
What is the book about:
It's about Ted Wallace, an old, sour, cantankerous, nasty drama critic who on request of his god-daughter pays a visit to the country mansion of an old friend where miracles seem to be happening and his god-daugther thinks Ted, with his scepticism, is just the right man to discover if what's happening there is the real deal or not.
What do I think about this book:
To be honest, I had problems getting into this story. It's not because it's not well written, because Fry writes excellent. It's not because the story isn't good, because it's a great story. No, it's because Ted Wallace is the nastiest, most awful lead character I've ever come across in books. He is small minded, sexist and unpleasant and I had a hard time at first to see beyond his behaviour to the story behind his rather large ego (hence the hippopotamus). Once I got used to Ted the story was very good, it's got lots of things I love in a story: well written characters, a very good plot and topics that make you think about things not only in the story but outside of it.
Why should you read it:
If you want to like the lead character in a book, don't read this book as I can tell you it's very, very hard to like someone who acts and thinks like Ted. If you however like to read a story that challenges you to think and is also really well written you should try to read 'The Hippopotamus' some time.