The Liar

By Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry's breathtakingly outrageous debut novel is by turns eccentric, shocking, brilliantly comic and achingly romantic.

Adrian Healey loves to lie. He does it all the time. Every minute, every moment. And worse, he does it wonderfully, imaginatively, brilliantly. He lies to buck the system, to express his contempt for convention, but mostly because he just plain likes to. It’s fun; it’s high camp. He invents a lost pornographic novel by Charles Dickens, and for himself a career as a Piccadilly rent boy hireable by the hour. But Adrian’s lies eventually bring realworld danger, as he finds himself caught up in the machinations of a shadowy network that puts his own life at risk. A dazzling, outrageous first novel that has delighted liars everywhere.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 1, 2003
• ISBN: 9781569478097

Stephen Fry

As an actor Stephen Fry has appeared in scores of film, winning awards for his performances in Peter's Friends, Gosford Park, and Wilde. In 2003 he wrote and directed the film Bright Young Things. On television he is perhaps best known for his partnership with Hugh Laurie in four series each of the BBC's Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster for Granada Television and WGBH, Boston, as well as the Blackadder series of comedies and most recently as the presenter of the BBC's QI. For five years he has hosted the British Academy (BAFTA) Film Awards. As a writer he has written four bestselling novels and three books of non-fiction which between them have been translated into over a dozen languages. He is the Voice of the Guide in the Disney Spyglass production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is well known to a generation of young Britons as the reader of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories in audiobook form, for which he has won six awards and the thanks of parents everywhere.

Reviews for The Liar

[therebelprince · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A delicate puzzle of a book that never quite comes together, I did enjoy Stephen Fry's "The Liar" but admit I'm more looking forward to reading his later works to see how the author develops.

Fry is one of my favourite human beings from all of our bumpy history, and his trademark wit and exhilaratingly verbose licentiousness are on hand here. His characters are cheeky, his view of the world delightfully topsy-turvy, and he throws so many subtle references that anyone without an extremely nuanced knowledge of the English language and culture would read this book and wonder just what the characters were talking about!

At the same time, the non-linear structure ultimately does the book more harm than good. Not only does it feel unnecessary (as the book already has much to say on many subjects), but by the time the reader has figured out what is going on, they've likely missed a fair deal. Beyond this, the plot veers off into absurdity toward the end without the kind of Balzac-ian desire for asking us what the truth is on a meta-textual level.

I had fun reading this, and it definitely proves Fry is a man who can achieve anything when he puts his mind to it, but ultimately it's an experimental first novel that shows promise without leaving the reader devastated or windblown. Yet, to expect sheer genius and poetry in everything is ridiculous -- this is the work of a well-read, erudite, jobbing entertainer. And surely that's enough.

[beezle176 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

brilliant!!!

[aront-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I agree with most reviews: Love Fry and that's the only reason this book is worth reading.

I gave it 3 then switched it 2 because

1. Fry is showing off too much - the multiple languages, the obscure academic references, and so on were more than a bit too much. I mean this is QI on steroids
2. If you never went to British public school huge parts of the story are boring & incomprehensible - sorry don't have a clue about cricket
3. The unbelievable personal life story is more believable than the spy bits - only because I read Fry's autobiography first. But even so, it's like he took his own life story and jacked it up to 11 on the scale of 10.
3a. The spy bits were just hilariously awful
4. None of the characters are all that interesting
5. No real emotion or insight

When it comes down to it, of all his many talents, writing is not Fry's best. His autobiographies suffer some of the same failings as this novel. Still love him though.

[spikesix · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant, wordy, sometimes disgusting, a very good read.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Witty, often amusing, sometimes a bit much ... this novel is Stephen Fry between two covers. Believe nothing and no one, at least not for very long.

[polarbear123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Re read this one recently. I remember reading it in the 90s and enjoying it - I wasn't much of a reader back then to be honest with you. Really enjoyed it this tie too. Flows well and the odd spy sections are full of weirdness to keep you wondering how it will all end. Lots of Stephen fry and his personal life in here too. Great use of language and having been a public school boy myself I can sympathise and empathise with some of the school sections. Glad to see that fry likes the film 'if'.

[bsquaredinoz · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this book. In fact I didn't finish it. I couldn't find the story. I never cared for a single character. I couldn't be bothered with the spy-laden interludes to the main story. However, because I adore Stephen Fry, I'm willing to accept this my failure as a reader rather than Fry's as an author.

[lara335 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed the wit, language, and colourful windows into public school and Cambridge. Heard Fry's voice throughout.

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very twisted story - make sure you are paying attention or you will have no idea what is going on. I loved it!

[kaipakartik_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic read. Very humourous. Enjoyed it immensely. The story concerns itself with Adrian Healey who is a compulsive liar. Partly autobiographical as well.

[thecriticaltimes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps Stephen Fry, who wrote this novel 'The Liar', has unknowingly added a new literary genre that could be called wishful autobiography. Knowing a little bit about the author's background creates a very different experience with this book than if taken just at face value. We have here a novel describing the exploits and dandy adventures of a young English Oscar Wilde-incarnated prep school boy. Adrian, a persuasive and very intelligent student can not tell the truth, not even under great duress or pressure. This talent or perhaps handicap creates an assortment of entertaining situations in the school he attends and gets him into of course a lot of trouble, although not as much as you might expect. Then again he is a skillful liar and we're told the entire book is a lie. The Liar takes place in an environment most of us can't quite relate to. The halls of the privileged public schools of England have their own jargon, history and common understanding. It takes quite a bit of that knowledge to understand certain passages of the novel even though Fry takes care to explain. Throughout the work this internal language generates a distance where as a reader you get the sensation that you're always just missing the point. For example, you have to be quite well read to get some of the finer points of the interaction between Adrian and his chums. Frequently names of characters in Roman literature are used as stereotypes, which, works well, if you've read works like the Satyricon for example.We can clearly hear Wilde's language and ideas combined with the events Evelyn Waugh might have conjured. At the same time Stephen Fry takes the piss out of the entire genre as well. He clearly shows the self absorbed narrow world of English private academia. However, this isn't just a pastiche novel, it isn't a copy or weak derivative. Through the familiar Victorian and Edwardian language we can clearly here Fry's own voice and one as clever as you might expect. In some parts and phrases we can even hear Chuck Palahniuk's voice.It is rather strange however to see the means by which Fry evangelizes the gay persuasion. I don't mean that he tries to persuade anyone in converting but there is a definite sense of trying to normalize queerness (his word not mine). The way in which this is done in my view anyway is rather counterproductive. Instead of showing the elegance, the refined nature of most gay men, Fry shows and describes all those things we think they're up to in great detail. After having read Portnoy's Complaint it did not bother me too much but then again I can see how the novel can turn people away.There is another interesting link to Portnoy's Complaint. Philip Roth who wrote Portnoy has always denied his book was autobiographical. Unlike Fry who I believe clearly admitted in various interviews that the materials for The Liar were snatched from his own experiences in the English public school system and other parts of his early life. Comparing Portnoy to the Liar becomes even more interesting when we look at how the protagonists in either novel address us, the reader. Whereas in Portnoy the author essentially screams at the reader about his problems, Fry hides behind his protagonist. A protagonist who we are told from the very first sentence will lie to us. The protagonist is arrested for possession of cocaine, but as we find out later that was all a lie. In reality Fry was arrested for possession of cocaine and sent to prison. Bits of knowledge like these add a completely new layer to the novel and a rather interesting one because we now have a novel in which we can ask: what exactly is an unreliable narrator when the narrator speaks of both the protagonist and the author?

[ofstoneandice · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was a bit disappointed. With all the wandering about we do, the characters and their side stories feel more substantial than the plot. So yes, very clever, but I was hardly invested enough to make it a real jaw-dropper. Still, a pleasant enough read that is sure to warrant more than one chuckle.

[capfox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I often don't care much for books that are straight-up comedies. Generally, I don't find them as funny as books that have other, more serious stories, but are leavened with comedy along the way. Maybe it's just that generally, the quality of writing in comedies isn't really all that good, and so all that's left is the laughs. Generally, though, you don't get that many laughs out of the book, and so you just feel disappointed.I feel pretty mixed about this book, then. It was well written stylistically, certainly. The book flowed nicely, there were some very good scenes, and the references were quite nice, as well. Still, the plot overall was forced in places, hard to follow, and didn't gel well, and the characterization beyond the main character wasn't great. It made me laugh a couple of times, which is actually not that bad, but the rest of it wasn't great.I can't say that I really recommend this, but if you're inclined to comedies, you could certainly do worse. I'll probably not be leaping on to reading the rest of his books, though.

[kfellows_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is fantastic. It's everything one'd expect in a book from Stephen Fry, so I rightly enjoyed it. Fry's writing is really nothing like anything else you'll ever come across, and "The Liar" is certainly one of my favorite recent novels.

[tafadhali · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Of course this was witty and knee-slappingly funny and terribly pink and all the marvelous things that one would expect from the inimitable Stephen Fry, but ... well, I found something terribly affecting and sad about it as well, and went through much of it with a clenched heart. I have this problem with comedy writing sometimes of perhaps not being disaffected enough. Still, I loved the book.

[terryfallis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it. So intelligent yet so funny.

[giacomol_6 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Funny, entertaining and erudite, this is quintessential Fry. I love the guy, and it would be nice if he could write a bit more rather than spending all his time on telly.

[falstaff1_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is simply the most enjoyable book I have ever read. Fry writes in the most comic way and I am torn between being amused by his wit and stunned by his consummate command of the English language. His evocation of the atmosphere of English public schools is spot on. I defy anyone not to enjoy this.

[alexthehunn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a delightful book. It's great fun to be led along by Mr. Fry on this tale that takes us accross Europe with some mystery, uncertain identity, and a heap of espionage. It's guaranteed to keep you guessing. Along the way, there is plenty of sex and humor to keep things fun.

[miro_4 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Glib, cute and nasty.

[miketroll · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fry's debut novel. One of those books I enjoyed enormously for its wit and humour but since remember nothing whatsoever about. Suppose I'll have to read it again before release.

[ratbat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Since I first read it, this has been my favourite novel - ever. I couldn't say exactly why, though I've always loved Stephen Fry, and this seems to distill some of his best efforts into one book.

[mikestocks_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Talented writer, but gets drunk on three long words when one short one would be better

[anome_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant debut novel, redolent with the wit and linguistic skill the author is known for.Traces the life of a compulsive liar through public school to Cambridge University, where he finally meets his match.

[echomikeromeo_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well, yes, only the best book ever! I don't think anyone else could ever come close to approximating Stephen Fry's style. It's so distinctively funny and makes you feel intelligent while reading it. He slips in a reference to literature or history and you feel very elite, as if only you and maybe a few select other people know what he's talking about. For a hopeless Anglophile like me, The Liar is the sort of book that I almost wish I lived in (though perhaps, in this case, it's better just to read about it). This world of Oxbridge and English society that's of course not real at all but does a very good job of pretending - practically a modern version of Wodehouse, except maybe a little less benign and more sinister. Anyway, highly recommended, etc. etc.

[pdcread · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I am a big fan of Fry, the man is almost a nation institution now. I had read his biography last year, and though that it was great.

However, this book, I just could not get on with. I couldn't get the characters, the plot was not twisted, it was muddled, and it took 200 pages or so for me to begin to enjoy it.

I think that it was supposed to full of erudite wit and humour, but it just washed over me.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A rather confusing tale- short passages of mysterious spy stuff interspersed with the career of 'hero' Adrian Healey, as he makes his way (intelligent, witty and full of youithful lust for his fellow schoolboys) through boarding school and on to uni. But how much of the colourful account is even true?Generally well-written and entertaining; the spy stuff (and the cricket scene) seemed to go on forever, but it did have a clever ending...

[fist_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If I hadn't read "Moab is my Washpot" before reading "The Liar", I would probably have enjoyed it more. As it is, this book now seemed to be an odd mix of two separate books: an addition to Fry's school years autobiography, and a camp espionage caper. Not unlike Oscar Wilde, the author sprinkles bon mots throughout the text. The recondite vocabulary is sometimes exhilarating, sometimes tiring, typical for the "Look mama, no hands.." mentality of a new author keen to prove his virtuosity. On the whole, a bit unbalanced (the espionage story is pretty weak), but with beautiful descriptions of the sufferings of young Stephen.

[klai_78 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining fictionalised account of Fry's early life and then some. Moab Is My Washpot meets le Carré. Very readable, and quite funny.