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Reading Group Guide

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Reading Group Guide for MAN AND WIFE

1) Discuss the author's use of first person point of view in this story. Did you feel engaged by the humorous and often irreverent voice of the main character -- Harry? Did you feel like you can trust Harry to describe himself and other characters accurately? How would the story have been different had it been told through the voice of Cyd, or Gina?

2) Despite Harry's flaws, his character has real charm. It is hard to dislike him regardless of how selfish or egocentric he sometimes appears. Did you like Harry as a character? If so, what tools does the author use to make Harry likeable despite his shortcomings? How much do you blame Harry for the rotten things that happen to him, such as the dissolution of his marriages?

3) What did you think of the title, Man and Wife? Independent of this novel, what images or ideas does this phrase bring to mind? How does this title play into the tension between the traditional world where Harry was brought up and the modern world in which he finds himself? Do you think this title has some degree of irony in it?

4) Throughout this novel, Harry yearns for the simplicity that his parents had -- the uncomplicated life of hard work, loyalty, and stoic love. What is it that is standing in the way of Harry attaining this life? Is it impossible for him to get what he wants in the modern world? Do you think the life of his parents could have been as perfect and simple as he seems to think it was?

5) What is the significance of Harry's job in this novel? How does his role as a TV producer heighten the sense that pop culture is a pervasive, persuasive presence in the story -- almost like a character in and of itself?

6) The peripheral characters in this story are richly drawn and often give insight into larger themes in this work. What roles do Eamon and Kazumi play for Harry as he stumbles through major life events and personal catastrophes? Despite their own problems, they both have a certain kind of wisdom that often brings Harry peace and clarity. Do these two characters share a particular type of perspective or character trait that Harry finds compelling? Are there other similarities between these two characters?

7) What did you make of Harry's complicated and often contradictory views of women in this story? How might Harry's relationship with his mother (and his confidence that he is so completely the center of her universe) affect his relationships with other women in his life?

8) On Page 73, Harry thinks to himself, "I wanted Cyd to look at Pat with the eyes of a parent. But only blood can make you feel that. And with the best will in the world you can't fake blood." Do you agree with this opinion? To what extent can you love someone else's child? Does this capacity vary from person to person or situation to situation? Do you think Harry's opinion changes by the end of the novel?

9) In what way do the dynamics between young Pat and Peggy highlight gender differences that exist for people throughout their lives? How do these two children differ? Can these differences be attributed solely to their gender, or are environmental influences responsible for the way that they have been shaped? Do you think Harry treats Peggy differently because she is a girl? Will fathers always naturally relate more to boys?

10) Did you leave this novel with any kind of clear message about our fate, or the fate of our children, in a modern world characterized by divorce and selfish love? Do you think blended families can ever work? How about adoptive families? Is the only formula for familial success two natural birth parents living together with their children? What do you think the author would say?

11) Where do you see these characters in ten years? Does Harry really stay with Cyd or does he, once again, go out looking for something else -- is he doomed to make the same mistakes over and over? What do you think the end of the novel suggests?

12) Have you read Tony Parson's earlier novel, Man and Boy? If so, what is your opinion of Harry's development as a father, a husband and a man throughout the course of the two novels? Do you feel, by the end of Man and Wife, that Harry is in a better place than when you left him in Man and Boy?