echt geschreven?! Maar ja, het was gewoon zo. Don’t shoot me.)
"It's funny. You love something and then one day it's suddenly gone or changed or lost forever. But somehow that doesn't stop your love. Maybe that's how you know it's the real thing. When it doesn’t come with conditions and get-out clauses, when it doesn't have a best-by date. When you just give your love, and never stop giving it, and know that you never will. That's when it is real. That's when they can never touch it or spoil it or take it away from you."
August 13, 2024
An unlikable man loses his new wife in a tragic diving accident and makes it the problem of every woman he meets from then on until he eventually burns through enough hearts to learn to feel like he's worthy of love.
And listen, this book was not irredeemable, some of the relationships had a little complexity to them that kept it interesting, and even though the main character was pretty insufferable, other characters around him did give him hell for it pretty often. It's just incredible how much havoc one emotionally ignorant man can wreak without ever really feeling the sting of it himself, and still coming out of the ordeal 'fixed'. I don't know, maybe I'm being harsh, but you try to get through chapters of him being a sexual predator going after foreign girls 15 years younger than he is only for him to try and lure even more his way by advertising private English language lessons, and tell me how you feel.
I'm not sure I would really recommend this book, but it might actually make for a good book discussion because I think there would be a lot of opinions.
And listen, this book was not irredeemable, some of the relationships had a little complexity to them that kept it interesting, and even though the main character was pretty insufferable, other characters around him did give him hell for it pretty often. It's just incredible how much havoc one emotionally ignorant man can wreak without ever really feeling the sting of it himself, and still coming out of the ordeal 'fixed'. I don't know, maybe I'm being harsh, but you try to get through chapters of him being a sexual predator going after foreign girls 15 years younger than he is only for him to try and lure even more his way by advertising private English language lessons, and tell me how you feel.
I'm not sure I would really recommend this book, but it might actually make for a good book discussion because I think there would be a lot of opinions.
September 21, 2015
"Following the death of his wife , the main character Alfie returns home to England after a period of living and working i Hong Kong. Struggling to come to grips with the loss, he finds that nothing is the same at home either. Being convinced that you only get one chance at happiness he throw himself into a succession of meaningsless relationships and omne night stands with the students at the school where he teaches. Parsons at his best brings out characters that actually feels true with flaws, insecurities and egotistical motives as well as being kind, sacrificing and decent people, instead of just one or the other."
May 31, 2015
Was recommended to read this book.
Amazing fact is when you are reading and the story behind it something you might have experienced already. The story is taking part in one of my favourite city -London. And description of places here are amazing and familiar, something you know and been there.
Overall, the story is amazing. We love, we lose, and ... we gain something new but be ready to be able to open your heart to experience new feelings.
Also, I loved the way of description and passion of Frank Sinatra's music. Every time the song was described in the book, I was re-playing it in my memory.
Thank you or my friend for recommendation and lending me a book :)
Amazing fact is when you are reading and the story behind it something you might have experienced already. The story is taking part in one of my favourite city -London. And description of places here are amazing and familiar, something you know and been there.
Overall, the story is amazing. We love, we lose, and ... we gain something new but be ready to be able to open your heart to experience new feelings.
Also, I loved the way of description and passion of Frank Sinatra's music. Every time the song was described in the book, I was re-playing it in my memory.
Thank you or my friend for recommendation and lending me a book :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2019
I didn’t get a great deal from this book. I didn’t feel too attached to any of the characters or the need to know how the story ended. It took me longer to read than it should have done because I didn’t feel too compelled to pick it back up!
The storyline seemed to meander and dip in and out of side plots which I felt didn’t get balanced amounts of attention.
Some bits were very muddled and confusing.
I didn’t see the main point or message in the book if i’m honest, it’s lost on me...
However, the writing style itself was easy enough to read and there were snippets of humour which I got on with.
The storyline seemed to meander and dip in and out of side plots which I felt didn’t get balanced amounts of attention.
Some bits were very muddled and confusing.
I didn’t see the main point or message in the book if i’m honest, it’s lost on me...
However, the writing style itself was easy enough to read and there were snippets of humour which I got on with.
April 8, 2010
Tony Parson sangat pandai dalam menuangkan cerita dalam setiap kalimat, bikin penasaran. Membaca buku ini, sama aja belajar menggapai mimpi, bagaimana mempertahankan hidup dan cinta. Menjelajah setiap ruang-ruang yang disajikan Tony Parson membuat kita semakin betah berlama-lama membaca.
January 25, 2020
I really enjoyed Tony Parsons' writing style. I loved the anecdotes and quotes that left you thinking about the paths you've taken for your own life. There were real laugh-out-loud moments and some cringeworthy ones too! An easy and worthwhile read.
October 15, 2007
My favourite Tony Parsons book - written in a witty and engaging fashion
September 20, 2014
778 - 2014
March 16, 2015
Not read, but I won't finish it. I just didn't like it so I quit on page 106.
January 5, 2018
I wasn’t massively enamoured by this book, or the storyline. It was a nice story.... but that was just it, nice.
September 6, 2018
completely magnificent! despite of the lack what happened with George Chang in the end, I can feel what Alfie Budd has been through until he met his real love, brave enough to begin again.
January 18, 2011
I loved this book and was so relevant at a certain time in my life. Loved it
October 7, 2019
For the most part very funny, great observations, a page-turner, an easy read although not too easy, top notch writing skills - expectations were subverted on some occasions, adding to the humour. I was just not that fond of the ending which felt a little contrived. Plus, the fact that the main character Alfie, who is not overly attractive, gets all the beautiful students, is not very realistic, but rather make-believe (catering to all the average/below-average looking guys hoping for something like that happening to them). The author makes it sound believable though, so it's ok I guess. ;-)
Memorable quotes:
Sick and tired of trying to explain the glory and wonder of the English language to children who poured "fuck", "fucking" and "fucked" over their words like ketchup in a burger bar. (p 10)
He had a voice on him that cut right through me, full of private education and a lifetime of privilege and dumb words spoken with all the confidence in the world. (p 16-17)
"He must fuck off to work." Wit enunciates carefully, like a professor of phonetics concluding a particularly tricky tutorial. (p 75)
They laid him in the aisle, stretched out on the floor, right beside me, close enough to touch his terrified face, and two young doctors knelt by his side, pulling his shirt open, talking to him like priests beside a death bed. (p 87)
Love didn't make me a better person. Just the opposite. Love made me indifferent to the rest of the world. Love narrowed my horizons down to a pair of blue eyes , to a goofy smile, to one young woman. (p 87)
I started to ascend to the gathering light while Rose, looking like an astronaut cut from her mooring in space, no longer trailing bubbles, drifted down into shadows that seemed to stretch to infinity. (p 98)
We were in that recompression chamber for two days and two nights, the sickness slowly seeping out of me. But sometimes I feel they didn't get it all out. Sometimes I think sickness came into me that day. And it will be there for as long as I am. (p 103)
For a week the ginseng sits in our kitchen like a piece of modern sculpture. My mother and I spend a long time staring at it, like baffled art lovers searching for meaning in a work we don't quite understand. (p 122)
"I teach," I say, and they both look at me as if I said, "I clean the sewers of the city with a second-hand toothbrush." (p 157)
Didn't somebody once say that Singapore is Disneyland with the death penalty? (p 159)
She looks as though putting on her make-up took about as long as minor heart surgery. But her provocative clothes are like a uniform, or a shield, or a glossy shell. It's a very self-conscious sexiness. As if she looks that way not to advertise something, but to protect it. (p 162)
..her lipstick is very slightly off, like a double exposure on a photograph (p 173)
There she is, on the sofa, still dressed for dancing or double pneumonia (p 199)
She has a fistful of magazines in her hand. They feature men in masks and spandex grimacing and grunting and climbing on top of each other. At first I think this awful child has hard-core pornography in her possession. But then I see that the magazines are about some grotesque new kind of wrestling. (p 217)
[Nan] is staring with enchanted delight at the television where two fat men in luridly coloured latex are screaming at each other. One of the men has a shaven head, the other has Pre-Raphaelite locks that tumble to his meaty shoulders. (p 244)
The Slab turns his back on Billy Cowboy to climb the ropes and lecture the crowd, who all appear to be grotesquely overweight children dressed for their yearly trip to the gym. (p 246)
I am glad that my mother has not shut herself away from the world. But I can't pretend that I relish the idea of her going out on dates, or of some rugged old Kiwi [gardener] roughly sinking his fingers into ther top soil. (p 354)
Lisa Smith is watching me like a short-sighted, bilious old hawk. I am the focus of her attention once more because the police are not going to press charges against Hamish for what he did in that public toilet on Highbury Fields. My colleague was so relieved to be off the hook that he immediately walked down to Leicester square and offered oral sex to an undercover policeman. (p 248)
Memorable quotes:
Sick and tired of trying to explain the glory and wonder of the English language to children who poured "fuck", "fucking" and "fucked" over their words like ketchup in a burger bar. (p 10)
He had a voice on him that cut right through me, full of private education and a lifetime of privilege and dumb words spoken with all the confidence in the world. (p 16-17)
"He must fuck off to work." Wit enunciates carefully, like a professor of phonetics concluding a particularly tricky tutorial. (p 75)
They laid him in the aisle, stretched out on the floor, right beside me, close enough to touch his terrified face, and two young doctors knelt by his side, pulling his shirt open, talking to him like priests beside a death bed. (p 87)
Love didn't make me a better person. Just the opposite. Love made me indifferent to the rest of the world. Love narrowed my horizons down to a pair of blue eyes , to a goofy smile, to one young woman. (p 87)
I started to ascend to the gathering light while Rose, looking like an astronaut cut from her mooring in space, no longer trailing bubbles, drifted down into shadows that seemed to stretch to infinity. (p 98)
We were in that recompression chamber for two days and two nights, the sickness slowly seeping out of me. But sometimes I feel they didn't get it all out. Sometimes I think sickness came into me that day. And it will be there for as long as I am. (p 103)
For a week the ginseng sits in our kitchen like a piece of modern sculpture. My mother and I spend a long time staring at it, like baffled art lovers searching for meaning in a work we don't quite understand. (p 122)
"I teach," I say, and they both look at me as if I said, "I clean the sewers of the city with a second-hand toothbrush." (p 157)
Didn't somebody once say that Singapore is Disneyland with the death penalty? (p 159)
She looks as though putting on her make-up took about as long as minor heart surgery. But her provocative clothes are like a uniform, or a shield, or a glossy shell. It's a very self-conscious sexiness. As if she looks that way not to advertise something, but to protect it. (p 162)
..her lipstick is very slightly off, like a double exposure on a photograph (p 173)
There she is, on the sofa, still dressed for dancing or double pneumonia (p 199)
She has a fistful of magazines in her hand. They feature men in masks and spandex grimacing and grunting and climbing on top of each other. At first I think this awful child has hard-core pornography in her possession. But then I see that the magazines are about some grotesque new kind of wrestling. (p 217)
[Nan] is staring with enchanted delight at the television where two fat men in luridly coloured latex are screaming at each other. One of the men has a shaven head, the other has Pre-Raphaelite locks that tumble to his meaty shoulders. (p 244)
The Slab turns his back on Billy Cowboy to climb the ropes and lecture the crowd, who all appear to be grotesquely overweight children dressed for their yearly trip to the gym. (p 246)
I am glad that my mother has not shut herself away from the world. But I can't pretend that I relish the idea of her going out on dates, or of some rugged old Kiwi [gardener] roughly sinking his fingers into ther top soil. (p 354)
Lisa Smith is watching me like a short-sighted, bilious old hawk. I am the focus of her attention once more because the police are not going to press charges against Hamish for what he did in that public toilet on Highbury Fields. My colleague was so relieved to be off the hook that he immediately walked down to Leicester square and offered oral sex to an undercover policeman. (p 248)
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