PatBilly Liar
June 30th 2009 03:59
Billy Liar is essentially Catcher In The Rye with Holden Caulfield's alcoholism and irrational flightiness replaced by afflictions of pathological lying and neurotic rehearsed comedy routines.
It's all about little Billy Fisher who we see throughout a single day throughout which his dishonest ways become humiliating apparent. He gets hassled by his boss at the local undertaker's, nagged by his mother, shouted at by his father and chased around town by a few local floosies - all of which are the victims and subjects of his devious web of lies.
The tide quickly turns against Billy as he's confronted on a regular basis about his liberal misuse of the truth and it's plain that despite his mind working at a million miles an hour to concoct enough fabrications to fill every sentence, those around him see through the ploy with little effort at all. The bulk of the plot deals with poor Billy's efforts to keep a brave face despite his imaginary world collapsing around him in every facet of his life - he gets grief at home, it follows him to work, his buddies join in the fun, before the old blokes at the local give him a pint-fuelled public serve.
What we're dealing with here is a bit of a coming-of-age style romp littered with some somewhat funny comedic moments up until the point where our hero faces an awkward moment of truth and decides that he probably doesn't want to come of age all that much (now that he's had some time to think about it).
It's a story which I could see making some people depressed (if you're bothered by the idea of a no-hoper's life destined to end in mediocrity, if not disaster), but I prefer to think about it as a story about a kid who is always having a great time. I liked Billy better than Catcher In The Rye's Holden because he's always so chipper as his internal monologue bangs on about a strange fantasy land while his mouth runs off about a series of improbable lies which are doomed to be exposed.
Of course, it's not nearly as good as Catcher In The Rye but I think that I actually enjoyed it more because Billy's such good value during the course of his downward spiral - not like Holden who was a miserable sort who you would very much like to avoid at the local PubTab. Billy, on the other hand, would be shouting drinks for all and sundry and making witty remarks to the drunk sheilas passing by your table - an ideal pub companion in my opinion, and that's why I'm 100% behind him.
It's only short (less than 200 pages maybe?!); you should read it. It's apparently been adapted into numerous stage productions and a movie - all of which I've never seen and have absolutely no interest in seeing.
Postscript: This review is much too short but I'd just like to cover that up by saying that it's important to keep in mind that the things which I left out are much more telling than the issues which I talked about [nah, I'm just lazy].
It's all about little Billy Fisher who we see throughout a single day throughout which his dishonest ways become humiliating apparent. He gets hassled by his boss at the local undertaker's, nagged by his mother, shouted at by his father and chased around town by a few local floosies - all of which are the victims and subjects of his devious web of lies.
The tide quickly turns against Billy as he's confronted on a regular basis about his liberal misuse of the truth and it's plain that despite his mind working at a million miles an hour to concoct enough fabrications to fill every sentence, those around him see through the ploy with little effort at all. The bulk of the plot deals with poor Billy's efforts to keep a brave face despite his imaginary world collapsing around him in every facet of his life - he gets grief at home, it follows him to work, his buddies join in the fun, before the old blokes at the local give him a pint-fuelled public serve.
What we're dealing with here is a bit of a coming-of-age style romp littered with some somewhat funny comedic moments up until the point where our hero faces an awkward moment of truth and decides that he probably doesn't want to come of age all that much (now that he's had some time to think about it).
It's a story which I could see making some people depressed (if you're bothered by the idea of a no-hoper's life destined to end in mediocrity, if not disaster), but I prefer to think about it as a story about a kid who is always having a great time. I liked Billy better than Catcher In The Rye's Holden because he's always so chipper as his internal monologue bangs on about a strange fantasy land while his mouth runs off about a series of improbable lies which are doomed to be exposed.
Of course, it's not nearly as good as Catcher In The Rye but I think that I actually enjoyed it more because Billy's such good value during the course of his downward spiral - not like Holden who was a miserable sort who you would very much like to avoid at the local PubTab. Billy, on the other hand, would be shouting drinks for all and sundry and making witty remarks to the drunk sheilas passing by your table - an ideal pub companion in my opinion, and that's why I'm 100% behind him.
It's only short (less than 200 pages maybe?!); you should read it. It's apparently been adapted into numerous stage productions and a movie - all of which I've never seen and have absolutely no interest in seeing.
Postscript: This review is much too short but I'd just like to cover that up by saying that it's important to keep in mind that the things which I left out are much more telling than the issues which I talked about [nah, I'm just lazy].
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Books Are For Losers