Stephen Fry: The Liar (1991)
This is the second novel I’ve read by Stephen Fry, the first being The Hippopotamus, and The Liar very much comes across as the debut novel it is. The story is weak and the ending feels improvised, although it’s somewhat ingenious. But The Liar was a joy to read because of the sparkling, crazy, humouristic language and endless puns. Like this passage. Donald Trefusis mentions a chess-player.
‘No doubt you followed his excellent match against Bent Larsen?’ ‘No,’ said Adrian. ‘I missed his match against Bent Larsen and somehow his matches against Queer Kasparov and Faggotty Syslov and Poofy Petrisian also managed to pass me by.’ ‘Tish and hiccups. Bent is a perfectly common Danish Christian name … (p 326)
(And another layer is added as I, being a Dane, didn’t realise the pun until the mention of Queer Kasparov and his collegues.)