First, see the first paragraph in the section on The Liar.

This book praises certain qualities and mocks others, but is not preachy and is certainly more than tolerant of the human frailties it exposes. As such it is quite nice, well written (except for the abundance of linguistic showboating and the coarseness mentioned above), and in the end, a good story.

As far as the linguistic showboating is concerned, I think we have some unintentional hypocrisy on Fry's part. He bemoans our current inability to make even tolerable use of our language, then goes on to overexercise a rather esoteric vocabulary. I share his unhappiness over the widespread poor use of language in writing as well as discourse, but I think better-chosen ordinary words are far preferable to the arcana employed in this book.

This is not sci fi, though it makes use of a sci fi construct: changing the present by altering the past. A Cambridge PhD student doing detailed work on Hitler's youth stumbles across a way to prevent Hitler ever being born. Stuff happens. But all along the way, we'reexposed to a great deal of mild current social commentary, with a dose of English/American contrasts as well. It's the social commentary and storytelling that move this book along, and Fry gets far better marks for this effort than his previous two attempts, without regard for the more politically correct themes.

Both this and The Hippopotomus are British social comedy, taking place in more or less modern times. Both have enough touches of mystery to make the endings compelling. They're not really suspenseful, but they do leave you wanting to see how it turns out.

Both books start out needlessly coarse and vulgar. It just isn't needed and the artifice makes it unpleasant. I'm no prude, but I know excess when I read it, and it's here. This was surprising, coming from Fry. Maybe it shouldn't have been, I don't know, but it was.

So, these are good though bad. Maybe I ought to give them one less star, but in truth I would recommend them to certain people, so given my rating system, I have to give them 3.

The Liar starts out as a standard school story, boys in a public school, doing the things they do. Ultimately the title character gets in trouble, finds himself in the resulting walk of life, and struggles to find his place in society. Fry's Professor Trefusis plays a role.

I keep reading this stuff, why? I really don't need or want to hear about finer details of Fry's homosexuality and antics. Sigh. ButI do like his outlook, his intelligence, his skill with words, and all his nonsexual stuff is interesting.