Starting Over

Starting Over by Tony Parsons (free with The Times)

Options when your child is sick:
a) Tidy up around him/her
b) Sit beside them as they rest and sleep and read a book.

Yesterday I tidied up around him and in the afternoon, his strength up, we both attacked our bedroom.
Tuesday, as he slipped in and out of sleep on the sofa, I gobbled up Starting Over.

It's the story of George Bailey, a married father of two who has a heart transplant, and the effects that this has on himself and his family.

This is a page turner in the nicest way. Given the heart of a 19 year old boy, has George picked up attributes of this teenager's personality or is he going through a mid-life crisis?

Medical professionals and people he meets say the former is impossible, but you read it wondering if it is.

I don't want to give too much away, but as a strict disciplinarian, he adopts a more liberal attitude towards his own teenage children. His new lease of life at first renews the bonds between him and his wife, but then you understand her frustration as he lets go of his responsibilities as a parent to become instead a friend to his children, and an extra teenager for her as he revels in his new freedom, of a second chance at Life.

The story details the fragility of life and the struggle we have with it as we deal with and navigate all the problems that weigh upon the enjoyment of it. It's funny, it's poignant, it's subtle and it's honest.

I've not read any of Tony Parson's books prior to this although I've watched Man and Boy with Hugh Grant. I may get that book out of the library at some point and perhaps some of his others.

Yes, I heartily recommend this one. Not sure when I'll get round to reviewing another Free Book. Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square is still unfinished. I was a quarter of the way through when I put it down, to do a spot of tidying up I suspect, and never picked it up again.

All my Free Books will move house with me. I want a new life and I want reading to become part of it again.