Live web-chat with Tony Parsons, 9pm-10pm, 6 October

[rachel(mumsnet)]

Columnist and author Tony Parsons will be joining us here on Monday 6th October from 9-10pm for a live chat. Tony's sixth novel, 'My Favourite Wife' has just been published and is described by The Independent as 'a much bigger, more ambitious book' than million-selling 'Man and Boy'. If you can't make the chat you can post your questions in advance here.
Hope to see you here on Monday.

i dint say he was lame i thought he came across very well especially in the face of people being so rude

i felt embarrassed for him tho

or he has worked hard at being an author and really wants to produce good books and i respect him for that

i think that came across in what he said

No, sorry. I meant he was a lame guest because nobody knew who he was or had read his books or cared that much. I meant that.

Floflo you are easy pleased

Well Mooney, his first-ish post;

"Ah ? hello ? Tony here - sorry if I am late?just putting my little girl to bed ? you know how it is ? those Roald Dahl chapters go on forever..."

Yes, like you would opt to put your daughter to bed on the night that her bedtime happened to coincide with a PR stunt you had arranged.

The words that come to me are

d i s i n g e n u o u s

and

c y n i c a l

well monkeytrousers i think it is incredibly harsh to criticise that post...i think it was a nice way toi start

or criticise him for publicising his book

coming on mn is hardly a PR stunt

it was potentially talking to people who wanted to chat with him about his novels

a PR stunt is arranging something headlining grabbing and making sure a press photographer is there to publicise it

MT this is only light entertainment

mt you may think he is some sort of shgady character who needs to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the public but he clearly doesnt

and tbh neither do i

so i think your view of his agenda is a bit awry

Oh come on, he acquitted himself pretty well considering the amount of animosity and indifference that preceded his arrival. He answered a few questions, ignored a few questions, raised his profile a bit. He was the more polite and friendly party.
He may have said some stupid obtuse things in the past but he is hardly a war criminal. It was an interesting hour.

exactly carmenere

I am sure he would agree with the role of critic - of noticing inconsitancies and appeals to emotion - seeing as he has made a living out of it and I don;t mind you criticising me for it.

Carmenere, I think the same thing would have happened had the Goldsmith woman turned up. She's have aquitted herself just by doing so.

Being skeptical is a good thing. I think too many of you think all criticism is bad. It isn't. Its essential! Blind and ignorant cynicism is a diffrent animal all together though - and the few times I've read any Parsons editorials - AND in his views on feminism - all seem stuffed full of that. All blame with no ideas. Not a war crinminal - a tad extreme don't you think? - just lazy basically. I'd prefer people with ideas.

perhapos these days like a lot of people he doesnt have any views on feminism

and i see nothing wrong in him being nice

i dont see any merit in insulting him he was invited

I don't see any merit either. It's just rude. It's not clever or sceptical to acknowledge that what they are doing is publicity for their book - and then criticize them for doing that. It doesn't meant that people don't understand that he is dong publicity. He is. It's his job fgs.

You might not respect his work - then I think you can say so, and say why

And fwiw I think the role of a critic is to judge a work by understanding what the artist wanted to do or tried to do, and then judge whether or not they managed it.

Oh now come on, he is NOT lazy, he churns out books and articles. Whether his writing has merit is a different matter completely.

And I am not totally without critical faculties, I would like to think that I am one of the more measured posters on the board.

The opinion I had of TP pre this web chat has not just disappeared into the ether but I do think he was a pleasant and interesting guest.

And tbh I don't think that Shera GM would have acquitted herself well here at all, even if she did have the mettle to show up. I suspect her intellect typing skills wouldn't have been up to the job.

he is in the field of popular culture not academia

he doesnt claim any different

i only vaguely know of him mainly from his seventies music journalism none of which i can actually now remember but i will read a book of his after this thread

not least because some mns i respect like jimjams seem to rate them and they sound quite interesting enough for me to give him a punt

i might even take to checking his daily mirror column online just to see what he says now too as you seem so anti

And it's not WRONG to spend three years writing a book, and then want to get out and sell it to people. It doesn't make you a suspect person. It's part of the job.

Though this isn't really about TP for me. It's about an attitude which says,= - yes come on MN if you think you're hard enough, we'll knock you down to size, blah blah blah you think your so great huh?

I think it's an inelegant attitude.

yes you are right 100x

'tisn't very grown up is it? It is hiding behind fingers stuff

and it is surely true that being rude and insulting is not going to bring an oh yes id be delighted from any future invitee that you might think is worthy of gracing mumsnet

no one will say yes

Oh please, there is no need to get all outraged and pious about this. I'm not asking you to change your opinions. I'm not challenging them, just giving mine.

Zippi, I've never criticised him for being "nice" and have never inculted him either. Since when was giving a critical opinion insulting? We are all in deep shit if that's the common perception.

Carm, can lazy not be applied to ideas? I never mentioned his physoical activities, only specifically ideas.

But all these differences of opinion aside which are meaningless, most of you were entertained for an hour, so it was a success. If any of you buy his turgid book his PR team will also have a success. It's all good it seems.

Zippi, please define your take on 'rude and insulting' - or just leave it. One of the two.