The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
Usually books of this nature charter the life of an individual from beginning through to the end of their career or up to a significant moment / achievement in their life. However, The Fry Chronicles is more of a Part Two in a Three Part series.
This edition is a sequel to Moab is My Washpot, a memoir of Fry's childhood and adolescence. It features just eight years of his life. It does not include his most recent period, including his disappearance in 2005 after suffering a nervous breakdown, his success with QI or how he single-handedly made Twitter a global phenomenon.
But it would be unfair to talk about what is not in the book and instead let us focus on what content is in the book. Fry has a fantastic talent for being able to write in a way which makes you feel like he is sitting opposite you, maybe across an open fire, enjoying a drink, while he tells you about an important period in his life.
As you would expect he uses words and phrases in a way no-one else does and he gives no apology for it – and quite right too!
Fry for a brief glimpse takes you into his life, a life which is work, work and work. However, you always have a feeling that you are being kept at arms-length and shown only the parts of his life he wants you to see.
The Fry Chronicles does what it says on the tin, it chronicles Fry’s pathway into his professional career as an actor, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, author, journalist, TV presenter and book reviewer! If there’s a job description missing from this list, sorry about that, but there’s a lot to remember.
Fry works on so many different projects, but all with one common theme. They are all hugely successful.
He rises to fame at the same time as a significant shift in British comedy during the 1980s, with the likes of Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Rowan Atkinson, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, Paul Whitehouse, Harry Enfield, Tony Slattery and of course Hugh Laurie all coming through at the same time.
The book delves into this period in good detail and provides a fascinating insight, along with Fry’s tremendous career in the theatre, both as an actor and playwright, particularly his successful adaptation of Me and My Girl.
If you like Stephen Fry you will enjoy this book, if you like British comedy you will enjoy this book and if you like the theatre you will enjoy this book.
There’s a fair chance that if you decide to read The Fry Chronicles, you will enjoy it. However, my only criticism is that if you want an autobiography which bares all into Fry’s life and does so in one book, then you will be disappointed.
Stephen Fry does not do the conventional. He re-writes conventional and makes it his own. If he wants to split his autobiography into three books or as many books as he wants to, that is up to him. It is not wrong, it is just different and sometimes that can work out very well.
The Book Review Score: 3/5
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