Now You Know: Play

by Michael Frayn

"One of theatre's subtlest, most sophisticated minds" (The Times)



Now You "Frayn's light but serious, marvellous play, about official and unofficial secrets, about idle curiosity and investigative purpose" (Observer)

Genres: Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

Michael Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy. His novels, such as Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong and Spies, have also been critical and commercial successes, making him one of the handful of writers in the English language to succeed in both drama and prose fiction. His works often raise philosophical questions in a humorous context. Frayn's wife is Claire Tomalin, the biographer and literary journalist.

Reviews

[notgettingenough · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last Michael Frayn novel I read was Skios and I spent the book feeling like I was reading a movie pitch (albeit a long one). Maybe it would have made a good movie, but it failed as a book, perhaps because of these conflicted purposes.

The other day I discovered, sitting in the bookshelves, unread as yet, Now You Know. Written (or rather, published) twenty years before Skios, and shortly after the splendid A Landing on the Sun , I had great expectations. Which were unmet.

Why did you start doing this, Mr Frayn? Having your cake and eating it. Writing novels with an eye to the stage? Don't write novels if that's your plan. I read this, thinking just like Skios, that it was the detailed plan for a play. A play this time, not a movie, which was more the sense I got with Skios, maybe because it had an exotic location. This time felt wrong because the characters spoke in some way characters speak in a play and not in a novel. I can't say exactly what that means, it's just my intuitive reaction. I kept seeing some stalwart of English TV playing the main character. I kept wanting to speak his lines out loud - see, lines. That's how it felt. And at the same time, none of the characters took form in my mind's eye the way they should in a book. It's like I need to see the play in order to flesh them out.

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[Derek Bridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frayn is in good form with this satire about secrets and lies. Terry runs an organization that campaigns for open government. Perhaps predictably, his own life is a tissue of obfuscation, cover-up and delusion. There's nothing biting here, and the characters might well come from a West-End farce. Terry as lothario is particularly implausible. But Frayn is a master of plot and he is fully in control of this one. Not his best, but still very enjoyable.

[David]

Very funny but also sad. A lot of generally decent people get their feelings hurt in the course of trying not to hurt anybody's feelings. Lots of laughs and lots of lies and lots of lust and even some genuine love. In short, typical Frayn, with perhaps a tinge more sadness than he sometimes shows.

[Line · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book, I had this feeling of watching a movie and I loved how we would always switch to different characters all the time so we had the full story in front of us, it was not only one character talking all the way long.
I have to admit that it was a little bit hard to follow at times, some things were confusing, and I took quite a long time to finish this book but I did enjoy the story and how it was written.
I like the story near the middle to the end, I like how it finishes and it was really interesting.
It's not the usual type of book that I read, I wanted to try something new and I'm not disappointed honestly. I will definitely read more of this author.

[richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in first-person multiple, which makes it frustrating to follow on occasion, although Frayn does a reasonable job differentiating between characters. The underlying plot is a little hard to swallow, and a side effect of the multiple narrator approach is a lack of depth to most of the characters, so net net this is a much weaker offering for my money than 'Headlong', which remains one of my top picks for British farce and fakery.

[Adrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was going to re-read the same author's Headlong but saw I also had this on the shelf.

Although it plays out in a way that seems dated now, one of the themes is behind every great man is a woman doing the real work.

What I found most interesting was the constant dichotomy of what is being said vs what is left unsaid. And hey, it's Michael Frayn, so it's entertaining.

[Marilena · Rating 3 out of 5]

We rhad 'Now You Know' with our book group a few years ago. We had all loved previously 'Headlong' and this was amusing, but not quite as funny nor quite as interesting for us as 'Headlong' has proved. Great writer though.

[Michael Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The weakest novel I have read by Michael Frayn. The shifting narrative makes it incredibly difficult to discern who is speaking much of the time. I think it would have made a far better play than a novel.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel gets off to a rocky start, due to the primary narrator’s annoying voice. But other voices are added to more and more as the novel progresses, until all the characters get a chance now and then. Clever, tough to follow when you don’t read straight through, and yet both effective and entertaining in Frayn’s hands.

[Rosie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extraordinarily full of 2D tropes. Big, gruff, supposedly big-hearted investigative journalist causes upright young female civil servant to fall in love with him instantaneously despite being aggressive and rude to her. Very little interesting to say about either journalism or the civil service beyond the most surface-level observations. Intensely irritating narrative voice of main character.

[lola Franco · Rating 1 out of 5]

i tried and tried to like this book, but i just couldn't get into it at all. and i figure, i have too many books to read to waste my time on something that doesn't grab me right away. unless someone out there tells me i'm making a huge mistake, it's going in the donation pile.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy. Just crazy. Great for farcical entertainment.

[Jef · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyable, but a bit difficult to read because of multiple first-person narrative. once you get past that, it's smooth sailing.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny. A delightful read.

[Robin Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sordid book about bullying and deceit. The protagonist is not likable.