The Liar

This was a good book overall. It got confusing at points when it jumped around from the past to the present, and I wish the author had taken a bit more care in giving us a sense of the characters’ motivation. It was hard to like our main character. Even to the end it seemed like everything he achieved was related to his status and upbringing. But again, it was a solid read that I would recommend to nearly anyone.

Stephen Fry's first novel, The Liar, was an irresistible read, abundant with wittcisms and nervy musings by the chief protagonist, Adrian Healey, and his various consorts. In many ways, the style of writing reminded me of another splendid British author, Tibor Fischer. The Liar recounts the experiences of a young man of relative privilege on his Odyssey through Public School and University in England. Adrian Healey is a wickedly enjoyable type that most readers probably hate to love.This was a case, however, of "won the battles but lost the war", in my opinion. The individual scenes and chapters were delightful. But, the novel as a whole felt disjointed and I was very discouraged by the addition of ,what I felt was, a novel unto it self well past the two-third mark of the book. This second theme of an Intrigue variety seemed to inform the choppy-ness of the previous section so that it might be properly included. The pace of the ending chapters accelerated rapidly from those preceding and the entire style of writing changed. This disturbed me greatly, as I was enjoying the novel quite a bit before this occurred. I would have preferred that the core message be intimated without this deluge of new information. Overall, however, I do not regret one bit the time that I spent with this book and anticipate happily reading more of Fry's work.

A very odd but interesting book, I must say. It skips around in time a great deal and I'm never really sure where I am or what's real and what isn't.There are a few little typos that bothered me, but none were quite enough to throw me out of the story entirely.

I happened to pick up this book in a secondhand shop and fell in love with Stephen Fry. The main character of this novel is a saucy, insufferable undergrad that made me feel all types of ways. So worth the read. Fry has a special sardonic, witty as hell style that makes me want to buy this book all over and gift it to my most cherished friends.

The Liar is typical work from Stephen Fry in that it is erudite, witty and passages from it are cleverly and memorably phrased. Fry's love of language and his ability to improvise off of a phrase and build from it are in evidence throughout this novel. In The Liar Fry succeeds in leading the reader on something of a wild goose chase but the style and language he employs keeps the pages turning since it makes it so hard to predict where the story is headed. That is the strength and weakness of this book. It deserves 5 stars for style but only 3 for plot. Nevertheless reading Fry or listening to him for that matter is always a pleasure and I enjoyed The Liar.

Mr. Fry's love of the English language is very well displayed here: his word play is lively, his wit as well. His storytelling is a lot of fun, but the book ends rather limply as if he suddenly got a call from his publisher saying "Dear boy, could I possibly have the book in by Thursday afternoon?" and he had to scramble to finish it up. "Damn! Now how did I get here? What was he doing then? Oh, bother! No one's gong to read the damn thing all the way through, anyway."You want a carefully crafted resolution? Read Turgenyev.

If you've read "Moab Is My Washpot" (Fry's autobiography of his early years), then you've no need to read this. Much of his own life is interpolated into this book. Beyond that, the book is confusing in that Fry time jumps with no indication that such a leap (of faith in the reader, for one thing) has been negotiated. Also, there are italicized chapters or chapterettes wherein the characters are identified by articles of clothing rather than names - cute, but distracting.Then the italicized chapters disappear, but the articles of clothing are mentioned later in the story. Unless one is a cult follower of Fry and carefully notates these various fashion pseudonyms in one's diary, they are annoying reminders of the anonymous italicized characters but now with names attached. But who really cares at this point?Finally, the crux of the story is, as Fry warns us in a single sentence prologue sort of thingummy, that nothing in the plot really matters because it isn't true. The end of the story is painfully contrived - I had to force myself to read the last 10 pages or so hoping for some sort of satisfying conclusion, which did not happen.It's as if Fry didn't trust his own story telling abilities and decided to embarrass the reader - something I don't like. When reading a work of fiction, I do like to enter the author's world, as made-up and ludicrous as it may be, and come out the other end feeling as if I would like to go back there someday. Not in this case. Door closed, and nailed shut.

Love this book so far..read about 7 chapters then had to put it down..life got in the way but it was a great read an hope to start it back up soon..

Oh dear. An unlikable central character, a parade of middle class English cliches (as the minor characters) and a plot that blunders about like a drunk man looking for his flies. It takes until about halfway in before anything vaguely coherent appears, and unlike great writers, the lead up to the central plot's emergence is not, despite other reviews, worth the wait. If you want a genuinely funny Oxbridge novel, try Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe.

I first read this, and enormously enjoyed it, about 25 years ago. This time I still liked it but could see it’s flaws a bit more clearly. It’s very entertaining and the characters are vivid and amusing, but it feels a bit disjointed - the school section is a moving, funny and obviously autobiographical coming-of-age story but the whole spy angle is a bit laboured, I think. Overall, I still very much enjoyed re-reading but some of the sheen has come off.

Great, unbelievably rich, beautifully constructed. Why have I never read it before? Stephen Fry has all the ability to draw from his past, utilize his enormous intellect and produce a fiction that is both ultra-sophisticated and ultra-readable - a great page turner. Only someone like Stephen Fry could produce such an interwoven plot and timeline and not confuse his audience. Just couldn't put it down.

Such a great read. Many thanks Mr. Fry

Lovely book fast delivery