The Liar and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Very Good See details
Price: £2.04
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Start reading The Liar on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Liar [Paperback]

Stephen Fry (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 4 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Friday, 24 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £5.22   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £5.99   -- --
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged £13.67   -- --
Unknown Binding --   -- --
Audio Download, Unabridged £13.04 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial
Books Trade-In
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

Publication Date: 5 Aug 2004

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

Adrian Healey is magnificently unprepared for the long littleness of life; unprepared too for the afternoon in Salzburg when he will witness the savage murder of a Hungarian violinist; unprepared to learn about the Mendax device; unprepared for more murders and wholly unprepared for the truth.

The Liar is a thrilling, sophisticated and laugh out loud hilarious novel from a brilliantly talented writer.

(20040305)

Frequently Bought Together

The Liar + The Hippopotamus + Making History
Price For All Three: £17.97

Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (5 Aug 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099457059
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099457053
  • Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.1 x 20 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 26,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Stephen Fry Page
Stephen Fry
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

A quite brilliant first novel (Sunday Times )

The Liar is 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 )

Book Description

The brilliant and outrageous debut novel from British actor, comedian, author, presenter, journalist and national treasure, Stephen Fry. (20040305)
See all Product Description

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 54 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Genius! 24 Nov 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Having thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Fry's autobiography, "Moab is my Washpot", I decided to read "The Liar", his first novel, which was written before "Moab". I'm glad I read the books in that order, as many of the events in "The Liar" are taken from Fry's own public school experiences. I had a clearer understanding of situations and characters in "The Liar" because they identified strongly with events that had taken place in Fry's life. I found this book very funny, 100% due to the author's unimitable, very wry and witty "public school" style of writing. His descriptions of events and types of people are so 'spot-on', you can't help but laugh and think how accurate it all is. Great stuff! If this is Stephen Fry, then I'm hooked!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars a mixed bag 24 April 2011
By John Davison
Format:Paperback
When I was trying to write a novel ten years ago I thought it was immensely cute and interesting to refer to characters obliquely, rather than explaining clearly who and what I was talking about. Stephen Fry does this throughout The Liar in the italicised accounts of the hero and his mentor on a spying adventure. In fact it is not interesting - it merely confuses and irritates.

Against this one has to place the magnificent main opening chapter set in Adrian's public school. An adolescent crush has never been expressed in more fabulously funny purple prose:

"Cartwright of the sapphire eyes and golden hair, Cartwright of the Limbs and Lips: he was Petrarch's Laura, Milton's Lycidas, Catullus's Lesbia, Tennyson's Hallam, Shakespeare's fair boy and dark lady, the moon's Endymion. Cartwright was Garbo's salary, the National Gallery, he was cellophane: he was the tender trap, the blank unholy surprise of it all and the bright golden haze on the meadow: he was honey-honey, sugar-sugar, chirpy chirpy cheep-cheep and his baby-love: the voice of the turtle could be heard in the land, there were angels dining at the Ritz and a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square."

The novel then hops around between distant past and more recent past, with varying degrees of success.

If only Stephen Fry had stuck to school boys and rent boys, the subjects about which he writes most convincingly, he could have out-Waughed Evelyn Waugh.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A FISH TO FRY 1 July 2007
By Lee Hendricks
Format:Paperback
When John Prescott surfaced on the political scene as Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine commented on his lack of social grace saying, "Language is not his first language." The same cannot be said of Stephen Fry. He demonstrates a sculptor's skill in carving each sentence delicately.

Delightfully easy to read and entertaining, the story mixes fiction with fact as a young Adrian Healey (presumably Stephen's alter ego) stumbles through life as a Cambridge undergraduate. Not content with simply reading for his degree in the conventional sense, Adrian attempts to demonstrate his literary brilliance by forging an early work from Charles Dickens. His deceit fools many a Cambridge Don and Adrian's prank becomes the substance of legend.

The book provides a frank and often shocking look into university life, covering fagging, homosexuality, suicide and Piccadilly rent boys. Designed more to entertain than to shock, the book will appeal to fans of Fry, those wishing to know more about university life in early 1970's England, and all who enjoy a riotous good read.
2 Comments | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Not great
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. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Half Man, Half Book
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Stephen Fry's first novel and will probably turn out to be a classic. Bought it for my son-in-law for Christmas.
Published 4 months ago by B. May
3.0 out of 5 stars Curate's Egg
The good parts are very good. But the bad parts are really rather horrid. The reader should persevere. Most of the disagreeable bits are early in the book. Read more
Published 10 months ago by C. E. Utley
3.0 out of 5 stars Excessive
I bought this to absorb some long car journeys. I find his voice extremely relaxing whilst driving.

He is without doubt a talented writer, and this book is extremely... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dr. Michael J. Atkins
3.0 out of 5 stars not fry's best work...
as much as i love stephen fry and his other works, such as the hippopotamus and the stars tennis balls. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Gcrikey
3.0 out of 5 stars Stephen Fry's first novel - could do better
This is Stephen Fry's first novel, obviously partly based on his excellent autobiography `Moab is my Washpot', and has been widely praised. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Brian R. Martin
4.0 out of 5 stars Make a long train ride very enjoyable in the company of The Liar
Brilliant witty. Amusing characters, funny lines, neat twists, there is lots to admire. There is also a generous, warm human core to the book, along with an occasional hard home... Read more
Published 23 months ago by JWH
2.0 out of 5 stars Not sure about this one
This was the first book I bought to read on my new Kindle. Now, I'm not sure whether its the fact that I am still in awe of the Kindle itself or if the book really is a bit of... Read more
Published on 7 May 2011 by Mr. Craig S. Preedy
5.0 out of 5 stars Mischievously Stephen Fry at his very, very best
Wow; The Liar, a whirlwind of a frisky, frantic, fun-filled, frolic of a novel. Sex, deceit and Cambridge; a potent combination!! Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2011 by Mrs. R. Burnett
2.0 out of 5 stars This doesn't take the biscuit
Oh dear. I thought I was going to like this. I'd just finished "Moab Is My Washpot", which is wonderful, so I thought I'd read more of Mr Fry's work. Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2011 by Edgar Price
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      Customer Discussions

      This product's forum
      Discussion Replies Latest Post
      No discussions yet

      Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
      Start a new discussion
      Topic:
      First post:
      Prompts for sign-in
       


      Active discussions in related forums
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges