Hippopotamus [Paperback]

Stephen Fry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

In his clever second novel, the author of The Liar introduces readers to Ted Wallace: failed poet, failed theater critic, failed father and husband, shameless womanizer, and self-confessed alcoholic. When Ted invites himself to the country estate of his beautiful and mysterious godson under the pretense of writing a family history, the result is "a deliciously wicked and amusing little fable" (New York Times).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

English polymath Fry (actor, playwright, newspaper columnist, fledgling novelist) is one of the funniest people writing on either side of the Atlantic. His debut novel, The Liar, published here two years ago by Soho, was brilliantly comic but a bit disorganized. Now, apart from a tendency to shift perspectives rather unconvincingly (which criticism he gleefully anticipates in his hilariously crotchety foreword), he has matters firmly in hand. The hippo of his title is going-to-seed poet Ted Wallace, an aging lecher who drinks too much and is at odds, in his massively cantankerous way, with most of modern life. His ruminations, including achingly funny riffs on subjects as varied as how much more difficult sex is for men than for women, and why it's easier to be a composer or artist than a poet, are like a combination of Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis but, because Fry is such a dazzling mimic and has a splendid ear for contemporary jargon, funnier than either. His plot is decidedly weird: Ted's goddaughter Jane, apparently cured of cancer by the gifts of a teenage son of a rich tycoon, sends Ted off to the tycoon's family seat in Norfolk to find out how the kid does it. In the end, of course, Ted does so, acting as a rather improbable detective, but only after a series of imaginative set pieces, including a scene with a horse that has to be read to be believed. Fry's wicked queenie patter in the persona of "Mother" Oliver is alone worth the price of the book.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

At the request of his godchild Jane, Ted Wallace visits an old friend's lavish English estate to check up on his other godchild, 15-year-old Davey, who is experimenting with faith healing. Ted, a failed poet, husband, father, and more, joins a strange group of guests at Swafford Hall. The guests drink and converse while Ted seeks to make sense of some rather bizarre goings-on. He solves the puzzle and inherits a fortune. Marvelous dialog enlivens a tale that is fraught with incest, bestiality, and English humor. Obviously, only for special tastes; purchase according to demand. [Author/actor Fry (The Liar, LJ 4/15/93) stars in I.Q., a Para-mount film that will be released early next year.-Ed.]-Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohi.
--Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569470545
• ISBN-13: 978-1569470541
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dazzling, Rich and Rewarding, February 21, 2000

By 

oh_pete (Cambridge. MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hippopotamus (Paperback)

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS is the second and best of Stephen Fry's three novels. If you have read and enjoyed THE LIAR or MAKING HISTORY you will adore this book. If you enjoyed THE LIAR but were frustrated by it's poorly contrived ending you just may want to make love to THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. Fry's wit is razor sharp yet hearty, his humor will slap you in the face and then give you a hug. It is rare these days to stop reading just because you have to laugh so hard, then sit quietly for a moment pondering the art, craft or trick of genius that made you laugh so hard before laughing again. Fry is an artist, a craftsman, and a supremely clever rhetorician with quite a few tricks up his sleeve.

Fry's protagonist here is much the different fellow from the twentyish Adrian Healey of THE LIAR. Ted Wallace is sixty-six years old, "an unregenerate snob," and a once notable and occasionally anthologized minor poet, whose physical form in motion "resembles in sight and sound nothing so much as a bin-liner full of yoghurt." His mental form has not been all it's cracked up to be either, the story opens with his dismissal with cause from his theatre reviewing job: he was shouting out his criticisms while the performance was still in progress. Just when it looks like malt whiskey-induced cirrhosis can't be far down the road, his long-lost goddaughter offers him a chance at redemption. A chance he'd never take were it not for the hefty check she gives him to perform the task from which the rest of the book derives it suspense--visiting the summer house of his other godchild, younger son of an incredibly rich and powerful former British army reserve buddy, and reporting back on the mystical goings on there. And what twisted fun we have accompanying him on this summer in the high country!

As a story, THE HIPPOPOTAMUS demonstrates a handsome integration of the accidental and the intentional. It is happily free from contrivance, and is made all the more hilarious and alive by its being written, for the most part, in letter form. Fry also finds a few well-placed moments to proclaim his own theory of art: "It is the only thing that not only cannot be disproved, but can actually and tangibly and incontrovertibly proved." Damn the psychotherapists, priests and druids all to Vienna, Hell, and Avalon--give a man Shakespeare and he will be saved!

Fry's style is richly allusive and admirably erudite. It also savagely satirizes its own pretentiousness. Fry has it both ways and knows it--not a bad trick. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS is both bestial fun and glorious art. If you can handle both, this book is simply not to be missed.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deliciously Wicked, May 11, 2005

By 

D. Mikels "It's always Happy Hour here" (Skunk Holler) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hippopotamus (Paperback)

"There's none so evil-minded as those with a moral mission, and none so pure in heart as the depraved." Those words, spoken by curmudgeonly, ribald, rabble-rousing Ted Wallace, aptly summarize the philosophy of this most entertaining read. And blustery, hard-drinking Ted charges through the pages of Stephen Fry's novel, THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, like a stallion on steroids. And there is some "horsing around" in this book, to be sure.

Fry's writing style, as he uses Ted to wax philosophical on everything from the battle of the sexes to drunken politicians, is an abolute delight. The author's words flow smoothly and precisely, culminating in a punchline guaranteed to prompt a snicker, if not a robust laugh. Ted, a washed-up poet down on his luck, is paid a handsome sum by Jane, his god-daughter, to investigate some very strange events taking place at the estate of her uncle, Lord Michael Logan. Seems Michael's teenage son David, who also happens to be Ted's godson, is at the center of a bizarre series of "miracle healings." And the manner in which young Davey is healing. . .well, let's just say it is not for the faint of heart.

With cranky and skeptical and irreverent panache, Ted gets to the bottom of the mystery, and presents his conclusions to Michael's loved ones and house guests in a scene that had me rolling on the floor. Unfortunately, Fry's ending is a little weak, with Wallace slipping out of his nasty character; but this flaw was not enough to proudly rate this work five stars.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, as mentioned before, is not for the faint of heart. There are some passages that many may find extremely disturbing, so readers with a "moral mission," as described above, should best look elsewhere. Stephen Fry has a remarkable gift for writing comedic novels; for those who enjoy the genre this book is a must-read.
--D. Mikels

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great 2/3s of a Novel, April 7, 2004

By 

Bruce Kendall "BEK" (Southern Pines, NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hippopotamus (Paperback)

Stephen Fry is a very amusing guy and he's created one of the truly memorable modern comic characters in the figure of Ted Wallace. Think of a cross between Dylan Thomas at the dyspeptic end of his career and The Ginger Man, and you'll have some notion of what you are in for. Lots of great, misanthropic musings on the fallen state of civilization, with several screamingly funny throw away lines inserted here and there like verbal land mines. At several points in the first two thirds of the book I had to put the book aside and laugh (to the point of tears) for a full five minutes at a time.

Fans of the Larry David show on HBO would enjoy Ted. Like Larry, Ted is a person that most everyone hates, yet he nevertheless remains likeable, somehow. He's a complete boor to his children, his ex, his employers, his friends, yet his sense of humor keeps the reader thinking that somewhere beneath the blubbering bombast there has to be a shred of humanity remaining. As the novel progresses, more and more shreds are revealed.

This is part of the problem. Ted, the wise-cracking curmudgeon, is much more interesting and entertaining than Ted, the suddenly avuncular, caring godfather and father of the last few chapters. Likewise, Fry's plot, which holds up fairly well the first two thirds, unravells rather disappointingly in the finale. One more instance of a very clever writer having a bit of navigating difficulties when it comes to satisfying resolutions. I'd much rather Ted had stayed in character and had kept on being his unpleasant self, with the possibility of Fry picking up the character in subsequent books. I don't see that possibility here.

AS for other aspects of the book, some work, some don't. The epistlatory format is hit and miss. These are some really looonnngg letter writers. The minor characters are more charicatures than fleshed out, believable figures, though this is one of the marks of satirical writing in general and not that big a distraction. Some of the female characters, in particular give Ted every bit as good as they get in terms of verbal skirmishes. A gay character gets to be tiresome with his mannered expressions. He starts out funny, but he's definitely not what could be termed a sympathetic character, by any stretch.

While The Hippopotamus doesn't hurl Fry into the front ranks of modern British satirists, it is a very decent effort. Though it is decidedly uneven, I have no problem recommending it as an often funny, entertaining read. 4 1/2 Stars.

BEK