The Stars' Tennis Balls

De: Stephen Fry

Narrado por: Stephen Fry

For Ned, 1980 seems a blissful year. Handsome, charming, popular and talented, his life is progressing smoothly, effortlessly, happily. And when he meets the lovely Portia Fendeman his personal jigsaw appears complete. But timing is everything in life, and his life is about to change for ever.

Things are going to get very bad indeed for innocent young Ned. A promise made to a dying teacher and a spiteful trick played by fellow pupils will rocket Ned from cricket captain to solitary confinement, from head boy to hell. When Ned emerges he is a man bent on just one thing - revenge; and revenge is a dish he plans to savour and serve to those who conspired against him.

Part love story, part thriller, a gloriously rich mix that only Stephen Fry can dish up to us, The Stars' Tennis Balls will leave you happy and replete.

©2000 Stephen Fry (P)2000 Random House Audio

Great Listen

What made the experience of listening to The Stars' Tennis Balls the most enjoyable?

Its a really great story - I was a bit annoyed when I realized it was a re-write of the Count of Monte Christo, but the writing is so good and some of the twists and turns are so well disguised that I soon got over it. As ever, Stephen Fry demonstrates a great imagination in the revenge sequences. Great listen, highly recommended.

What other book might you compare The Stars' Tennis Balls to and why?

The Count of Monte Christo - it's an updated version of one of the greatest novels of all time

Have you listened to any of Stephen Fry???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Very good rendition - charecterisations probably not as theatrical as (for example) The Liar or The Hippopotamus, but a great performance.

Who was the most memorable character of The Stars' Tennis Balls and why?

The Babe - clearly the most thoughtful of the characters, nice anagram of The Abb?? from The Count of Monte Christo

Any additional comments?

Check out the Wikipedia page, it gives you a great insight into some of the word play that Stephen Fry has hidden through the text. e.g. Mercedes from TCoMC is now called Portia (lol)

סיפור מעולה

סיפור מרתק שמתפתח באופן מפתיע. קריינות מושלמת סטיבן פריי גם כתב וגם מקריא - גם אם היה מקריא את ספר הטלפונים זה היה מרתק

excellent, interesting diversion

If you could sum up The Stars' Tennis Balls in three words, what would they be?

adolescent agonies, contrasted

What did you like best about this story?

Fry's reading - I enjoyed his acting the different characters.

Which scene was your favorite?

the scene on the yacht - this was where I started to get really interested in the book

Who was the most memorable character of The Stars' Tennis Balls and why?

hmmm - hard. I think most of the main characters were really well drawn, and I identified with parts of several of them. Ned and Portia were the two whose stories I was most interested in through the book (though others were almost as memorable).

Any additional comments?

this took a short while (45mins?) to get into, but after that I really looked forward to the next installment & finding out what happened next. I recommend this book