Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I went into this expecting to like it or at least to be entertained by it and I suppose to an extent I was, but it should have been better.
[...]
So, wandering into the purely speculative, I wonder if it's because as a group we're not really part of the Fry fandom [...]
|
If anything I think the disappointment is greater when you come to this as a fan of his other entertainment activities - or it was for me with the first of his books that I picked up (one of his autobiographical books). By the time I picked up this book I was expecting pretty much what we got.
I think the book
could have been published by someone less famous (and I suspect it might have been a better book for being better edited). There is an interesting enough story with enough bits of cleverness in it that I think the right agent or editor might have decided was worth pursuing. Publishing has a large element of luck; only the already famous get a guaranteed audience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
[...] If I can split hairs, I didn't think this was well done, but I didn't dislike it, in that it held my interest and I wasn't tempted to abandon it. A lot of the wordplay was clever and fun; I started laughing early on at the recaffeinated coffee. If Fry could have held onto the fun, it would have been a lot more enjoyable - but there's a fatal disconnect between Hitler and high hilarity. Mel Brooks pulled it off, but I can't think of another example.
|
It seemed to me that the book changed moods quite substantially as it progressed; I am not at all sure this was intentional. I can imagine this story being rewritten to get rid of someone historically anonymous (but significant to the main protagonist), but whose loss causes profound side effects for whatever obscure reason. Taking Hitler out would have opened up the possibilities and perhaps let Fry use his humour to better effect.