My Favourite Wife

I found the contemporary China angle fascinating and as it was a long time since I had read his other books, the characters were fresh. In the light of recent news about infected baby milk and having watched the glitze of the Olympics, it was very interesting to get to the heart of the Chinese people. Life is cheap when there are so many lives in one place and with very little spiritual underpinning of society, the goal is always profit at the sacrifice of feelings.

The family is central again in his novel but the Chinese family relations make for an interesting contrast. His father and their relationship is juxtaposed with the Chinese mistress and her father. Having lived abroad, I really related to the pull of the elderly relatives back at home and the innocence of those newly arrived compared to those who have lived in such an environment for some time.

Not a book to make you feel comfortable, either with the Western influence on Chinese society or the inner workings of the heart.

I'm disappointed! (0/0 people found this helpful)

"My favourite wife" is a poor version of "Man and Boy" set in China. It lacks the first novel's fun, tenderness, real-life characters and gripping story-line. Tony Parsons re-uses all the issues he dealt with in his bestseller: strong love for an only child, fear of losing this child after the wife finds out about the mistress (who's cliché and you can't feel with her), breast cancer, losing a job, a strong, dying father figure (this one just another version of Harry Silver's dad's personality and lacking his importance in the development of the main character) and a selfish main character. Compared to Harry Silver of "Man and Boy", Bill Holden is not the least likeable, full of self-pity and his decisions and actions are not understandable at all (the "returning the key" incident, or the reason for which he gets fired in the end). There are many sentences which seem just repeated from a few pages before, there are themes which have been in Tony Parson's novels before ("rest your eyes") and there are breaks within the story which make it even harder to get into it.
In an interview enclosed Tony Parsosn even says that the main character's family might as well have appeared in Man and Boy and the only new thing about this book is the Shanghai aspect of the story. For everyone who's interested in a detailed picture of 21st century Shanghai and has not read Man and Boy, it might be okay. However, I really hope he'll write something as touching and gripping as "The family way", "Man and boy" or "One for my baby" next.

Disappointing (5/5 people found this helpful)

Tony Parsons' books used to be my staple holiday reading. Not any more. Whilst the research into China is impressive, the book is boring and too long. The story could have been told with 200 pages rather than over 400. The main character is unlikeable and one does not really care whether he stays with his trophy wife or not. The character of the mistress is completely shallow and it is unclear as to why the male lead is interested in her. Maybe because of the Mini Cooper with the Chinese flag on the roof. The worst thing is that Tony Parsons reuses the dying father issue to fill about 30 pages when it is unclear as to what purpose the father character serves and why he has to die. Next time I go on summer holiday I will have to go into a book shop, read at least a chapter of Tony Parsons' new book and will pass if it appears to be as pointless as this one.

Shallow, predictable, boring (7/10 people found this helpful)

I read one of Tony Parson's books years ago and thought it was OK. This was going cheap so I picked it up somewhere - and it's just like the other one! The main male character is totally unlikeable; self-obsessed, selfish, self-justifying - and the others are just cardboard cut-outs: all very predictable, from the perfect, understanding wife, to the sad, but brave, Chinese mistress. That would be bad enough. But Parson's writing style drives me nuts: it's so self-conscious and trite, and just full of empty cliches. And it reads so obviously as though he has one eye on the film rights - it almost has scene directions for a producer!
I won't be reading any more of Parsons - I'm afraid the stories are just too repetitive and predictable. There is no real conflict, or inner development of character.

Tony Parsons

Reader Reviews:

The dilemmas of adultery with a twist (0/0 people found this helpful)

I'm disappointed! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Disappointing (5/5 people found this helpful)

Shallow, predictable, boring (7/10 people found this helpful)

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