by P.G. Wodehouse
1961
Not all is well at Blandings Castle, where Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, is plagued by an officious secretary, Lavender Biggs, who plots for bigger things; his quarrelsome sister, Constance; and the windbag Duke of Dunstable, a self-invited guest who wants to steal Emsworth’s prize pig to sell to a rival (or back to Emsworth himself, if he must). Add to this that a curate is staying at the castle under false pretenses to be with his beloved, a millionaire’s daughter whom Constance has no intention of letting marry a curate; and the Duke’s nephew, a nice fellow who just needs a thousand pounds to settle down with his girl, and not Myra, whom he has inadvertently gotten engaged to as well. It takes a bit of dissimulation and plotting from the always affable, unflappable Frederick, Earl of Ickenham, to get everyone, or nearly everyone, a happy ending (“there is always apt to be trouble when you start spreading sweetness and light,” he muses. “You find there isn’t enough to go around and someone has to be left out of the distribution”).
This is a fine Emerson and Uncle Fred story, a little light entertainment with the typical madcap scenarios and whirlwind semi-solutions. I never think that these stories approach the polished genius of Bertie and Jeeves (and this one doesn’t even have the Efficient Baxter, whose presence as a foil to Emsworth helps greatly). Still, it’s a fun romp in typical Wodehouse style.
four stars
Showing posts with label wodehouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wodehouse. Show all posts
Friday, May 25, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
How Right You Are, Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse
a.k.a. Jeeves In the Offing
1960
With Jeeves on vacation, Bertie finds himself at his Aunt Dahlia’s place in Brinkley Court, along with an American family, the Creams, who must be handled with kid gloves to prevent their canceling a big business deal with Bertie’s uncle; Audrey Upjohn, Bertie’s former headmaster, who still chills Bertie’s soul; Upjohn’s insipid daughter, Phyllis, who is infatuated with the playboy kleptomaniac wastrel American, Willie Cream, and must be put off; and old pal Roberta Wickham, engaged to be married to Bertie’s old pal Reginald Herring, who has written a caustic, libelous review of Upjohn’s memoirs and thus whose future depends on assuaging Upjohn’s wrathful soul. Oh, and familiar face Roderick Glossop, eminent psychologist to the wealthy, is there in the disguise of a butler to surreptitiously assess Willie Cream’s psyche.
In short, the usual cast of doomed lovers, imperious guardians, and secret schemes abound, and Jeeves must be sent for. Though there is little in this book of the sublime Bertie-Jeeves dialogue that defines their perfect relationship (Jeeves being mostly absent and even after he arrives doing his magic more or less off-camera), there is more than enough of the brilliant Wooster narration (“one got the distinct illusion he was swelling like one of those rubber ducks which you fill with air before inserting them in the bathtub”; “in his opinion three was a crowd and that what the leafy glade needed to make it all a leafy glade should be was a complete absence of Woosters”). One may roll one’s eyes at the recurring tropes (the fretful porpentine quote, the young lovers who cannot marry unless the young man’s future is assured), but frankly you have to be a bit of an Upjohn not to delight in this world of wit, erudition, manners, and happy endings.
a.k.a. Jeeves In the Offing
1960
With Jeeves on vacation, Bertie finds himself at his Aunt Dahlia’s place in Brinkley Court, along with an American family, the Creams, who must be handled with kid gloves to prevent their canceling a big business deal with Bertie’s uncle; Audrey Upjohn, Bertie’s former headmaster, who still chills Bertie’s soul; Upjohn’s insipid daughter, Phyllis, who is infatuated with the playboy kleptomaniac wastrel American, Willie Cream, and must be put off; and old pal Roberta Wickham, engaged to be married to Bertie’s old pal Reginald Herring, who has written a caustic, libelous review of Upjohn’s memoirs and thus whose future depends on assuaging Upjohn’s wrathful soul. Oh, and familiar face Roderick Glossop, eminent psychologist to the wealthy, is there in the disguise of a butler to surreptitiously assess Willie Cream’s psyche.
In short, the usual cast of doomed lovers, imperious guardians, and secret schemes abound, and Jeeves must be sent for. Though there is little in this book of the sublime Bertie-Jeeves dialogue that defines their perfect relationship (Jeeves being mostly absent and even after he arrives doing his magic more or less off-camera), there is more than enough of the brilliant Wooster narration (“one got the distinct illusion he was swelling like one of those rubber ducks which you fill with air before inserting them in the bathtub”; “in his opinion three was a crowd and that what the leafy glade needed to make it all a leafy glade should be was a complete absence of Woosters”). One may roll one’s eyes at the recurring tropes (the fretful porpentine quote, the young lovers who cannot marry unless the young man’s future is assured), but frankly you have to be a bit of an Upjohn not to delight in this world of wit, erudition, manners, and happy endings.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Thank You, Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse
1934
Jeeves reluctantly gives his notice because Bertie won’t stop playing the banjolele, even “within the narrow confines of a country cottage.” But Jeeves is never far, for he goes into the service of Bertie’s friend Lord “Chuffy” Chufnell, owner of said cottage. Of course, Jeeves paves the way for nuptials between Chuffy and his betrothed, repairs a cancelled real-estate transaction, and even gets Roderick Glossop out of a tight spot. And that’s not even touching on the blackface Bertie finds himself in, two frightful children, and the homicidal dipsomaniac socialist butler Brinkley.
This is easily one of Wodehouse’s best Jeeves books. The lengthy scene in which Bertram keeps getting mistaken for a burglar as he finds different places outside to sleep had me laughing to tears. And delicious lines like “We looked at each other with a wild surmise, silent upon a first floor back in Chuffnell Regis” show that the literate Wodehouse wit is at its acme. A masterpiece, flawed only in the unfortunate use of the dated and offensive term for blacks and a plot point requiring blackface, which is not perhaps quite the keen drollery it may have been in the thirties.
five stars
[Read three times: 5/1/94, 5/20/08, 3/10/12]
1934
Jeeves reluctantly gives his notice because Bertie won’t stop playing the banjolele, even “within the narrow confines of a country cottage.” But Jeeves is never far, for he goes into the service of Bertie’s friend Lord “Chuffy” Chufnell, owner of said cottage. Of course, Jeeves paves the way for nuptials between Chuffy and his betrothed, repairs a cancelled real-estate transaction, and even gets Roderick Glossop out of a tight spot. And that’s not even touching on the blackface Bertie finds himself in, two frightful children, and the homicidal dipsomaniac socialist butler Brinkley.
This is easily one of Wodehouse’s best Jeeves books. The lengthy scene in which Bertram keeps getting mistaken for a burglar as he finds different places outside to sleep had me laughing to tears. And delicious lines like “We looked at each other with a wild surmise, silent upon a first floor back in Chuffnell Regis” show that the literate Wodehouse wit is at its acme. A masterpiece, flawed only in the unfortunate use of the dated and offensive term for blacks and a plot point requiring blackface, which is not perhaps quite the keen drollery it may have been in the thirties.
five stars
[Read three times: 5/1/94, 5/20/08, 3/10/12]
Friday, February 10, 2012
Jeeves In the Morning
a.k.a Joy In the Morning
by P.G. Wodehouse
1946
In the episode that "my biographers will probably call the Steeple Bumpleigh Horror," Bertie goes to his Aunt Agatha’s manor, Steeple Bumpleigh, where Jeeves tries to arrange a discreet business meeting between Bertie’s uncle and an American magnate. Meanwhile, Bertie’s friends Boko, a writer, and Nobbie, want to get married, but Bertie’s uncle, her ward, will not give his consent; and Bertie finds himself inadvertently affianced to Florence Craye, a woman given to exhorting mental improvement, and who is also engaged to oafish, jealous police constable Stilton Cheesewright. Naturally, Jeeves, stuffed with fish, overcomes all difficulties to arrange a satisfactory resolution to all problems. It's a delightfully clever, tortuous plot, peppered with sharp dialogue and less than flattering descriptions of everyone except the urbane Jeeves himself. I was very amused by Jeeves’ blatantly blunt solution at the end.
five stars
[Read three times: 3/15/97, 5/16/08, 2/10/12]
by P.G. Wodehouse
1946
In the episode that "my biographers will probably call the Steeple Bumpleigh Horror," Bertie goes to his Aunt Agatha’s manor, Steeple Bumpleigh, where Jeeves tries to arrange a discreet business meeting between Bertie’s uncle and an American magnate. Meanwhile, Bertie’s friends Boko, a writer, and Nobbie, want to get married, but Bertie’s uncle, her ward, will not give his consent; and Bertie finds himself inadvertently affianced to Florence Craye, a woman given to exhorting mental improvement, and who is also engaged to oafish, jealous police constable Stilton Cheesewright. Naturally, Jeeves, stuffed with fish, overcomes all difficulties to arrange a satisfactory resolution to all problems. It's a delightfully clever, tortuous plot, peppered with sharp dialogue and less than flattering descriptions of everyone except the urbane Jeeves himself. I was very amused by Jeeves’ blatantly blunt solution at the end.
five stars
[Read three times: 3/15/97, 5/16/08, 2/10/12]
Friday, February 9, 1996
Uncle Fred In the Springtime
by P.G. Wodehouse
1939
A tale of Uncle Elmsworth, the Efficient Baxter and Uncle Fred. It was brilliant in its execution, but not as funny as the Bertie and Jeeves chemistry. Also, the incredibly complex plot strained even the Wodehousian limit of credulity: a man is convinced he is crazy because three of his friends pretend not to know him (and he accepts their flat denial of their identity). But this type of silliness is best when not looked at too closely and simply enjoyed, eh?
four stars
1939
A tale of Uncle Elmsworth, the Efficient Baxter and Uncle Fred. It was brilliant in its execution, but not as funny as the Bertie and Jeeves chemistry. Also, the incredibly complex plot strained even the Wodehousian limit of credulity: a man is convinced he is crazy because three of his friends pretend not to know him (and he accepts their flat denial of their identity). But this type of silliness is best when not looked at too closely and simply enjoyed, eh?
four stars
Saturday, September 2, 1995
Full Moon
by P.G. Wodehouse
1947
Crazy doings at Blandings Castle. A typically Wodehousian romp, supremely well written and extremely funny. The acme of hilarity for me was when Blister was apprehended as a burglar by the centenarian pig man Edwin Pott. The final wrap-up was a little bit too quick and easy (as is Wodehouse's wont) but right up to that point it was non-stop ha-ha.
four stars
1947
Crazy doings at Blandings Castle. A typically Wodehousian romp, supremely well written and extremely funny. The acme of hilarity for me was when Blister was apprehended as a burglar by the centenarian pig man Edwin Pott. The final wrap-up was a little bit too quick and easy (as is Wodehouse's wont) but right up to that point it was non-stop ha-ha.
four stars
Sunday, May 21, 1995
Blandings Castle
by P.G. Wodehouse
1935
Containing six stories about Lord Elmsworth and his woes, a story with Bobbie Wickham ("Mr. Potter Takes a Rest Cure") and five tales of what really goes on in Hollywood, as told by a Mr. Mulliner to people he knows only by what they drink. The reading matter was very much Wodehouse, and made me laugh aloud several times, although somehow he never quite reaches the brilliance of the Bertie & Jeeves material when he writes about other characters. Tangled plots, young couples that are forbidden each other, young couples who have the all-clear but break up, dominant sisters, etc. I noted that the last story, "The Castaways," stood out as being very odd, much more fantastic than P.G.'s usual tone.
four stars
1935
Containing six stories about Lord Elmsworth and his woes, a story with Bobbie Wickham ("Mr. Potter Takes a Rest Cure") and five tales of what really goes on in Hollywood, as told by a Mr. Mulliner to people he knows only by what they drink. The reading matter was very much Wodehouse, and made me laugh aloud several times, although somehow he never quite reaches the brilliance of the Bertie & Jeeves material when he writes about other characters. Tangled plots, young couples that are forbidden each other, young couples who have the all-clear but break up, dominant sisters, etc. I noted that the last story, "The Castaways," stood out as being very odd, much more fantastic than P.G.'s usual tone.
four stars
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