Billy Liar On The Moon

Billy Liar #2

by Keith Waterhouse

Keith Waterhouse's comic masterpiece Billy Liar (1959) introduced us to Billy Fisher, a seventeen-year-old undertaker's clerk whose inability to tell the truth led him into constant (and often hilarious) trouble with his parents, his employer, and his three girlfriends. It was a smash success, becoming a bestseller and winning widespread acclaim for both the novel and the classic film adaptation.

In this 1975 sequel, Billy is thirty-three but still hasn't grown out of his propensity for lying. Stuck in a loveless marriage in a dismal town, where he has a dead-end job in local government, Billy seeks escape through his affair with Helen, who is also unhappily married. But once again he finds himself in danger of being undone by his lies: vodka martinis charged to his expense account, a wise-cracking alter ego named Oscar, a false police report about a stolen set of nonexistent golf clubs, an imaginary cat named 'Mr Pussy-paws' . . . Now the all-important town festival is approaching, but instead of doing the planning, Billy is busy trying to keep ahead of the suspicions of his wife, the police, and Helen's jealous husband. It all leads up to a disastrous and uproarious conclusion that The Times called 'side-achingly, laugh-aloud funny'. This edition includes a new introduction by Alice Ferrebe.

‘The funniest book I've read for years’ – The Times (London)

‘Among the few great writers of our time’ – Auberon Waugh, The Independent

‘Well written and amusing’ – Library Journal

Genres: Fiction

189 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE, was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.

Reviews

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Billy Liar's all grown up, but he never did get to London.

He got as far as just outside Birmingham, got a high-rise flat, a dull wife he can't speak to, a drunken mistress he can't get rid of ('my Helen problem') and a less than exciting job at the local council.

He doesn't feel grown up either, more like a 'juvenile lead.' All of which means he still finds occasion to tell lies, only its not so acceptable at 33 as it was at 17. Nor is it as charming in the dreay 1970's as it was in the innocent late 1950's.

No, the sexist 70's don't suit the Billy Liar I remembered fondly. This was the decade of lunchtime drinking and staring at the typist's 'knockers', both of which Billy does a lot of.

So this Billy is not particularly likable. His imaginary friend Oscar only seems to be there because Billy has to have an imagination, not because he's funny, which he isn't.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the grand ending, a chaotic Festival in the Shepford town centre, barely raises a tired smile.

Disappointing.

[Narimane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it very amusing! Its a lovely read!!!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Billy Liar. Billy is perhaps the fictional character I feel closest to; I don't have his talent for outrageous, trouble-causing lies, and I have never juggled multiple relationships, but I do turn my everyday life into more interesting adventures in my head, and I do take advice and comfort from my imaginary friends.

I wasn't expecting to like this, for the same reason I don't like the later Adrian Mole books: situations that are funny in adolescence becomes a little tragic in adulthood. To my surprise and joy, I found adult Billy's cynical worldview and refusal to grow up just as funny as his teenage adventures.

[J D Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read the sequel before.

It's a sadder book than the original. Billy's near enough my age now, working for a council who are knocking down everything real about their town and turning it into an ersatz-American theme park. So it's an angrier book, too. Whereas the first one is a Northern working class boy novel, this one is a state of the nation novel, a little bit like some of the later Adrian Mole books, but with a lot more bite to the satire.

Not as funny as the first one, but definitely worth reading if you liked that. Once you've read the ending, you'll never forget it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up in a flea market in Italy for 1 Euro. I had been in Italy for three weeks and was desperately missing a book. I was thrilled when one place had about ten books in English, and this looked to be the best of the ten. I wasn't disappointed. It is very English, but I enjoyed it and thought it was interesting.

[Geraldine Croft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m over the moon that I held onto this book after first reading it forty odd years ago.
William Fisher is in a bit of a pickle. Wife Jeanette wants a baby and a new Mayfield Mortgagedene bungalow. Insatiable and unpredictable mistress Helen is veering out of control. The back-stabbing shenanigans in the Information and Publicity Department of Shepford Town Council are hitting new heights. The imminent annual festival needs fine-tuning and the deadline for Pageantry with Progress (new edition) looms. Throw in Mr Pussy Paws, a missing set of second-hand golf clubs, Oscar on repeat and rat-faces galore. What could possibly go wrong?
Billy Liar on the Moon is funny and farcical, clever and current - swindle sheets, corruption and town planning madness aren’t going anywhere soon. All the characters and situations are brilliantly described and Bill is an absolute legend. Cheers! Mine’s a large vodka martini (on expenses).

[Stangya Sorensa]

Evidently, Waterhouse was so chuffed with the popularity of the 1973 tv series that he decided to write a sequel to "Billy Liar"; this one lacks the "Ulysses"-style 24-hour time frame (which he re-uses in "Maggie Muggins" and "Thinks...") and tells a story over several weeks; this one is more a product of its time; it features a town virtually handed over to a developement corporation and suffering massive inappropriate redevelopement and demolition, including insane one-way traffic systems that send unwary drivers on a one-way trip out of town, and a town council run on "bungs" and "Backhanders"
(the Poulson and Birmingham Corruption Trials were dominating the news at the time); there is also a dig at the Birminham One-Way Traffic system, when a marching band supposed to provide the high point to a procession is forced to detour round the town centre so that nobody sees it!
The previous novel was basically "Waterhouse Does Catcher In The Rye"; this one is "Waterhouse Does Reggie Perrin", except that Billy doesn't have the bottle to leave his clothes on the beach and vanish Stonehouse-style; but then he didn't have the bottle to get on the train with Liz leave Stradhoughton for London either.

[Corinna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first in the series.

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what I needed. Very funny and I think if people are honest they will recognise a bit of themselves in Billy. Need to get the first one too

[Steve Cassidy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but no idea why the reviewer on the cover found it so funny, must be the times but I found it more like a poignant study of an insecure character than a comedy.

[Cariad Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first met billy liar as a teenager, and it was nostalgic and affirming to meet him again in my early thirties. Billy is just as self-centred, childish and yet charming and endearing as he was at 17, and what this book is actually about is what your life becomes when you’re too scared to do what you want to do. I’m not blaming him, I feel for him - but I think we’re both at an age when you can start looking back and think, what have I done? What am I going to do?

Billy treats all the women in his life awfully, and he does seem to be surrounded by women and older men. He’s not a good guy but he’s very likeable and very funny. Gave me much to think about and I devoured it

[Esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t know there was a sequel to Billy Liar until I chanced upon this in a used bookstore. Well for me it suffered from classic sequel syndrome, far less successful.I think I found a now married late 20s Billy still conducting affairs and disastrous scrapes devoid of the boyish charm of the original. Parts just seemed a bit sad.

[Damian Moloney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and clever.