Billy Liar

I’m not sure I really got the full amount of enjoyment that I could have from Billy Liar.  I read it while moving house and, naturally, most of my time and mind were taken up by the stress of that and then settling somewhere new rather than actually reading words.  On top of all of that, it’s been about a week since I actually finished the thing as I seem to have barely had a spare moment lately.  What I can tell you it that it’s good.  It’s pretty much what I was expecting, having read the blurb, but that’s no bad thing.

Keith Waterhouse’s book tells the story of nineteen year-old Billy Fisher; a dreamer stuck in a dead end job in a quiet Yorkshire town with an opinionated family and at least one too many fiancées.  Billy spends most of his working day finding new ways to not work and dreaming of moving to London and making it big as a comedic scriptwriter.  It would all be fairly standard kitchen sink drama (and in many ways the book is) but there is an element of surrealism that keeps creeping in.  Billy’s family and friends are all walking Yorkshire stereotypes, the book itself pretty much demands to be read in a Yorkshire accent, but somehow it’s better than just clichés.  The only thing that I can think that saves it is the brilliant balance between humour and tragedy.

The whole book is about comedy, Billy’s dream is to leave the Yorkshire pit towns, move to London and make it big.  Convinced that he’s the best thing to happen to comedy since sliced bread, he never shut ups with his jokes or his small successes.  He sells some jokes to famous stand-up Danny Boon and while his jokes are very much of the “take my mother-in-law” calibre when it comes to originality and despite the fact that no-one has really heard of Danny Boon, this fuels the fires for Billy.  This will lead to a great career, he thinks.  We know as readers that it will not.  Never more so is this shown the when Billy actually performs some stand-up.  He bombs.  It’s heartbreakingly relatable, who didn’t have dreams that were just unattainable when they were nineteen?

There’s also a wonderful element of farce that runs through the book.  Billy lies pathologically and this gets him into hot water all the time.  There’s a great scene in which fiancée number one (The Witch) is finally due to visit the Fishers for dinner.  At this point, Billy is forced to admit that his father was never in the navy and was never a prisoner-of-war, that the family do not have a budgie called Roger who was at constant threat of being eaten by the cat.  They also do not have a cat.  It’s such a well written piece of comedy and it’s thoroughly enjoyable because the lies are ridiculous. 

Waterhouse balances our view of Billy so well, we can laugh at him but also agonise with him.  It’s really very clever and it makes the book.  As I said earlier, I did enjoy Billy Liar.  I intentionally read it when I knew I’d be stressed and need something light and funny to take my mind off of things and I’m slightly sorry that I did that.  I couldn’t really give the novel my full attention at any point and I’m sure there are a hundred and one things that I missed in the book because of it.  On the bright side, I’m now really looking forward to watching the film without it being too greatly spoiled. 

Next time, the far more serious News From Nowhere by William Morris.  Yes, the wallpaper guy.