Keith Waterhouse (1929–2009)

After two pages, I said to Jim, "Oh, he's OCD". Not the guts of the story, but a complicating factor. It's England in the hinterlands, in 1959, and Billy, 19, is struggling in a job he detests, a social life he can't cope with, a depressed economy and a depressing family, but he can't seem to get out. His every action and inaction lead to more complications, with his employer, with women, with family. Some of it is very funny (I'm sure it reads well on audio), but the cage is closing in on him and he knows it. How will he escape?

Very nicely written, with some terrific sentences and images:

the fat women rolling along on their bad feet like toy clowns in pudding basins

or Frowning women, their black, scratched handbags crammed with half-digested grievances..

or I was amazed and intrigued that they should all be content to be nobody but themselves.

In all, a vivid portrait of that part of England in that year between the war and the artistic explosion of the 60s, as well as that of a young man adrift.… (mehr)

Billy Fisher is a 19-year-old suffocating in a small fictional Yorkshire town and this book covers one day in his life. Billy works as an undertaker's clerk, is nagged by his mother and shouted at by his father, is engaged to two girls but is in love with a third and dreams of becoming a hit comedy writer. Feeling trapped by the monotony of his everyday life Billy frequently disappears into a world of daydreams and lies. Inevitably, Billy's compulsive lies begin to catch up with him.

'Billy Liar' became an instant hit following its first publication in 1959 and has been adapted into a play, a musical, a TV series and even a film.

I found this a quick, warm and pleasant read filled with a subtle British humour which although it didn't actually make me laugh out loud, I did read it with a smile. Billy is an interesting character, a lively storyteller with an unmistakably northern humour but like all the best comedy, the book's tragedy rings true with a much wider audience that still resonates today.… (mehr)

This is a popular classic which I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly impressed. Billy is a young man who dreams of a better life, with a fantasy world he escapes to at times. Unfortunately he has not learned to distinguish fact from fantasy, and tells stories not just to his parents but to his friends and colleagues. He's managed to get engaged to two different young women, and is in trouble for having forgotten to post a large number of calendars some months previously.

A few amusing moments, and it was interesting to see the film that - apparently - was the first one featuring a young Julie Christie. But on the whole I thought it silly rather than humorous, and rather a sad reflection of someone living such a boring life that he never grew up. Rather a discouraging ending, too.… (mehr)