Product Description

The hilarious first novel from the bestselling author of Things Can Only Get Better.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7033 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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

Synopsis
Michael Adams shares a flat with three other men in their late twenties. Days are spent lying in bed, playing computer games and occasionally doing a bit of work. And then, when he feels like it, he crosses the river and goes back to his unsuspecting wife and children. For Michael is living a double life - he escapes from the exhausting misery of babies by telling his wife he has to work through the night or travel up north. And while she is valiantly coping on her own, he is just a few miles away in a secret flat, doing all the things that most men with small children can only dream about. He thinks he can have it all, until is deception is inevitably exposed..."The Best a Man Can Get" is written with the hilarious eye for detail that sent John O'Farrell's first book, "Things Can Only Get Better", to the top of the bestseller lists. It is a darkly comic confessional that is at once compelling, revealing and very, very funny.

From the Back Cover
Michael Adams shares a flat with three other men in their late twenties. Days are spent lying in bed, playing computer games and occasionally doing a bit of work. And then, when he feels like it, he crosses the river and goes back to his unsuspecting wife and children.

For Michael is living a double life - he escapes from the exhausting misery of babies by telling his wife he has to work through the night or travel up north. And while she is valiantly coping on her own, he is just a few miles away in a secret flat, doing all the things that most men with small children can only dream about. He thinks he can have it all, until is deception is inevitably exposed...

Customer Reviews

Funny, but boring on every other level
The plot is a man living with three other men in London while pretending to his wife (on the other side of the Thames) that he is secretly always working late. 'Will she find out?' is the premise.

The book is funny with plenty of oneliners and if all you want is a laugh this is a reasonable book to choose because it reads like a sitcom episode of Men Behaving Badly.

For me, who wants to read a 'proper' novel, there are problems:

1. There is more or less zero description of objects, people or emotions. So anyone after a book to transport you to another world via descriptive text or a book that will entangle you in great emotions will be disappointed. The only emotion is humour.

2. Also, not much happens. The premise of living a secret double-life behind his wife's back is about it. There are no scenes of intrigue or elements of a thriller, so anyone after an interesting plot will, again, be bored. I was - when I was reading it I kept thinking, 'Nothing's HAPPENING!' And nothing does! He talks about his wife and his kids and some parties he goes to but that's your lot. No life or death situation, no buildup of suspense etc.

3. The characters are basically the first-person narrator and his wife. The men he lives with you know very little about other than their occupation and the odd obvious traits (lazy, uptight etc). So if you are after a book rich with characterisation this is not it.

4. Everything is set in London. As someone who does not live in London and does not want to, reading a book set there is tedious - hello Nick Hornby! Everyone in the world does NOT live in London. Consider: (1) It's lazy writing to talk about JUST where you live; (2) it's boring for people who don't live in London to read about it.

John O'Farrell used to write for Spitting Image in the 1980s so he is good at the oneliners but it seems everything he writes is STILL like Spitting Image: he focuses on the gag at the expense of novel attributes of plot, character development, setting, description, emotion.

Buy it for a laugh but don't expect anything deeper.
7/10

the best a man can get!!!!!!!!!!!
great book. should be read by all the "SINGLE" blokes who cant or wont commit!! So reminds me of so many blokes living in London, South London.....

The best I can get in the States
Kudos to John O'farrell. I write this perhaps, prematurely, (I'm only half way through the book) but judging by his other literary pieces, this one follows suit in the same genre. Living in the United States I do love to 'refresh' my British humour and yes, this book does have me 'laughing out loud'. I am now officially that crazy woman laughing on airplanes but at least I cause intrigue amongst those around me! Thank you Mr O'Farrell for bringing insightment and sanity to my world once again (Albeit temporarily)..you make my (Many) flights something I look forward to...please keep it up. A great read if you don't take it (And yourself) too seriously.