The Liar - Softcover

Fry, Stephen

3.65

13,072 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 156947012X ISBN 13: 9781569470121

Publisher: Soho Pr Inc, 1994

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

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.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Praise for "The Liar"

"The spirits of Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh glower benignly over this very funny first novel . . . An ingenious plot filled with surprises and glittering with hilarious, often indecent inventions."
--"The New York Times Book Review "

"Transforms the sophomoric into the sophisticated."
--"Los Angeles Times"

"A quite brilliant first novel."
--"Sunday Times"

"Hilarious--page after page of the most outrageous and often filthy jokes, delicious conceits, instant, brilliant ripostes that would only occur to ordinary mortals after days of teeth-grinding lunacy."
--"Literary Review"

"Brilliantly entertaining and consistently outrageous"
--"Daily Mail"

"Sublime"
--"Cosmopolitan"

Praise for "The Liar"
"Smutty, naughty and outrageously hilarious . . . Brace yourselves for a dickens of a wicked good time."
--"Boston Globe"
"The spirits of Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh glower benignly over this very funny first novel . . . An ingenious plot filled with surprises and glittering with hilarious, often indecent inventions."
--"The New York Times "
"A quite brilliant first novel."
--"Sunday Times"
"Brilliantly entertaining and consistently outrageous."
--"Daily Mail"
"Sublime."
--"Cosmopolitan"
"Wicked."
--"Elle"
"Transforms the sophomoric into the sophisticated."
--"Los Angeles Times"
"Fry's jokes have a ring of seriousness . . . A witty and entertaining send-up."
--"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Mr. Fry's book is wonderfully funny and (as funny weren't enough) absorbingly plotted. His characters are witty and endearing and his dialogue will leave you grinning with delight even as you wonder a shade wistfully why none of your friends can talk this way."
--Joe Keenan, Executive Producer of "Frasier" and "Desperate Housewives"
"Hilariously erudite."
--"Out"
"Will have you howling."
--"In"
"Wicked, galloping entertainment."
--"Boston Phoenix"
" "
"Very funny, full of intelligence and ideas, Post-Punk E.F. Benson."
--"Spectator"
"Hilarious--page after page of the most outrageous and often filthy jokes, delicious conceits, instant, brilliant ripostes that would only occur to ordinary mortals after days of teeth-grinding lunacy."
--"Literary Review"
"A book that is not only funny, clever and touching, but is the perfect size."
--Rita Rudner
"A huge critical and popular success in Britain . . . it is coruscatingly funny, often quite shocking and profoundly irreverent. Its hero is Adrian Healey, who assumes a wildly gay persona (and is one of the few Wilde imitators who can verbally live up to the original) but whose besetting problem is a lack of contact with reality . . . Many will find themselves helpless with laughter."
--"Publishers Weekly"
"Dizzyingly, peerlessly sophomoric."
--"Kirkus Reviews"

Praise for"The Liar"
Smutty, naughty and outrageously hilarious . . . Brace yourselves for a dickens of a wicked good time.
"Boston Globe"
The spirits of Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh glower benignly over this very funny first novel . . . An ingenious plot filled with surprises and glittering with hilarious, often indecent inventions.
"The New York Times "
A quite brilliant first novel.
"Sunday Times"
Brilliantly entertaining and consistently outrageous.
"Daily Mail"
Sublime.
"Cosmopolitan"
Wicked.
"Elle"
Transforms the sophomoric into the sophisticated.
"Los Angeles Times"
Fry s jokes have a ring of seriousness . . . A witty and entertaining send-up.
"San Francisco Chronicle"
Mr. Fry s book is wonderfully funny and (as funny weren t enough) absorbingly plotted. His characters are witty and endearing and his dialogue will leave you grinning with delight even as you wonder a shade wistfully why none of your friends can talk this way.
Joe Keenan, Executive Producer of "Frasier" and "Desperate Housewives"
Hilariously erudite.
"Out"
Will have you howling.
"In"
Wicked, galloping entertainment.
"Boston Phoenix"
""
Very funny, full of intelligence and ideas, Post-Punk E.F. Benson.
"Spectator"
Hilarious page after page of the most outrageous and often filthy jokes, delicious conceits, instant, brilliant ripostes that would only occur to ordinary mortals after days of teeth-grinding lunacy.
"Literary Review"
A book that is not only funny, clever and touching, but is the perfect size.
Rita Rudner
A huge critical and popular success in Britain . . . it is coruscatingly funny, often quite shocking and profoundly irreverent. Its hero is Adrian Healey, who assumes a wildly gay persona (and is one of the few Wilde imitators who can verbally live up to the original) but whose besetting problem is a lack of contact with reality . . . Many will find themselves helpless with laughter.
"Publishers Weekly"
Dizzyingly, peerlessly sophomoric.
"Kirkus Reviews""

From the Publisher:

Stephen Fry’s first novel is a humorous adventure in which a public schoolboy witnesses the savage murder of a Hungarian violinist and finds himself drawn into the ensuing investigation.

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