Stephen Fry's The Liar

Finally finished Stephen Fry's debut novel from the 90s, The Liar after about a week's worth of lunch hours spent reading it.

It's mostly about Adrian Healey, who goes through life lying through the teeth for no real reason other than he's a compulsive liar.

If you've already read Mr Fry's autobiography Moab is My Washpot, then some parts of The Liar would be familiar to you as it's supposed to be partially based on his life.

Much as I like the man's other work, but this book.... I didn't get it. Seriously. I lost track of what little plot there was about halfway through, when I wasn't sure the narrative was talking about Adrian the schoolboy or Adrian the adult as it keeps jumping back and forth in time. I ended up skimming through the other half of the book and skipping the italicised chapters (what WAS the point, Mr Fry?). I think I didn't so much a had a chuckle reading this.

Frankly, I have no idea what happened to Adrian in the end. I also have no idea what was the point of it all in the end.

And then there are some elements that I couldn't get into because I'm not of that generation of English public-school-going children. Neither have I gone to Cambridge (there are some Cambridge jargon in there).

Let me cut down to the chase: Read Moab is My Washpot - it's better than this one. There are even a couple of reviewers on Amazon to keep me company.