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birdkeeperklink's review against another edition
4.0
Geez, Stephen Fry. Bein' all smart, leaving me nothing to say.
I guess I can say that I don't always agree with everything he says. But that's okay. Diversity makes the world go 'round, and stuff.
I enjoyed most of it. Some of it I didn't, but mostly yes.
I guess I can say that I don't always agree with everything he says. But that's okay. Diversity makes the world go 'round, and stuff.
I enjoyed most of it. Some of it I didn't, but mostly yes.
woolfardis's review
3.0
[Quick review from memory until I re-read and re-review at a later date:
A collection of stuff he's written i.e columns etc? Not particularly exiting and I don't recall what his writing style is like, but c'mon it's Frymo]
A collection of stuff he's written i.e columns etc? Not particularly exiting and I don't recall what his writing style is like, but c'mon it's Frymo]
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
funny
informative
slow-paced
Some of the content has definitely aged, and not always well, but there are some really lovely sections and it's a great sample of Fry's very early written work. I'm so glad he mentions in the introduction that the book should not be read quickly, and instead dipped into on occasion - that's exactly what I did and it was a pleasure!
nothingbutthedreams's review
2.0
This is a collection of articles, mostly written between 1989 and 1991 so they're almost old enough to be considered historical, at least to me as I was born in the middle of that time. From that perspective they're pretty interesting in places, especially where they show how much things have changed in some respects but also how many problems have changed depressingly little in the time since. I also feel like there are probably some views in the articles which he wouldn't recognise or agree with now. I would be interested to read a collection of more recent writing to see if that's the case.
This is definitely the kind of book which is better to dip into to read the more entertaining articles but probably not to do what I did and solidly read a few articles at a time, without skipping any of the ones about cricket or featuring names I didn't recognise. That may have been a factor in why it took me so long to read this book and why it occasionally felt like a struggle which I only carried on with due to how determined I was to finish it. It's mostly worth reading if you have a strong desire to read everything he ever wrote but definitely the kind of book I'd only ever read once.
This is definitely the kind of book which is better to dip into to read the more entertaining articles but probably not to do what I did and solidly read a few articles at a time, without skipping any of the ones about cricket or featuring names I didn't recognise. That may have been a factor in why it took me so long to read this book and why it occasionally felt like a struggle which I only carried on with due to how determined I was to finish it. It's mostly worth reading if you have a strong desire to read everything he ever wrote but definitely the kind of book I'd only ever read once.
celiaedf12's review
2.0
Ah, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to finish this - it's a bit of a mish-mash of columns and random audio stuff. I think some of the humour is a bit linked to the time and society, and therefore lost on me.
***
Nope, didn't end up finishing it - racked up some late fines at the library, and ending up returning it while about halfway through.
***
Nope, didn't end up finishing it - racked up some late fines at the library, and ending up returning it while about halfway through.
meeners's review
3.0
so, quite a few years ago, a friend of mine gave me a bunch of episodes of the young ones because he knew i liked british comedies. i watched the first episode - and was baffled. this show was weird, crass, loud, foul. none of the sketches made sense. everyone shouted, all the time, for what seemed like no discernable reason. was this supposed to be punk? alternative comedy? or what??
but i stuck with it, out of sheer stubbornness, and finally made it to the episode where the gang somehow ends up on university challenge (a.k.a. quiz bowl for college students) against the "oxbridge" team, made up of emma thompson, hugh laurie, stephen fry, and ben elton. (i was going to describe how the young ones sketch goes but instead i'll just link to a clip: here.) and just like that, I GOT IT. the key background i had been missing, all that stuff the young ones was setting itself in opposition against (yikes, what a mess of prepositions) - it all finally slotted into place, in that moment when the show put it in context for me. and suddenly, magically, i found the show now hilarious, and weirdly brilliant.
to clarify, it wasn't the exaggerated send-up of class ("i've got a porsche!") that made things click for me, it was the way the show plays with the comedy sketch format itself - or rather, the way it just doesn't give one sh*t for it, when all's said and done. the part with the footlights could probably have stood on its own as a perfectly respectable parody, something you could easily imagine being shown on an british version of SNL or something, but the young ones not only resisted this aura of clever parody but rendered it utterly meaningless, through violence and the non sequitur.
all of this is my very round-about way of collecting my thoughts on this stephen fry collection, which is exactly what you might expect it (and him) to be like: self-deprecating, massively intelligent, witty, charming, careful. i always fall madly in love with anyone who can speak in complete paragraphs, with such articulation that you can practically hear the semicolons in their speech, and stephen fry is definitely of that number. but there's something rather . . . antiquated about him, something in line with the footlights parody (even as stephen fry himself participates in that parody) that doesn't lend itself much to a revelatory experience. at first it surprised the bejeesus out of me to realize fry was in his late 20s and early 30s when he started writing the stuff collected here...but then again, that's exactly what i mean - impossible to think of stephen fry as anything but an old soul, even in his 30s.
ah well. still enjoyed thumbing through this, and i do admit i went "teehee" every time he mentioned his "good friend hugh laurie." one whole section of this book consists of a series of radio broadcast transcripts, which suffers from the lack of nuance that live performance provides, but the articles and essays i found eminently readable. also, through one of his essays i learned that "senior wrangler" is actually a real thing in britain!! i had always thought terry pratchett made up the term for discworld because it sounds so silly, but no. who knew!
(incidentally, fry's essay defending the use of academic "jargon" made me want to literally leap up and hoot with pure joy. THIS GUY GETS IT! i wanted to shout, while pumping my fists triumphantly into the air. the next time someone complains about "theory" to me i am going to stuff that person's mouth shut, perhaps literally, with that essay. ALSO, fry does a mini-review for elaine showalter's the female malady!! be still my nerdy heart!!!)
but i stuck with it, out of sheer stubbornness, and finally made it to the episode where the gang somehow ends up on university challenge (a.k.a. quiz bowl for college students) against the "oxbridge" team, made up of emma thompson, hugh laurie, stephen fry, and ben elton. (i was going to describe how the young ones sketch goes but instead i'll just link to a clip: here.) and just like that, I GOT IT. the key background i had been missing, all that stuff the young ones was setting itself in opposition against (yikes, what a mess of prepositions) - it all finally slotted into place, in that moment when the show put it in context for me. and suddenly, magically, i found the show now hilarious, and weirdly brilliant.
to clarify, it wasn't the exaggerated send-up of class ("i've got a porsche!") that made things click for me, it was the way the show plays with the comedy sketch format itself - or rather, the way it just doesn't give one sh*t for it, when all's said and done. the part with the footlights could probably have stood on its own as a perfectly respectable parody, something you could easily imagine being shown on an british version of SNL or something, but the young ones not only resisted this aura of clever parody but rendered it utterly meaningless, through violence and the non sequitur.
all of this is my very round-about way of collecting my thoughts on this stephen fry collection, which is exactly what you might expect it (and him) to be like: self-deprecating, massively intelligent, witty, charming, careful. i always fall madly in love with anyone who can speak in complete paragraphs, with such articulation that you can practically hear the semicolons in their speech, and stephen fry is definitely of that number. but there's something rather . . . antiquated about him, something in line with the footlights parody (even as stephen fry himself participates in that parody) that doesn't lend itself much to a revelatory experience. at first it surprised the bejeesus out of me to realize fry was in his late 20s and early 30s when he started writing the stuff collected here...but then again, that's exactly what i mean - impossible to think of stephen fry as anything but an old soul, even in his 30s.
ah well. still enjoyed thumbing through this, and i do admit i went "teehee" every time he mentioned his "good friend hugh laurie." one whole section of this book consists of a series of radio broadcast transcripts, which suffers from the lack of nuance that live performance provides, but the articles and essays i found eminently readable. also, through one of his essays i learned that "senior wrangler" is actually a real thing in britain!! i had always thought terry pratchett made up the term for discworld because it sounds so silly, but no. who knew!
(incidentally, fry's essay defending the use of academic "jargon" made me want to literally leap up and hoot with pure joy. THIS GUY GETS IT! i wanted to shout, while pumping my fists triumphantly into the air. the next time someone complains about "theory" to me i am going to stuff that person's mouth shut, perhaps literally, with that essay. ALSO, fry does a mini-review for elaine showalter's the female malady!! be still my nerdy heart!!!)
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