The Best a Man Can Get - Softcover

O'Farrell, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802144683 ISBN 13: 9780802144683

Publisher: Black Cat, 2010

Synopsis

Michael Adams is a composer of advertising jingles who shares a bachelor pad with three other guys. He spends his days lying in bed (a minifridge positioned perfectly within reach) and playing trivia games with his underachieving roommates. And when he feels like it, Michael crosses the city and returns home to his unsuspecting wife and two small children.

Michael is living a double life, stretching out his “wilting salad days” with imaginary business trips and fake deadlines while his wife enjoys the exhausting misery of the little ones. It’s the best thing for his marriage, Michael figures. She can care for the new loves of her life as it seems only she knows how, and he can sleep until the afternoon. Can this double life continue indefinitely?

In The Best a Man Can Get, best-selling comic novelist John O’Farrell takes readers on a dark romp through the soul of the contemporary male, torn between eternal adolescence and the very real demands of fatherhood. It’s wry, witty, and surprisingly charming.

About this title

Product Description

Paperback. Pub Date :2010-4-1 Pages: 271 Publisher: Perseus Michael Adams is a composer of advertising jingles whoshares a bachelor pad with three other guys He spends his dayslying in bed (a minifridge positioned perfectly within reach) andplaying trivia games. with his underachieving roommates. And when hefeels like it. Michael crosses the city and returns home to hisunsuspecting wife and two small children. Michael is living adouble life. stretching out his wilting salad days with imaginarybusiness trips and fake deadlines while his wife enjoys theexhausting misery of the little ones. Its the best thing for hismarriage. Michael figures. She can care for the new loves of herlife as it seems only she knows how. and he can sleep until theafternoon. Can this double life continue indefinitely In The Besta Man Can Get. best-selling comic novelist John OFarrell takesreaders on a...

Review

Some men are born fathers, while others have fatherhood thrust upon them. The protagonist of John O'Farrell's The Best a Man Can Get belongs indisputably in the latter category. When his first daughter is born, Michael Adams imagines her as the warden of a prison that will permanently deprive him of his youth and freedom. Terrified by his new responsibilities, he regularly escapes to a bachelor pad across the Thames, pretending to be at work. Another child arrives--and with still another on the way, it is only a matter of time until Michael's wife discovers his double life. At that point, he must make a choice between his family and his hedonistic haven.

By turns hilarious and touching, O'Farrell's book delves deeply into the anxieties of modern parenting. Yet the novel is not without empathy for the 21st-century father. After all, it's easy to imagine the lure of a child-proof hideaway, insulated from sleepless nights and dirty diapers. At the same time, Adams often wonders whether "just being tucked up warm and cosy" is really "the best a man can get". With its charming prose and its truant protagonist, this first novel is sure to win over even the most reluctant parent. --Greg Bensinger

Edition details

• Publisher: Black Cat
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802144683
• ISBN 13: 9780802144683
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272