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Jeeves #5
Thank You, Jeeves
Bertram Wooster's interminable banjolele playing has driven Jeeves, his otherwise steadfast gentleman's gentleman, to give notice. The foppish aristocrat cannot survive for long without his Shakespeare-quoting and problem-solving valet, however, and after a narrowly escaped forced marriage, a cottage fire, and a great butter theft, the celebrated literary odd couple are happy to return to the way things were.
230 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
About the author
P.G. Wodehouse
1,241 books6,521 followersSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,429 reviews
August 9, 2023
Bertram "Bertie" Wooster is part of the English idle rich, don't you wish you were too ? Set during the bleak Great Depression of the 1930's, these dark aspects are unseen by the clueless gentleman; that strangely gives it charm... Most of his friends are members of the notorious Drones Club in London and hardly notice the bad economic conditions either, such a bunch of nincompoops the world would be hard to find anymore. He has a valet Jeeves, much smarter than his boss and for that matter his friends. Thls comes in handy, as Jeeves is always getting them out of trouble, with small assistance from his employer. The big mystery is why such an obvious genius remains, I know times are tough yet with the constant harassment and never ending turmoil; but maybe this will change... The often engaged but never married Bertie, finally drives poor Jeeves out, by Wooster's incessant banjo playing; excruciating caterwauling which would raise the dead... even butlers have limits. Leaving the noisy city and going to live in a quiet country cottage by the sea, where there are no neighbors to complain about, shall we say Bertie's not a very expert performer, being kind . The silly Lord "Chuffy"Chuffnell the landlord and one of Wooster's numerous Oxford friends, needs help, plenty of it. Miss Pauline Stoker , Bertie's ex- fiancee (for two days) and new love of Chuffy's , the lord doesn't know about their past peccadilloes and Bertie can keep a secret, is visiting here, yes trouble will commence shortly... Her wealthy American father has brought his little yacht, to keep an eye on the pretty but fickle athletic daughter , Jeeves new employer is you guessed it Lord Chuffnell. The fun begins with the eccentric Bertie (the poor are called crazy) and his new mysterious valet Brinkley, cause the local police the two of them , many headaches migraines if truth be told. The forever calm Jeeves will have to use all his wisdom to eliminate the misunderstandings , for a hopeful, proper and acceptable ending . This is England....after all.....A delightful amusing romp into the mythical lives of the very well- to- do, there adventures, problems and mishaps admittedly not serious, compared to us, still quite entertaining as written by the incomparable Mr.... excuse me, Sir P.G. ( Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse even his name brings a smile to the reader.
July 15, 2011
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE READ YOURSELF HAPPY FOUNDATION:
Are you feeling sad, depressed, not quite yourself?
Did your youngest child decide to make paper airplanes out of the pages of your 1st Edition copy of Lord of the Rings?
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For the low, low introductory price of ONLY $29.95, we will send you the "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package which includes ALL of the following:
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2. An almost new book mark, and
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I know what you're thinking, all that forONLY $29.95. Sound too good to be true? Well here’s what some actual customers** are saying about the "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package:
Customer #1: Thank you, Jeeves is the definition of a “feel good” read. Bertie Wooster, the well intentioned but crisis prone British Gentleman, and his faithful valet Jeeves have a falling out over Bertie’s refusal to desist from playing his banjolele. Irritated over the loss of Jeeves, Bertie goes to stay at a friend’s country cottage and a complicated and HILARIOUS series of events transpire. The dialogue is quick, crisp, dry and quintessentially British and will keep a smile on your face throughout. A classic of comedy literature.
Customer #2: The "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package is the greatest thing since Doc Bottoms Aspray and I use it almost as much. After working out with my ShakeWeight, I love to Slap Chop some veggies, curl up in my Snuggie and read Thank You, Jeeves and for just a little while, forget about my failed hopes and dreams.
Customer #3: Being a crack whore keeps me very busy and doesn't leave me a lot of time for book shopping. The "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package was the perfect opportunity for me to get a great book and the guys at the RYHF were nice enough to work with me on flexible payment arrangements. Thanks RYHF.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!! If you act now, RYHF will send an additional copy of Thank you, Jeeves ABSOLUTELY FREE***. You will not find a better offer unless you look so don't waste time. Call today and soon you'll be LAUGHING away the blues.
Act now while supplies last!!
Supplies limited. Terms subject to change without notice. This offer not available in states with consumer protection statutes. RYHF reserves the right to keep your money and suspend activities at any time if it determines that such action would be awesome and the RYHF believes that it can get away with it.
* Not a Guarantee
** Paid actors used as spokesmen and not actual customers (except the crack whore)
*** An additional shipping and handling charge of $29.95 will apply
Are you feeling sad, depressed, not quite yourself?
Did your youngest child decide to make paper airplanes out of the pages of your 1st Edition copy of Lord of the Rings?
Did the brilliantly astute network asshats cancel your favorite television show in favor of a 22 part documentary on the Brittany Spears Comeback Tour hosted by Paula Abdul?
Did the video of the “unfortunate incident” at your office picnic recently make #1 "Most Watched" on Youtube?
Well put down that whiskey bottle and the oxycontin and unload the shotgun because we at the Read Yourself Happy Foundation (RYHF) have a solution Guaranteed*to perk you up like a percocet muffin and a "happy ending" and bring baskets of bliss back to your brain. After a good hour of
For the low, low introductory price of ONLY $29.95, we will send you the "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package which includes ALL of the following:
1. A used copy of Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse,
2. An almost new book mark, and
3. A personalized thank you card from RYHF.
I know what you're thinking, all that forONLY $29.95. Sound too good to be true? Well here’s what some actual customers** are saying about the "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package:
Customer #1: Thank you, Jeeves is the definition of a “feel good” read. Bertie Wooster, the well intentioned but crisis prone British Gentleman, and his faithful valet Jeeves have a falling out over Bertie’s refusal to desist from playing his banjolele. Irritated over the loss of Jeeves, Bertie goes to stay at a friend’s country cottage and a complicated and HILARIOUS series of events transpire. The dialogue is quick, crisp, dry and quintessentially British and will keep a smile on your face throughout. A classic of comedy literature.
Customer #2: The "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package is the greatest thing since Doc Bottoms Aspray and I use it almost as much. After working out with my ShakeWeight, I love to Slap Chop some veggies, curl up in my Snuggie and read Thank You, Jeeves and for just a little while, forget about my failed hopes and dreams.
Customer #3: Being a crack whore keeps me very busy and doesn't leave me a lot of time for book shopping. The "Jeeves, That's Funny" Happy Package was the perfect opportunity for me to get a great book and the guys at the RYHF were nice enough to work with me on flexible payment arrangements. Thanks RYHF.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!! If you act now, RYHF will send an additional copy of Thank you, Jeeves ABSOLUTELY FREE***. You will not find a better offer unless you look so don't waste time. Call today and soon you'll be LAUGHING away the blues.
Act now while supplies last!!
Supplies limited. Terms subject to change without notice. This offer not available in states with consumer protection statutes. RYHF reserves the right to keep your money and suspend activities at any time if it determines that such action would be awesome and the RYHF believes that it can get away with it.
* Not a Guarantee
** Paid actors used as spokesmen and not actual customers (except the crack whore)
*** An additional shipping and handling charge of $29.95 will apply
January 31, 2023
Not everyone appreciates the banjolele.
Sadly for Bertie Wooster, Jeeves is among those who are quite fed up with his newest hobby. After getting hit with a noise complaint from his neighbors and being deserted by his butler, Bertie heads out to the country to continue to strum his instrument.
Of course, everything happens to make that utterly impossible as he gets caught up in one hysterical mishap after another.
This is one of the funnier Jeeves titles and definitely worth reading if you're a fan of Wodehouse, or even just looking for a humorous book.
BUT.
I do feel that you should be warned that there's a fair bit of really cringy shit in this one that kind of puts the brakes on the funny for a good bit while you try to recover from the shock of the causal racism. I mean, if you read a lot of older novels, you'll be pretty well used to quite a lot of it.
You don't have to like it to admit that it just pops up everywhere.
But between the N-word, the whole escape plan hinging on blackface, and the maids screaming & fainting when they saw Bertie? And just the simple idea people were so stupid to think that some English dude who has shoe polish or whatever on their face could actually pass for someone of a different ethnicity?
It was so insulting. And it just went on forever.
Now, maybe the author was trying to use this as a way to show how ridiculous people could act over something as simple as skin color. Bertie was the same person underneath it all, but he garnered very different reactions when he pulled his little switcheroo.
Unfortunately, Wodehouse is dead, so it's not like we can ask him.
And as much as I hate to admit it, this is still a hilarious story...
This would actually be a 5 star book without all the weird racism, but it seriously put a damper on my enjoyment, so I gotta knock off a star even if Wodehouse didn't realize what he was doing.
Recommended for Wodehouse fans and Bertie & Jeeves addicts.
Jonathan Cecil - Narrator
Sadly for Bertie Wooster, Jeeves is among those who are quite fed up with his newest hobby. After getting hit with a noise complaint from his neighbors and being deserted by his butler, Bertie heads out to the country to continue to strum his instrument.
Of course, everything happens to make that utterly impossible as he gets caught up in one hysterical mishap after another.
This is one of the funnier Jeeves titles and definitely worth reading if you're a fan of Wodehouse, or even just looking for a humorous book.
BUT.
I do feel that you should be warned that there's a fair bit of really cringy shit in this one that kind of puts the brakes on the funny for a good bit while you try to recover from the shock of the causal racism. I mean, if you read a lot of older novels, you'll be pretty well used to quite a lot of it.
You don't have to like it to admit that it just pops up everywhere.
But between the N-word, the whole escape plan hinging on blackface, and the maids screaming & fainting when they saw Bertie? And just the simple idea people were so stupid to think that some English dude who has shoe polish or whatever on their face could actually pass for someone of a different ethnicity?
It was so insulting. And it just went on forever.
Now, maybe the author was trying to use this as a way to show how ridiculous people could act over something as simple as skin color. Bertie was the same person underneath it all, but he garnered very different reactions when he pulled his little switcheroo.
Unfortunately, Wodehouse is dead, so it's not like we can ask him.
And as much as I hate to admit it, this is still a hilarious story...
This would actually be a 5 star book without all the weird racism, but it seriously put a damper on my enjoyment, so I gotta knock off a star even if Wodehouse didn't realize what he was doing.
Recommended for Wodehouse fans and Bertie & Jeeves addicts.
Jonathan Cecil - Narrator
January 9, 2012
Jeeves and Wooster break up after Jeeves lays down an ultimatum and Bertie chooses his banjolele over his manservant. Hilarity ensues.
The 2011-2012 re-read...
After Jeeves and Wooster have a spat over a banjolele, Jeeves leaves Wooster for Lord Chuffnel, who is enamored with Bertie's ex-fiancee, Pauline Stoker. Complicating matters are Stoker's dad, a millionaire who wants to buy Chuffnel's mansion, and Chuffy's, who is being pursued by Wooster's old nemesis, Sir Roderick Glossop. When Bertie winds up engaged to Pauline instead of Chuffy, can even Jeeves set things right?
After so many books, I'm almost at a loss at trying to convey the awesomeness of P.G. Wodehouse in words. He moves the characters through the various scenes like a puppet master. While this is the first Jeeves novel, it's by no means the genius butler's first outing. I'd forgotten how much history there was between Bertie and Sir Roderick Glossop, renowned nerve specialist, prior to this book. The supporting cast did a good job driving the story, from the Stokers to the Chuffnels to Brinkley, the replacement Jeeves. Little Seabury and his protection racket cracked me up.
Things are not as perfect as they would later become in the Jeeves books. Today's readers may find Bertie and Glossop being in blackface for a good portion of the story and the casual use of the n-word is sure to offend. Since this was the first full length Jeeves outing, it feels like old Plum was still working some of the bugs out.
Still, it's still a great story. So many lines of quotable dialogue and hilarious situations. Even though you can see a lot of them coming, it doesn't lessen the impact. As usual, it was a joy to watch Wodehouse do what he does best.
I enjoyed revisiting Thank You, Jeeves, with the Wodehouse Cracks Me Up group and am excited about reading the other eight this year.
The 2011-2012 re-read...
After Jeeves and Wooster have a spat over a banjolele, Jeeves leaves Wooster for Lord Chuffnel, who is enamored with Bertie's ex-fiancee, Pauline Stoker. Complicating matters are Stoker's dad, a millionaire who wants to buy Chuffnel's mansion, and Chuffy's, who is being pursued by Wooster's old nemesis, Sir Roderick Glossop. When Bertie winds up engaged to Pauline instead of Chuffy, can even Jeeves set things right?
After so many books, I'm almost at a loss at trying to convey the awesomeness of P.G. Wodehouse in words. He moves the characters through the various scenes like a puppet master. While this is the first Jeeves novel, it's by no means the genius butler's first outing. I'd forgotten how much history there was between Bertie and Sir Roderick Glossop, renowned nerve specialist, prior to this book. The supporting cast did a good job driving the story, from the Stokers to the Chuffnels to Brinkley, the replacement Jeeves. Little Seabury and his protection racket cracked me up.
Things are not as perfect as they would later become in the Jeeves books. Today's readers may find Bertie and Glossop being in blackface for a good portion of the story and the casual use of the n-word is sure to offend. Since this was the first full length Jeeves outing, it feels like old Plum was still working some of the bugs out.
Still, it's still a great story. So many lines of quotable dialogue and hilarious situations. Even though you can see a lot of them coming, it doesn't lessen the impact. As usual, it was a joy to watch Wodehouse do what he does best.
I enjoyed revisiting Thank You, Jeeves, with the Wodehouse Cracks Me Up group and am excited about reading the other eight this year.
Read
January 11, 2021The One with the Blackface. (Formerly more famous as the first full-length Jeeves & Wooster novel, and - along with The Code of the Woosters - being on lists like 1001 and the Guardian 1000, the 1930s J&W books being considered the most classic, 'Wodehouse at the height of his powers' etc etc.)
There is a pretty comprehensive summary of the blackface aspect of the novel and contemporary criticisms in this Bookriot article. It's a shame it is there to get in the way of what is otherwise a superbly elegant Midsummer Night's Dream style plot - in which the temporarily sundered couples stumbling about over a few summer nights in the countryside are not only romantic, but also include a business partnership between two middle-aged men - and Jeeves & Wooster themselves. (For readers who don't spot that of their own accord, Bertie even refers to one rendez-vous with Jeeves as a tryst.) There are also some particularly funny lines and word choices here - wittier than the short stories as I remember them - beginning with a list of Bertie's disgruntled neighbours in London, who include a Col. J.J. Bustard. (On top of the two more obvious references in that name, there is the Great Bustard, which was hunted to extinction in Britain in the 19th century - and is now being reintroduced.) It may have been the delivery in this audio, but I hadn't noticed before how indebted Blackadder scripts were to Wodehouse.
It seems like there would be a market for a version with the offensive elements rewritten, alongside the original, given the increasing disappointment of progressive contemporary readers who expect comfort reading from Wodehouse. Once the book is in the public domain I daresay that will happen. (Due to some vagaries of publication history, the next in the series, Right Ho, Jeeves already is in the public domain, but not yet this one.)
I always used to wonder what the catch was with Wodehouse. (At that point I'd read two books of J&W short stories and wasn't as keen on the characters as 99% of other people who read them and three or four Blandings books, which I preferred.) They were written and set in the early twentieth century but never seemed to feature the sort of prejudice that was in any other literature from this period that wasn't by authors very obviously in favour of social reform (and even then...) The casts were all white, which would be part of the reason - there's usually a limit to how rude a novel can be about people who are not part of the plot - but there weren't metaphors in the narrative using stereotypes or slurs. When there are generalisations about men and women in Wodehouse, they are often the opposite of typical ones, with both author and protagonists accustomed to formidable women, especially aunts. I thought that, due to the books' popularity in Britain, perhaps they'd been edited slightly to remove offensive vocab, though as I've never been a serious fan, I hadn't really looked into it.
It looks like most of the problematic content was inadvertently dumped in one book. (At least I've never noticed anything like the criticisms of Thank You, Jeeves levelled at the other novels.)
Because a) I automatically assume there will be slurs in books of this age, and that it's instead a matter to remark on if there *isn't* prejudice by 21st century standards, and b) I didn't already love the characters to the extent a lot of readers do, and c) I'd already heard about this issue before starting the book, it wasn't shocking, per se, though it is still jarring for Bertie & chums to repeatedly refer to "the n___ minstrels" as casually as they might say "the Italian opera company" or something (the word isn't directed at any particular character as an insult). The phrase in 1930s Britain apparently meant white performers in blackface, not actual Black entertainers (see Wikipedia, which references two academic history texts on the subject, Pickering 2016; Springhall 2008). For the first half of the book, that's all it is, occasional references to a band / show.
But later, blackface becomes rather integral to a plot, and whilst it would be possible to rewrite this element, nothing else would encompass all the elements quite as well unless you shifted the setting to a different time period. Bertie has got into playing the banjolele and, early in the story, is keen to make the acquaintance of minstrels so he can learn from them. Later, in order to escape from a sticky situation, he disguises himself as one. Other characters' reactions to him are predicated on his appearing in blackface at night - the most extreme reactions being from a man who's violently drunk and thinks he's seen a devil, and a woman who's just been messing about with a Ouija board. Another character, separately, has also blacked up to try and do a musical show at home and becomes a further element in the caper. (I was surprised to find, given what articles and reviews say - the reactions from characters who don't swiftly realise who Bertie is happen because they think he's a supernatural entity - they don't seem to be mistaking a white man with boot polish on his face for an actual Black person. The assumption is that people will think he is a member of the band, i.e. a white man in blackface. It also all happens in the middle of the night.)
So to reconstruct it, you need the connection with a new hobby of Bertie's (though that is the most dispensible element, as he never gets round to having a conversation with the band in the narrative or seeing their show; there isn't even a band name), a band or other small entertainment group who might plausibly perform at a rich kid's party, and who have a look that allows Bertie to disguise himself, and and which will lead to alarmed reactions from other characters, and something which is very fashionable at the time the scene is set. One late-90s radio adaptation (thanks to Wiki again) used American hillbillies, which allows for stick-on beards - and looking scruffy and old fashioned, so characters such as policeman and stately home servants can be suspicious of him, and he could look like a ghost to someone predisposed to thinking that. (You could also add a legend of a local ghost earlier in the story to augment that element.) But hillbilly bands weren't a craze in Britain in the 1930s - though it could work, given O Brother Where Art Thou as a reference point, and readers who would prefer a rewrite would surely be happy to sacrifice a little accuracy. (It would work even better in a setting transposed to late 1960s - hippies - or the late 00s to early 2010s - hipsters with beards and early 20th century-style workwear, who would even be playing banjos too - though those would be retellings not edits.)
(Unbelievably, an early 90s episode of the Jeeves & Wooster TV series actually *added* a blackface plot to another story which didn't contain anything of the sort in the original.)
Whilst Bertie says he "never realised before what an important part one's complexion plays in life … Bertram Wooster with merely a pretty tan calling at the back door of Chuffnell Hall would have been received with respect and deference," it doesn't become the lesson on racial privilege that plenty of 21st century readers would like, and it wasn't set up to give much opportunity for that. Firstly, the police had been giving Bertie quite a hard time already, when they knew who he was, because he has already been getting up to his usual eccentric capers, and his new neighbours are rural policemen (with otherwise little to do), who are zealous, and who believe the police have been "shackled" for too long. (One even quotes some statistics dated 1930 - unusual in Wodehouse's work which often steers away from being very situated in time.) And secondly, as mentioned, the most pivotal reactions of fright are based on superstition and its being the middle of the night, not racial prejudice.
Where Wodehouse's vocab isn't noticeably dated, it always surprises me in how modern it can be - I always forget how much they say "bloke", which I always think of as a recent word, from the 60s or later (because of its increased popularity in the 90s). There are abbreviations I use in note-making which turn out to be in Bertie's normal vocab, like "circs". And words which have re-emerged with slightly different meanings now; here a girl is a "simp". Probably the very fact of some words being in Wodehouse has helped keep them current, as readers then use them in either jocular or incidental fashion, depending how dated they sound.
Some trends he refers to are gone - like the minstrels themselves, or, more harmless and fun, "a sound not unlike the last utterance of one of those toy ducks you inflate and then let the air out of". (I want to know what those were like!) But others, you could forget how very much of-their-time they were, because they have lasted just as Wodehouse has: countless male narrators still refer to American noir PIs, whether in real books or made up ones like Bertie's Drexdale Yates.
More than other occasions I'd read Wodehouse, the conflicts here made it starkly obvious that this is a world in transition between the Victorian marriage market and the sexual revolution. It's very strongly implied that getting engaged means some sort of sexual activity (so this is why characters are often so keen to get engaged!). But being in the same small house overnight with an eligible person of the opposite sex means that people will assume you have had sex and should be married off pronto - especially, but not only, in the eyes of the older generation. I like some characters' assumption (especially Pauline and Bertie) that former partners (fiancés) should, by default, be good friends, or rather like siblings. The world needs more of that and not defaulting to the assumption that they ought to be on bad terms/should not associate.
There's quite an emphasis here on the point that being upper class doesn't necessarily mean wealth any more. Chuffy is more grown-up than Bertie, being a JP and owner of a stately home and estate, but it's already getting to the point where, Bertie says, [to paraphrase] chaps who own land have little disposable income and would love to sell up, but who wants to buy a house that size these days? (American millionaires, that's who. The reactions to the word 'millionaire' make it closer to 'billionaire' these days.) Bertie doesn't actually seem to be all that wealthy in his own right, as he was renting a flat in London, a posh area of course, but prices not as disproportionate as today of today, and then goes to pay mates rates at a cottage with neither a bathroom nor electric light in the bedroom. (Interesting he never complains about this - perhaps something to do with the way public schools used to get boys used to spartan conditions?) Presumably he's forever waiting for inheritances, has little capital but income from a trust (a high % must go on Jeeves' wages), all no doubt covered in books I've either not read or have forgotten the details of. This is no doubt why he falls back on medieval references from time to time, ancestors who did rather well at the Battle of Crécy, or 'the feudal spirit' - on some level he knows he's a type on the way out, but he probably doesn't care that much, as he is essentially a hedonist who lives in the moment. As in at least one earlier Wodehouse book I've read, socialist protest and activism, a big deal in early 20th century Britain, makes it into this book tangentially, though the narrative here is more obviously anti than the other one (where it was more like scenery). Bertie assumes - it's never clear why - that his new valet is some sort of Bolshevik, though all that's clear from what happens is that the man goes on epic drinking binges. (All's well that ends well for many of the characters, as per Wodehouse form, but presumably not for Brinkley - I'd love to know what happens next to him, and more about this oddly intriguing cove.)
"It can be argued, though, that Jeeves’ contentment with being employed by such a nitwit is itself reassuring. Their relationship suggests that even the most talented and renowned of the working classes won’t rise up against the wealthy classes that have done nothing to earn or maintain that wealth," says the Bookriot article linked above. I have a theory about Jeeves that he finds the work entertaining and that it is a path of least resistance for him; becoming a valet, he didn't have to try and possibly fail to get into a more class-restricted profession that a handful of brilliant working-class men might have managed to get into, such as academia or the civil service, soimewhere he would have to compete with a lot of people of similar intelligence levels to an extent he'd never had to before. And/or perhaps he knows he prefers practical problem-solving over pen-pushing (or commerce) and that in something like the civil service there would have been too much of the latter before getting to the rank doing the former. (This contains a certain amount of projection from my experiences as the brightest kid in my year at a small, deliberately unacademic school, and the habits that engendered, and things I've heard over the years from very clever friends with working class backgrounds.)
It may have taken this old audio to make me understand more about what people see in J&W as characters. (The most famous audios, read by Jonathan Cecil, go too fast for me to follow properly. It's interesting how similar Spencer's Jeeves is to Fry, yet recorded years before the famous ITV adaptations.) But it could also have been that I prefer novels to short stories, and/or that the two of them were apart for most of the story. I've always found Jeeves rather unsettling and controlling, and here he had a lot more distance from Bertie and was assisting a number of people at the same time.
(January 2021)
There is a pretty comprehensive summary of the blackface aspect of the novel and contemporary criticisms in this Bookriot article. It's a shame it is there to get in the way of what is otherwise a superbly elegant Midsummer Night's Dream style plot - in which the temporarily sundered couples stumbling about over a few summer nights in the countryside are not only romantic, but also include a business partnership between two middle-aged men - and Jeeves & Wooster themselves. (For readers who don't spot that of their own accord, Bertie even refers to one rendez-vous with Jeeves as a tryst.) There are also some particularly funny lines and word choices here - wittier than the short stories as I remember them - beginning with a list of Bertie's disgruntled neighbours in London, who include a Col. J.J. Bustard. (On top of the two more obvious references in that name, there is the Great Bustard, which was hunted to extinction in Britain in the 19th century - and is now being reintroduced.) It may have been the delivery in this audio, but I hadn't noticed before how indebted Blackadder scripts were to Wodehouse.
It seems like there would be a market for a version with the offensive elements rewritten, alongside the original, given the increasing disappointment of progressive contemporary readers who expect comfort reading from Wodehouse. Once the book is in the public domain I daresay that will happen. (Due to some vagaries of publication history, the next in the series, Right Ho, Jeeves already is in the public domain, but not yet this one.)
I always used to wonder what the catch was with Wodehouse. (At that point I'd read two books of J&W short stories and wasn't as keen on the characters as 99% of other people who read them and three or four Blandings books, which I preferred.) They were written and set in the early twentieth century but never seemed to feature the sort of prejudice that was in any other literature from this period that wasn't by authors very obviously in favour of social reform (and even then...) The casts were all white, which would be part of the reason - there's usually a limit to how rude a novel can be about people who are not part of the plot - but there weren't metaphors in the narrative using stereotypes or slurs. When there are generalisations about men and women in Wodehouse, they are often the opposite of typical ones, with both author and protagonists accustomed to formidable women, especially aunts. I thought that, due to the books' popularity in Britain, perhaps they'd been edited slightly to remove offensive vocab, though as I've never been a serious fan, I hadn't really looked into it.
It looks like most of the problematic content was inadvertently dumped in one book. (At least I've never noticed anything like the criticisms of Thank You, Jeeves levelled at the other novels.)
Because a) I automatically assume there will be slurs in books of this age, and that it's instead a matter to remark on if there *isn't* prejudice by 21st century standards, and b) I didn't already love the characters to the extent a lot of readers do, and c) I'd already heard about this issue before starting the book, it wasn't shocking, per se, though it is still jarring for Bertie & chums to repeatedly refer to "the n___ minstrels" as casually as they might say "the Italian opera company" or something (the word isn't directed at any particular character as an insult). The phrase in 1930s Britain apparently meant white performers in blackface, not actual Black entertainers (see Wikipedia, which references two academic history texts on the subject, Pickering 2016; Springhall 2008). For the first half of the book, that's all it is, occasional references to a band / show.
But later, blackface becomes rather integral to a plot, and whilst it would be possible to rewrite this element, nothing else would encompass all the elements quite as well unless you shifted the setting to a different time period. Bertie has got into playing the banjolele and, early in the story, is keen to make the acquaintance of minstrels so he can learn from them. Later, in order to escape from a sticky situation, he disguises himself as one. Other characters' reactions to him are predicated on his appearing in blackface at night - the most extreme reactions being from a man who's violently drunk and thinks he's seen a devil, and a woman who's just been messing about with a Ouija board. Another character, separately, has also blacked up to try and do a musical show at home and becomes a further element in the caper. (I was surprised to find, given what articles and reviews say - the reactions from characters who don't swiftly realise who Bertie is happen because they think he's a supernatural entity - they don't seem to be mistaking a white man with boot polish on his face for an actual Black person. The assumption is that people will think he is a member of the band, i.e. a white man in blackface. It also all happens in the middle of the night.)
So to reconstruct it, you need the connection with a new hobby of Bertie's (though that is the most dispensible element, as he never gets round to having a conversation with the band in the narrative or seeing their show; there isn't even a band name), a band or other small entertainment group who might plausibly perform at a rich kid's party, and who have a look that allows Bertie to disguise himself, and and which will lead to alarmed reactions from other characters, and something which is very fashionable at the time the scene is set. One late-90s radio adaptation (thanks to Wiki again) used American hillbillies, which allows for stick-on beards - and looking scruffy and old fashioned, so characters such as policeman and stately home servants can be suspicious of him, and he could look like a ghost to someone predisposed to thinking that. (You could also add a legend of a local ghost earlier in the story to augment that element.) But hillbilly bands weren't a craze in Britain in the 1930s - though it could work, given O Brother Where Art Thou as a reference point, and readers who would prefer a rewrite would surely be happy to sacrifice a little accuracy. (It would work even better in a setting transposed to late 1960s - hippies - or the late 00s to early 2010s - hipsters with beards and early 20th century-style workwear, who would even be playing banjos too - though those would be retellings not edits.)
(Unbelievably, an early 90s episode of the Jeeves & Wooster TV series actually *added* a blackface plot to another story which didn't contain anything of the sort in the original.)
Whilst Bertie says he "never realised before what an important part one's complexion plays in life … Bertram Wooster with merely a pretty tan calling at the back door of Chuffnell Hall would have been received with respect and deference," it doesn't become the lesson on racial privilege that plenty of 21st century readers would like, and it wasn't set up to give much opportunity for that. Firstly, the police had been giving Bertie quite a hard time already, when they knew who he was, because he has already been getting up to his usual eccentric capers, and his new neighbours are rural policemen (with otherwise little to do), who are zealous, and who believe the police have been "shackled" for too long. (One even quotes some statistics dated 1930 - unusual in Wodehouse's work which often steers away from being very situated in time.) And secondly, as mentioned, the most pivotal reactions of fright are based on superstition and its being the middle of the night, not racial prejudice.
Where Wodehouse's vocab isn't noticeably dated, it always surprises me in how modern it can be - I always forget how much they say "bloke", which I always think of as a recent word, from the 60s or later (because of its increased popularity in the 90s). There are abbreviations I use in note-making which turn out to be in Bertie's normal vocab, like "circs". And words which have re-emerged with slightly different meanings now; here a girl is a "simp". Probably the very fact of some words being in Wodehouse has helped keep them current, as readers then use them in either jocular or incidental fashion, depending how dated they sound.
Some trends he refers to are gone - like the minstrels themselves, or, more harmless and fun, "a sound not unlike the last utterance of one of those toy ducks you inflate and then let the air out of". (I want to know what those were like!) But others, you could forget how very much of-their-time they were, because they have lasted just as Wodehouse has: countless male narrators still refer to American noir PIs, whether in real books or made up ones like Bertie's Drexdale Yates.
More than other occasions I'd read Wodehouse, the conflicts here made it starkly obvious that this is a world in transition between the Victorian marriage market and the sexual revolution. It's very strongly implied that getting engaged means some sort of sexual activity (so this is why characters are often so keen to get engaged!). But being in the same small house overnight with an eligible person of the opposite sex means that people will assume you have had sex and should be married off pronto - especially, but not only, in the eyes of the older generation. I like some characters' assumption (especially Pauline and Bertie) that former partners (fiancés) should, by default, be good friends, or rather like siblings. The world needs more of that and not defaulting to the assumption that they ought to be on bad terms/should not associate.
There's quite an emphasis here on the point that being upper class doesn't necessarily mean wealth any more. Chuffy is more grown-up than Bertie, being a JP and owner of a stately home and estate, but it's already getting to the point where, Bertie says, [to paraphrase] chaps who own land have little disposable income and would love to sell up, but who wants to buy a house that size these days? (American millionaires, that's who. The reactions to the word 'millionaire' make it closer to 'billionaire' these days.) Bertie doesn't actually seem to be all that wealthy in his own right, as he was renting a flat in London, a posh area of course, but prices not as disproportionate as today of today, and then goes to pay mates rates at a cottage with neither a bathroom nor electric light in the bedroom. (Interesting he never complains about this - perhaps something to do with the way public schools used to get boys used to spartan conditions?) Presumably he's forever waiting for inheritances, has little capital but income from a trust (a high % must go on Jeeves' wages), all no doubt covered in books I've either not read or have forgotten the details of. This is no doubt why he falls back on medieval references from time to time, ancestors who did rather well at the Battle of Crécy, or 'the feudal spirit' - on some level he knows he's a type on the way out, but he probably doesn't care that much, as he is essentially a hedonist who lives in the moment. As in at least one earlier Wodehouse book I've read, socialist protest and activism, a big deal in early 20th century Britain, makes it into this book tangentially, though the narrative here is more obviously anti than the other one (where it was more like scenery). Bertie assumes - it's never clear why - that his new valet is some sort of Bolshevik, though all that's clear from what happens is that the man goes on epic drinking binges. (All's well that ends well for many of the characters, as per Wodehouse form, but presumably not for Brinkley - I'd love to know what happens next to him, and more about this oddly intriguing cove.)
"It can be argued, though, that Jeeves’ contentment with being employed by such a nitwit is itself reassuring. Their relationship suggests that even the most talented and renowned of the working classes won’t rise up against the wealthy classes that have done nothing to earn or maintain that wealth," says the Bookriot article linked above. I have a theory about Jeeves that he finds the work entertaining and that it is a path of least resistance for him; becoming a valet, he didn't have to try and possibly fail to get into a more class-restricted profession that a handful of brilliant working-class men might have managed to get into, such as academia or the civil service, soimewhere he would have to compete with a lot of people of similar intelligence levels to an extent he'd never had to before. And/or perhaps he knows he prefers practical problem-solving over pen-pushing (or commerce) and that in something like the civil service there would have been too much of the latter before getting to the rank doing the former. (This contains a certain amount of projection from my experiences as the brightest kid in my year at a small, deliberately unacademic school, and the habits that engendered, and things I've heard over the years from very clever friends with working class backgrounds.)
It may have taken this old audio to make me understand more about what people see in J&W as characters. (The most famous audios, read by Jonathan Cecil, go too fast for me to follow properly. It's interesting how similar Spencer's Jeeves is to Fry, yet recorded years before the famous ITV adaptations.) But it could also have been that I prefer novels to short stories, and/or that the two of them were apart for most of the story. I've always found Jeeves rather unsettling and controlling, and here he had a lot more distance from Bertie and was assisting a number of people at the same time.
(January 2021)
May 24, 2023
More tales of woe for Bertie Wooster, but this time he's has rashly dismissed his man Jeeves and must wade through the soup without this trusty, intelligent deus ex machina by his side. At least, this is the case at the start. Jeeves does revolve about the periphery later on, occasionally doling out his usual wisdom and sage advice. However, their relationship is taut and contentious from the get-go, and this puts Bertie's back against it more than ever.
Wooster without Jeeves is like Laurel without Hardy, Abbot sans Costello, or Key without Peele. The reason these books work is that they are a duo, they play off of one another. Wooster needs Jeeves, and in a way, Jeeves needs Wooster...at least for comedic purposes. Wodehouse is a clever writer and does his best to weave this twist into his usual narrative, but it's just not the same.
Having said that, I would add that reading Wodehouse is like watching a rerun of an old favorite tv show: You can anticipate all the jokes, but you laugh anyway. So although the tried-and-true formula goes a bit cockeyed in Thank You, Jeeves there's still enough Wodehouse-isms to keep his fans happy.
Wooster without Jeeves is like Laurel without Hardy, Abbot sans Costello, or Key without Peele. The reason these books work is that they are a duo, they play off of one another. Wooster needs Jeeves, and in a way, Jeeves needs Wooster...at least for comedic purposes. Wodehouse is a clever writer and does his best to weave this twist into his usual narrative, but it's just not the same.
Having said that, I would add that reading Wodehouse is like watching a rerun of an old favorite tv show: You can anticipate all the jokes, but you laugh anyway. So although the tried-and-true formula goes a bit cockeyed in Thank You, Jeeves there's still enough Wodehouse-isms to keep his fans happy.
June 27, 2013
For the past couple of years, the name P. G. Wodehouse kept popping up in interviews and articles about some of my favorite people (most notably Hugh Laurie and Neil Gaiman, among others). They praised him as THE master of British comedy. Since I admittedly like my comedy British, I decided it was time to give Wodehouse a try.
The thing with Wodehouse is that he creeps up on you. During the first few chapters, I thought, "What's all the fuss about?" There is some admittedly clever language and the strange turn of phrase, but nothing laugh out loud hilarious. In true Wooster fashion, I thought, "Everyone who loves this man must have gone potty. They're seriously off their onion. What a rummy bit of business this is." And then it happened--a smile here, a titter there, a giggle, and then laugh out loud hilarity. Particularly hilarious are Wooster's attempts to go to sleep while being constantly awakened by the far too diligent local lawmen, Jeeves' plan to smuggle Wooster off the yacht where he's being held captive (which results in Wooster spending a good portion of the book in black face), the quest for slabs of butter, and the maniacal replacement for Jeeves (who quit Wooster's employ because of his disdain for the banjolele).
Many of the jokes aren't subtle in that you know exactly how one event leads to the creation of a particularly vexing problem for our man Wooster. However, that doesn't rob the book of its fun as the anticipation of the event lends itself to a certain joyful giddiness when the events do indeed come to pass.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
The thing with Wodehouse is that he creeps up on you. During the first few chapters, I thought, "What's all the fuss about?" There is some admittedly clever language and the strange turn of phrase, but nothing laugh out loud hilarious. In true Wooster fashion, I thought, "Everyone who loves this man must have gone potty. They're seriously off their onion. What a rummy bit of business this is." And then it happened--a smile here, a titter there, a giggle, and then laugh out loud hilarity. Particularly hilarious are Wooster's attempts to go to sleep while being constantly awakened by the far too diligent local lawmen, Jeeves' plan to smuggle Wooster off the yacht where he's being held captive (which results in Wooster spending a good portion of the book in black face), the quest for slabs of butter, and the maniacal replacement for Jeeves (who quit Wooster's employ because of his disdain for the banjolele).
Many of the jokes aren't subtle in that you know exactly how one event leads to the creation of a particularly vexing problem for our man Wooster. However, that doesn't rob the book of its fun as the anticipation of the event lends itself to a certain joyful giddiness when the events do indeed come to pass.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
January 22, 2022
I have read positive reviews for the Jeeves Series for years, and I finally got around to listening to one. Thank You, Jeeves caught my attention because it is on the 1001 Books to Read List. The audio narrated by Jonathan Cecil is delightful. But I don’t think this is my kind of humor, or at least, parts of it were not.
I like wry sarcasm (which seemed to be Jeeves’ type) but I found the slapstick, buffoonery type humor of Bertie Wooster annoying. Since this book centered on Bertie, I did a good bit of eye-rolling. This being my only encounter with a Jeeves book, I wonder if this is typical, or perhaps, I missed out by starting at book five in the series.
Good but not great. Since I enjoyed the writing, I hope to find other books by this author that rely primarily on witty sarcasm.
I like wry sarcasm (which seemed to be Jeeves’ type) but I found the slapstick, buffoonery type humor of Bertie Wooster annoying. Since this book centered on Bertie, I did a good bit of eye-rolling. This being my only encounter with a Jeeves book, I wonder if this is typical, or perhaps, I missed out by starting at book five in the series.
Good but not great. Since I enjoyed the writing, I hope to find other books by this author that rely primarily on witty sarcasm.
April 24, 2019
For gentle humor you can't beat Jeeves and Wooster in this novel sized story.
P.C. Warning! Contains non P.C. language.
Such great recall
'Jeeves,' I recollect saying, on returning to the apartment, 'who was the fellow who on looking at something felt like somebody looking at something? I learned the passage at school, but it has escaped me.'
'I fancy the individual you have in mind, sir, is the poet Keats, who compared his emotions on first reading Chapman's Homer to those of stout Cortez when with eagle eyes he stared at the Pacific'
A small enemy
Little Seabury, a child who should have been strangled at birth. I have no positive proof, but I have always been convinced that it was he who put the lizard in my bed the last time I stayed at the Hall.
His new valet longs for the revolution
Outwardly he was all respectfulness, but inwardly you could see that he was a man who was musing on the coming Social Revolution and looked on Bertram as a tyrant and an oppressor.
'Yes, Brinkley, I shall dine out.'
He said nothing, merely looking at me as if he were measuring me for my lamp-post.
He sighed slightly. All this talk of my going to shows was distressing him. What he really wanted was to see me sprinting down Park Lane with the mob after me with dripping knives.
Don't tell a lady to calm down
'Bertie.'
'Hallo?'
'Ever been hit over the head with a chair?'
'No.'
'Well, you soon may be.'
I began to see she was in difficult mood.
Its the usual trope of "who will marry whom" with Bertie getting caught in the middle
'What are your views upon engagements, Mr Wooster?'
'Engagements?'
'Should they be short or long?'
'Well ...'
'I prefer them short. I feel that we had best put this wedding through as quickly as possible. I shall have to find out how soon that is on this side. I believe you cannot simply go to the nearest minister, as in my country. There are formalities. While these are being attended to, you will, of course, be my guest. I'm afraid I can't offer you the freedom of the boat, because you are a pretty slippery young gentleman and might suddenly remember a date elsewhere – some unfortunate appointment which would necessitate your leaving. But I shall do my best to make you comfortable in this room for the next few days.
By the end Bertie and all his companions are in a terrible muddle with business and marriage plans threatened with failure.
And like a deus ex machina Jeeves enters and all is solved. A most satisfactory ending.
Enjoy!
P.C. Warning! Contains non P.C. language.
Such great recall
'Jeeves,' I recollect saying, on returning to the apartment, 'who was the fellow who on looking at something felt like somebody looking at something? I learned the passage at school, but it has escaped me.'
'I fancy the individual you have in mind, sir, is the poet Keats, who compared his emotions on first reading Chapman's Homer to those of stout Cortez when with eagle eyes he stared at the Pacific'
A small enemy
Little Seabury, a child who should have been strangled at birth. I have no positive proof, but I have always been convinced that it was he who put the lizard in my bed the last time I stayed at the Hall.
His new valet longs for the revolution
Outwardly he was all respectfulness, but inwardly you could see that he was a man who was musing on the coming Social Revolution and looked on Bertram as a tyrant and an oppressor.
'Yes, Brinkley, I shall dine out.'
He said nothing, merely looking at me as if he were measuring me for my lamp-post.
He sighed slightly. All this talk of my going to shows was distressing him. What he really wanted was to see me sprinting down Park Lane with the mob after me with dripping knives.
Don't tell a lady to calm down
'Bertie.'
'Hallo?'
'Ever been hit over the head with a chair?'
'No.'
'Well, you soon may be.'
I began to see she was in difficult mood.
Its the usual trope of "who will marry whom" with Bertie getting caught in the middle
'What are your views upon engagements, Mr Wooster?'
'Engagements?'
'Should they be short or long?'
'Well ...'
'I prefer them short. I feel that we had best put this wedding through as quickly as possible. I shall have to find out how soon that is on this side. I believe you cannot simply go to the nearest minister, as in my country. There are formalities. While these are being attended to, you will, of course, be my guest. I'm afraid I can't offer you the freedom of the boat, because you are a pretty slippery young gentleman and might suddenly remember a date elsewhere – some unfortunate appointment which would necessitate your leaving. But I shall do my best to make you comfortable in this room for the next few days.
By the end Bertie and all his companions are in a terrible muddle with business and marriage plans threatened with failure.
And like a deus ex machina Jeeves enters and all is solved. A most satisfactory ending.
Enjoy!
July 13, 2016
[9/10]
In one of the scaliest threats to his bachelor state, our old acquaintance Bertram Wooster is left without the moral support of his dependable gentleman's gentleman Jeeves. It all starts with a misunderstanding about a banjolele. On one side, Bertie is convinced that assiduous practice makes perfect when learning to play his newest toy. On the other, his neighbours have given him an ultimatum - either he or his bajolele must go from his posh London residence. Jeeves joins the ranks of the malcontents and hands in his resignation.
Rather than give up his musical pursuits, Bertie Wooster stiffs the upper lip, releases Jeeves and chooses self-exile to the countryside in Chuffnell Regis, the residential seat of his old school pal 'Chuffy', the fifth baron Chuffnell of Chuffnell Hall .
Instead of the peace and quiet he hoped for, Bertie finds himself thrown once again in the soup, this time courtesy of his own reckless behaviour rather than under the push of an imperious aunt. As usual with P G Wodehouse, these troubles refer mostly to matters of the heart. Something in the air surrounding these stately English manors makes people 'suddenly begin to leap about like a lamb in the springtime.' and contemplate marriage. Chuffy has his eyes on the lovely Pauline Stoker, formerly briefly engaged to Bertie while on a visit to New York. Chuffy's mother, the Lady Chuffnell feels the stirrings of a late spring when gazing into the eyes of Sir Roderick Glossop, another character familiar from past misadventures. The scion of Chuffnell Hall, 'young blighted Seabury', plays an unlikely Cupid who prefers to make some money instead of firing arrows at loving hearts ('Things happen to guys that don't kick in their protection money,' he said dreamily.)
>><<>><<>><<
After a couple of short story collections in the series I was well content to explore the kind of mayhem P G Wodehouse is capable of when using the longer form of narration. The basic structure of the plot remains familiar, but the potential for trouble is multiplied tenfold, especially when you throw in a pair of heliotrope pyjamas, a furious father hellbent on a shotgun wedding, a replacement butler (Brinkley) with a fondness for strong drink and for starting the socialist revolution in the Wooster cottage, a double serving of boot polish aggravated by an unexpected penury of butter, a couple of earnest village coppers with a bad case of insomnia and a breakfast plate of kippered herrings that seem as hard to win as the South Pole. (I am trying to be as vague as possible mentioning the key ingredients of the farce without spoiling the actual events)
It seems like a case that can be solved only by the oversized brain of Jeeves, so lets hope he and Bertie deal with the banjolele issue before wedding bells start to ring for the young Wooster.
Thank You, Jeeves is an entertaining addition to the Jeeves & Wooster canon, and I highly recommend it as the perfect companion to a rainy day:
It seems almost impossible, considering what the night life of Chuffnell Regis was like, but the next thing that woke me was not a girl leaping from under the bed, her father bounding in with blood in his eye, or a police sergeant playing ragtime on the knocker, but actually birds outside the window heralding in a new day.
>><<>><<>><<
endnotes: Mr. Wodehouse had me once again joyfully diving for the dictionary as he explores the less trodden paths of the English language:
- to asseverate = to affirm or declare positively or earnestly, to affirm positively
- zareba = an improvised stockade constructed in parts of Africa especially of thorny bushes
More, please!
In one of the scaliest threats to his bachelor state, our old acquaintance Bertram Wooster is left without the moral support of his dependable gentleman's gentleman Jeeves. It all starts with a misunderstanding about a banjolele. On one side, Bertie is convinced that assiduous practice makes perfect when learning to play his newest toy. On the other, his neighbours have given him an ultimatum - either he or his bajolele must go from his posh London residence. Jeeves joins the ranks of the malcontents and hands in his resignation.
Rather than give up his musical pursuits, Bertie Wooster stiffs the upper lip, releases Jeeves and chooses self-exile to the countryside in Chuffnell Regis, the residential seat of his old school pal 'Chuffy', the fifth baron Chuffnell of Chuffnell Hall .
Instead of the peace and quiet he hoped for, Bertie finds himself thrown once again in the soup, this time courtesy of his own reckless behaviour rather than under the push of an imperious aunt. As usual with P G Wodehouse, these troubles refer mostly to matters of the heart. Something in the air surrounding these stately English manors makes people 'suddenly begin to leap about like a lamb in the springtime.' and contemplate marriage. Chuffy has his eyes on the lovely Pauline Stoker, formerly briefly engaged to Bertie while on a visit to New York. Chuffy's mother, the Lady Chuffnell feels the stirrings of a late spring when gazing into the eyes of Sir Roderick Glossop, another character familiar from past misadventures. The scion of Chuffnell Hall, 'young blighted Seabury', plays an unlikely Cupid who prefers to make some money instead of firing arrows at loving hearts ('Things happen to guys that don't kick in their protection money,' he said dreamily.)
>><<>><<>><<
After a couple of short story collections in the series I was well content to explore the kind of mayhem P G Wodehouse is capable of when using the longer form of narration. The basic structure of the plot remains familiar, but the potential for trouble is multiplied tenfold, especially when you throw in a pair of heliotrope pyjamas, a furious father hellbent on a shotgun wedding, a replacement butler (Brinkley) with a fondness for strong drink and for starting the socialist revolution in the Wooster cottage, a double serving of boot polish aggravated by an unexpected penury of butter, a couple of earnest village coppers with a bad case of insomnia and a breakfast plate of kippered herrings that seem as hard to win as the South Pole. (I am trying to be as vague as possible mentioning the key ingredients of the farce without spoiling the actual events)
It seems like a case that can be solved only by the oversized brain of Jeeves, so lets hope he and Bertie deal with the banjolele issue before wedding bells start to ring for the young Wooster.
Thank You, Jeeves is an entertaining addition to the Jeeves & Wooster canon, and I highly recommend it as the perfect companion to a rainy day:
It seems almost impossible, considering what the night life of Chuffnell Regis was like, but the next thing that woke me was not a girl leaping from under the bed, her father bounding in with blood in his eye, or a police sergeant playing ragtime on the knocker, but actually birds outside the window heralding in a new day.
>><<>><<>><<
endnotes: Mr. Wodehouse had me once again joyfully diving for the dictionary as he explores the less trodden paths of the English language:
- to asseverate = to affirm or declare positively or earnestly, to affirm positively
- zareba = an improvised stockade constructed in parts of Africa especially of thorny bushes
More, please!
August 3, 2023
I must thank Wodehouse for writing this book - for it was because of this, that I decided to start collecting PGW again.
There is a species of humanity called "sensitivity readers" - their job is to search all old books and purge them of "objectionable" content: meaning, anything and everything that would be deemed offensive any particular section of humanity. Well, against such zeal, I need not tell you that a humorist stands no chance at all. Because, you see, political correctness has no place in satire.
A comedian is a guy who looks at the world cockeyed: and he sees idiots everywhere, from the church to the palace to the country house to the slum dwelling. He is the guy, as Aristotle pointed out, who thinks - and chuckles at whatever he sees.
God knows Plum does offend a lot of people with his writings - but this book is something special, because the plot involves "Negro minstrels". The extended climax comprises Bertie Wooster prowling about the countryside with boot polish on his face, in an imitation of a black person - along with his bete noire, a similarly attired Sir Roderick Glossop, the famous psychiatrist (or "loony doctor", in the author's words). Bertie is doing it to escape from the clutches of the millionaire J. Washburn Stoker, who wants to forcibly wed him to his daughter: while Sir Roderick is endeavouring to entertain the unspeakable son of his fiance. One can hardly blame these people, of course, but one must regretfully say that by today's exacting standards, they are not PC - not by a long chalk.
So when the censors come with their scissors to mutilate these volumes, this book would likely get substantially modified: so much so that the story may lose all its punch, because Bertie roaming around in blackface is crucial to it. Hence the decision to scoop it up now!
Oh, and what else does the book have? Well, it has Pauline Stoker, the millionaire's beautiful daughter; Lord Marmaduke ("Chuffy") Chuffnell, her jealous lover; Brinkley, Bertie's inebriated and violent valet who replaces Jeeves when he leaves the Wooster employ due to disagreement over Bertie's playing the banjolele; Chuffy's formidable aunt Myrtle and her despicable son Seabury; Stoker's equally despicable son Dwight; various excitable parlourmaids and over-zealous policemen... and of course, Jeeves. A non-stop hilarious romp of a story. Read it before it gets "sensitivised"...
... Unless Jeeves can prevent it from happening, of course...
There is a species of humanity called "sensitivity readers" - their job is to search all old books and purge them of "objectionable" content: meaning, anything and everything that would be deemed offensive any particular section of humanity. Well, against such zeal, I need not tell you that a humorist stands no chance at all. Because, you see, political correctness has no place in satire.
A comedian is a guy who looks at the world cockeyed: and he sees idiots everywhere, from the church to the palace to the country house to the slum dwelling. He is the guy, as Aristotle pointed out, who thinks - and chuckles at whatever he sees.
God knows Plum does offend a lot of people with his writings - but this book is something special, because the plot involves "Negro minstrels". The extended climax comprises Bertie Wooster prowling about the countryside with boot polish on his face, in an imitation of a black person - along with his bete noire, a similarly attired Sir Roderick Glossop, the famous psychiatrist (or "loony doctor", in the author's words). Bertie is doing it to escape from the clutches of the millionaire J. Washburn Stoker, who wants to forcibly wed him to his daughter: while Sir Roderick is endeavouring to entertain the unspeakable son of his fiance. One can hardly blame these people, of course, but one must regretfully say that by today's exacting standards, they are not PC - not by a long chalk.
So when the censors come with their scissors to mutilate these volumes, this book would likely get substantially modified: so much so that the story may lose all its punch, because Bertie roaming around in blackface is crucial to it. Hence the decision to scoop it up now!
Oh, and what else does the book have? Well, it has Pauline Stoker, the millionaire's beautiful daughter; Lord Marmaduke ("Chuffy") Chuffnell, her jealous lover; Brinkley, Bertie's inebriated and violent valet who replaces Jeeves when he leaves the Wooster employ due to disagreement over Bertie's playing the banjolele; Chuffy's formidable aunt Myrtle and her despicable son Seabury; Stoker's equally despicable son Dwight; various excitable parlourmaids and over-zealous policemen... and of course, Jeeves. A non-stop hilarious romp of a story. Read it before it gets "sensitivised"...
... Unless Jeeves can prevent it from happening, of course...
March 17, 2018
Sublime, splendid, superb.…in short, PG perfection
P.G. Wodehouse is the funniest writer of the past century. Wodehouse defies superlatives. He is, quite simply, the best comedic writer to ever put pen to paper. I am a confirmed Wodehousian and revel in the man’s comedic genius. I have read numerous books by the great man and all, to one degree or another, are a delight.
I read Thank You, Jeeves for my book group and, once I had started, I realised this was the third time I’d read it. It was like meeting an old and valued friend. It is one of my favourites: sublime, splendid, superb…in short, PG perfection.
I chuckled, I laughed and I even guffawed. Upon finishing this wonderful book, I discovered that this is the first of the Jeeves and Wooster novels. Up until the publication of this novel, the characters had only appeared in short stories.
A rift between Jeeves and Wooster separates our two heroes, Jeeves being unable to stand Bertie’s latest craze - the Banjolele (who knew Banjos were known as Banjoleles?) and so tenders his resignation.
Lovelorn characters, a country house, buffoonery, and moronic misunderstandings are all present and correct. The happy ending even bought a tear to my eye.
As is so often the case with books written in the early 20th century, the modern reader may look askance at some of the racial epithets that were acceptable at the time however, and whilst I do not for one moment excuse it, sadly it was socially acceptable back in 1934. That important point aside, I say again this is PG perfection.
Suffice it to say that, if you don’t know why so many people worship at the comedic altar of PGW, this novel will reveal all.
5/5
P.G. Wodehouse is the funniest writer of the past century. Wodehouse defies superlatives. He is, quite simply, the best comedic writer to ever put pen to paper. I am a confirmed Wodehousian and revel in the man’s comedic genius. I have read numerous books by the great man and all, to one degree or another, are a delight.
I read Thank You, Jeeves for my book group and, once I had started, I realised this was the third time I’d read it. It was like meeting an old and valued friend. It is one of my favourites: sublime, splendid, superb…in short, PG perfection.
I chuckled, I laughed and I even guffawed. Upon finishing this wonderful book, I discovered that this is the first of the Jeeves and Wooster novels. Up until the publication of this novel, the characters had only appeared in short stories.
A rift between Jeeves and Wooster separates our two heroes, Jeeves being unable to stand Bertie’s latest craze - the Banjolele (who knew Banjos were known as Banjoleles?) and so tenders his resignation.
Lovelorn characters, a country house, buffoonery, and moronic misunderstandings are all present and correct. The happy ending even bought a tear to my eye.
As is so often the case with books written in the early 20th century, the modern reader may look askance at some of the racial epithets that were acceptable at the time however, and whilst I do not for one moment excuse it, sadly it was socially acceptable back in 1934. That important point aside, I say again this is PG perfection.
Suffice it to say that, if you don’t know why so many people worship at the comedic altar of PGW, this novel will reveal all.
5/5
December 28, 2020
A very enjoyable read. I think overall I prefer the Jeeves short stories, and I have to say this dates less well than the other Jeeves books, but Jeeves and Worcester remain wonderful characters.
April 3, 2020
Part of my 2020 Social Distancing Read-a-thon
This was an excellent choice to contrast with all the grim tidings we're hearing in the news these days. I enjoyed the slapstick adventures of B. Wooster during this brief estrangement from the invaluable Jeeves.
If you need a smile, maybe even a giggle or two, I would recommend this book. Bertie and his cluelessness about relating to women will fill the bill.
This was an excellent choice to contrast with all the grim tidings we're hearing in the news these days. I enjoyed the slapstick adventures of B. Wooster during this brief estrangement from the invaluable Jeeves.
If you need a smile, maybe even a giggle or two, I would recommend this book. Bertie and his cluelessness about relating to women will fill the bill.
January 15, 2015
This is the book I enjoyed least of the Jeeves books. If this title was the first one written then the writing has gotten better since fortunately. Thank you, Jeeves was hard to follow, as in, it seemed kind of pointless. I didn't like that the characters dropped the n*bomb quite a few times and wore blackface. It killed the plot for me because it wasn't remotely necessary to the story; only there to provide some comic relief and in poor taste at that. That said, in context it is historical evidence of the era (1930s) in which this story was written and placed so I'm not for censoring it either.
I'd say skip this one.
I'd say skip this one.
April 13, 2022
4/22 - third read, second listen, this time to Jonathan Cecil’s brilliant unabridged performance. So much fun! Perfect to keep me smiling along as I knit! Pure sunshine, to paraphrase Stephen Fry, Jeeves himself!
.8/29/20 - listened to this audiobook today while knitting; although an abridged performance, it was great fun and perfect for a couple hours of lighthearted entertainment while knitting! Always a pleasure to spend time with Bertie, Jeeves & friends - but not with Bertie’s banjo! Can’t blame Jeeves for giving notice...
11/2018 reread of paperback- I always read Bertie and Jeeves’ exploits with a goofy grin on my face - in the brilliant words of Stephen Fry on the back of my Arrow paperback, “You don’t analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.”
.8/29/20 - listened to this audiobook today while knitting; although an abridged performance, it was great fun and perfect for a couple hours of lighthearted entertainment while knitting! Always a pleasure to spend time with Bertie, Jeeves & friends - but not with Bertie’s banjo! Can’t blame Jeeves for giving notice...
11/2018 reread of paperback- I always read Bertie and Jeeves’ exploits with a goofy grin on my face - in the brilliant words of Stephen Fry on the back of my Arrow paperback, “You don’t analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.”
September 28, 2020
What is there to say about Wodehouse? Certainly one of the wittiest writers in the English language, a master of constructing a plot and piercing snobbery whilst reinforcing the systems that drive it. I had dipped in to Jeeves and Wooster before, but wanted to read the canon. My intention had been to read them in order, but on seeing the first two omnibus volumes on sale on kindle went with that. In order, the first volume contains #5, #7 and #2, for which I am sure there is some logic.
Thank You, Jeeves begins with Bertie falling out with both his neighbours in his mansion block and his trusted manservant after being infected with a passion for playing the banjolele. He retreats to the country, to stay in a cottage on the estate of his old friend Chuffy to practice his music in peace, only to be descended upon by a beautiful American heiress to whom he had briefly been engaged, her father (who bears no love for Bertram) and the man who had been responsible for scuppering the affair. Cue witticisms, misunderstandings, idiocies, a rather unsuitable replacement for Jeeves, kidnapping and minstrels.
Oh yes. The minstrels.
While the music troupe do not make an appearance in person, they are referred to and become a major plot point. And herein lies a big problem with this novel.
Bear in mind, this was published in 1933 by an upper class, white (those were and possibly still are the only kind of Upper Class) Englishman, and we have to keep in mind that we should read things in view of when and where they were written, however then Bertie begins to casually refer to the "n***** minstrels" it was a cold slap in the face. This isn't Twain knowingly using the word fifty years earlier, although I realise most (white) people wouldn't have thought it as poisonous as it is today. Jeeves uses the "politer" version of the word, although I think that is simply to compare his propriety to Bertie's slang-laden speech.
The inclusion of the minstrels (in absentia though it is) is merely to allow two instances of blackface later in the book - one for purposes of deception, another for entertainment. Whether inured - or numbed - by the language, this only caused me to roll my eyes, but also made me think how much part of British comedic culture this was until amazingly recently. I grew up in the seventies and eighties and racist stereotypes, including black-, yellow- and brownface, were so common in "light entertainment" as to be unremarkable. The Black and White Minstrel Show ran - stunningly - until 1980 on British TV. The Carry On films, It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, Mind Your Language were all influenced by this strand of British colonial racism.
So, I repeat to myself "it was a different time!" and am thankful that things have changed so much. I hope this doesn't put me off continuing with J&W but fervently also hope that such things aren't repeated, and I grit my teeth and mark the book on the merits and qualities and award it 4 stars.
OK, maybe 3.5.
Thank You, Jeeves begins with Bertie falling out with both his neighbours in his mansion block and his trusted manservant after being infected with a passion for playing the banjolele. He retreats to the country, to stay in a cottage on the estate of his old friend Chuffy to practice his music in peace, only to be descended upon by a beautiful American heiress to whom he had briefly been engaged, her father (who bears no love for Bertram) and the man who had been responsible for scuppering the affair. Cue witticisms, misunderstandings, idiocies, a rather unsuitable replacement for Jeeves, kidnapping and minstrels.
Oh yes. The minstrels.
While the music troupe do not make an appearance in person, they are referred to and become a major plot point. And herein lies a big problem with this novel.
Bear in mind, this was published in 1933 by an upper class, white (those were and possibly still are the only kind of Upper Class) Englishman, and we have to keep in mind that we should read things in view of when and where they were written, however then Bertie begins to casually refer to the "n***** minstrels" it was a cold slap in the face. This isn't Twain knowingly using the word fifty years earlier, although I realise most (white) people wouldn't have thought it as poisonous as it is today. Jeeves uses the "politer" version of the word, although I think that is simply to compare his propriety to Bertie's slang-laden speech.
The inclusion of the minstrels (in absentia though it is) is merely to allow two instances of blackface later in the book - one for purposes of deception, another for entertainment. Whether inured - or numbed - by the language, this only caused me to roll my eyes, but also made me think how much part of British comedic culture this was until amazingly recently. I grew up in the seventies and eighties and racist stereotypes, including black-, yellow- and brownface, were so common in "light entertainment" as to be unremarkable. The Black and White Minstrel Show ran - stunningly - until 1980 on British TV. The Carry On films, It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, Mind Your Language were all influenced by this strand of British colonial racism.
So, I repeat to myself "it was a different time!" and am thankful that things have changed so much. I hope this doesn't put me off continuing with J&W but fervently also hope that such things aren't repeated, and I grit my teeth and mark the book on the merits and qualities and award it 4 stars.
OK, maybe 3.5.
April 12, 2021
Love me some Jeeves and Wooster, and this is the first time (but definitely not the last) that I've listened to a Wodehouse audiobook! The reader's voice was perfect, just a perpetually outraged, very uptight, British man. And his dry, calm Jeeves voice was great as well.
I feel weird about recommending this one, though (if you've never sampled Jeeves and Wooster, go for The Code of the Woosters), and I didn't give it five stars because . . . well . . . I know it was a different time but I . . . am uncomfortable with the fact that there was a traveling musical group mentioned a number of times in the book. They were a minstrel show from America and were referred to as . . . "an N-word minstrel show" or an "N-word band." YUP. Jeeves, I noticed never used that word, but did say "Negro," which is better . . . I guess.
Also, Bertie sneaks out of a bad situation by posing as one of them (they are never depicted "on the page" which was a relief because I didn't want to hear some awkward and terrible attempt at a dialect). So, yes, Bertie darkens his face with black shoe polish, which he can't get off, comedy ensues. I knew as soon as he put the stuff on, it wouldn't come off, and was super tense worrying that there would be "hilarious consequences" arising from him being mistaken for Black. BUT. Pleasingly, he's not mistaken for a Black man, but for an actual demon, by a drunken arsonist. And his long search for a large quantity of butter to use as a cleaning agent is quite hilarious.
But still, if there's one that you're thinking of skipping (Wodehouse wrote so many books, it's okay not to read them all!) you might want to do this one. I mean, I was laughing until my face hurt at most of it, but then someone would bust out the "N" and I was like, YIIIIIKES.
I feel weird about recommending this one, though (if you've never sampled Jeeves and Wooster, go for The Code of the Woosters), and I didn't give it five stars because . . . well . . . I know it was a different time but I . . . am uncomfortable with the fact that there was a traveling musical group mentioned a number of times in the book. They were a minstrel show from America and were referred to as . . . "an N-word minstrel show" or an "N-word band." YUP. Jeeves, I noticed never used that word, but did say "Negro," which is better . . . I guess.
Also, Bertie sneaks out of a bad situation by posing as one of them (they are never depicted "on the page" which was a relief because I didn't want to hear some awkward and terrible attempt at a dialect). So, yes, Bertie darkens his face with black shoe polish, which he can't get off, comedy ensues. I knew as soon as he put the stuff on, it wouldn't come off, and was super tense worrying that there would be "hilarious consequences" arising from him being mistaken for Black. BUT. Pleasingly, he's not mistaken for a Black man, but for an actual demon, by a drunken arsonist. And his long search for a large quantity of butter to use as a cleaning agent is quite hilarious.
But still, if there's one that you're thinking of skipping (Wodehouse wrote so many books, it's okay not to read them all!) you might want to do this one. I mean, I was laughing until my face hurt at most of it, but then someone would bust out the "N" and I was like, YIIIIIKES.
March 23, 2012
PG Wodehouse has been on my list of authors to read for ages, and my only complaint is that I waited so long to give him a try.
Before picking up Thank You, Jeeves, I had read several of the short stories that introduced the world to the indomitable literary pairing of Bertram Wooster and his faithful valet Jeeves. From the first page of the earliest story, “Extricating Old Gussie,” I knew I had found a series that would give me endless hours of cozy, friendly entertainment in the months and years to come. Some books are meant to prod you into deep reflections, or examine “big” problems, but this is certainly not one of those. Thank You, Jeeves is like a homemade quilt and a cup of hot chocolate in the middle of winter, infinitely comfortable and comforting.
After appearing in multiple short stories, beginning in 1915, Bertie and Jeeves made their jump to a full-length adventure in Thank You, Jeeves (1934). Wodehouse has introduced several delightful characters in his stories, like Uncle Fred and the folks at Blandings Castle, but I think most people would agree that the “Jeeves and Wooster” stories are his ultimate legacy. Bertie, young, scatterbrained and a bit clueless, is perfectly complimented by the eternally cool-headed and logical Jeeves.
In this early installment of a series that would span nearly 40 years, Bertie has taken up playing the banjolele, much to the discomfort of his neighbors. Unfortunately, his generally unflappable valet, Jeeves, is similarly discomposed by his master’s new hobby and leaves poor Bertie, a permanent bachelor and not the most self-sufficient man about town, all alone. To escape the persecution of his aurally assaulted neighbors, Bertie decides to rent a cottage in the country from a good friend, the landed but poor Lord Chuffnell, Chuffy for short. A chance meeting of several characters from earlier stories, a run-in with the local law enforcement, an unfortunate application of boot polish and some lady trouble all add up to a hilarious adventure, with enough convenient but perfectly structured twists to keep you guessing (and laughing). I won’t give it away, but anyone who has ever read anything about Bertie and Jeeves knows who comes to the rescue in the end.
Despite the comedic situations and overall light tone of his work, don’t be deceived into thinking Wodehouse is deficient in serious talent. He may not be interested in the profound, but his plots are structures to be reckoned with, brilliantly layering trouble upon trouble without ever leaving a loose end or pointless observation. He could seriously give Arthur Conan Doyle a run for his money, and make you laugh so hard you never notice all the work he has put into it. Likewise, his ability to use perfect dialog and very little description to create memorable characters is no small feat. It’s a testament to his ability that Jeeves has so frequently been reincarnated in popular culture, in TV shows like “Benson” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
The Bertie and Jeeves stories are, essentially, the marshmallow fluff of literature, and while you can’t survive long on a diet exclusively of sweet, fluffy goodness, life would be dull and, well, fluffless without it. And a life without fluff is no life at all.
Before picking up Thank You, Jeeves, I had read several of the short stories that introduced the world to the indomitable literary pairing of Bertram Wooster and his faithful valet Jeeves. From the first page of the earliest story, “Extricating Old Gussie,” I knew I had found a series that would give me endless hours of cozy, friendly entertainment in the months and years to come. Some books are meant to prod you into deep reflections, or examine “big” problems, but this is certainly not one of those. Thank You, Jeeves is like a homemade quilt and a cup of hot chocolate in the middle of winter, infinitely comfortable and comforting.
After appearing in multiple short stories, beginning in 1915, Bertie and Jeeves made their jump to a full-length adventure in Thank You, Jeeves (1934). Wodehouse has introduced several delightful characters in his stories, like Uncle Fred and the folks at Blandings Castle, but I think most people would agree that the “Jeeves and Wooster” stories are his ultimate legacy. Bertie, young, scatterbrained and a bit clueless, is perfectly complimented by the eternally cool-headed and logical Jeeves.
In this early installment of a series that would span nearly 40 years, Bertie has taken up playing the banjolele, much to the discomfort of his neighbors. Unfortunately, his generally unflappable valet, Jeeves, is similarly discomposed by his master’s new hobby and leaves poor Bertie, a permanent bachelor and not the most self-sufficient man about town, all alone. To escape the persecution of his aurally assaulted neighbors, Bertie decides to rent a cottage in the country from a good friend, the landed but poor Lord Chuffnell, Chuffy for short. A chance meeting of several characters from earlier stories, a run-in with the local law enforcement, an unfortunate application of boot polish and some lady trouble all add up to a hilarious adventure, with enough convenient but perfectly structured twists to keep you guessing (and laughing). I won’t give it away, but anyone who has ever read anything about Bertie and Jeeves knows who comes to the rescue in the end.
Despite the comedic situations and overall light tone of his work, don’t be deceived into thinking Wodehouse is deficient in serious talent. He may not be interested in the profound, but his plots are structures to be reckoned with, brilliantly layering trouble upon trouble without ever leaving a loose end or pointless observation. He could seriously give Arthur Conan Doyle a run for his money, and make you laugh so hard you never notice all the work he has put into it. Likewise, his ability to use perfect dialog and very little description to create memorable characters is no small feat. It’s a testament to his ability that Jeeves has so frequently been reincarnated in popular culture, in TV shows like “Benson” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
The Bertie and Jeeves stories are, essentially, the marshmallow fluff of literature, and while you can’t survive long on a diet exclusively of sweet, fluffy goodness, life would be dull and, well, fluffless without it. And a life without fluff is no life at all.
May 30, 2023
{May 2023 Reread}
The "anything that can go wrong does go wrong" plot structure bothered me a little more this time around and as a result the book dragged, but it's still excessively diverting. :)
{April 2020 Reread}
I still wish the blackface incident wasn't a plot point; but this time, I caught a few phrases that almost made it seem to me as if Wodehouse was using his farce as a subtle way of speaking out against racism.
At any rate, still an indecently fun and funny book. 💚
{Original April 2019 Review}
What has the human race done to deserve Jeeves and Wooster?
Nothing, that's what. Not a single solitary bloomin' thing, and God bless Wodehouse for giving it to us anyway. XD
This is probably the best one I've read so far.
("His voice died away with a sort of sound not unlike the last utterance of one of those toy ducks you inflate and then let the air out of.")
The "anything that can go wrong does go wrong" plot structure bothered me a little more this time around and as a result the book dragged, but it's still excessively diverting. :)
{April 2020 Reread}
I still wish the blackface incident wasn't a plot point; but this time, I caught a few phrases that almost made it seem to me as if Wodehouse was using his farce as a subtle way of speaking out against racism.
At any rate, still an indecently fun and funny book. 💚
{Original April 2019 Review}
What has the human race done to deserve Jeeves and Wooster?
Nothing, that's what. Not a single solitary bloomin' thing, and God bless Wodehouse for giving it to us anyway. XD
This is probably the best one I've read so far.
("His voice died away with a sort of sound not unlike the last utterance of one of those toy ducks you inflate and then let the air out of.")
August 9, 2018
Oh my WORD, this was funny. I read this last year when I had to spend a few weeks in hospital and it was exactly the type of book I needed. I'm definitely ready to read more of Jeeves.
July 11, 2023
This is first Jeeves and Bertie Wooster novel Wodehouse wrote and was published in 1934. Previously Jeeves appeared only in various short stories. It's a usual mix of humor and mix up and has lots of characters from the stories make a re-appearance, such as Roderick Glossup (a psychiatrist who Bertie often describes as a "looney Doctor") along with beautiful and head strong Pauline Stoker (one of Bertie's numerous former fiancees) and her equally strong willed father, who of course doesn't think much of Bertie.
The crux of the story is that Bertie and Jeeves part ways due to Bertie's latest musical addiction, banjo playing. Jeeves ends up in the employ of Bertie's old classmate Chuffy, while Bertie ends up in a summer cottage on Chuffy's estate, along with his new valet, who is definitely not anything like Jeeves. Before the end, Bertie will be shanghied, engaged against his will, and forced to pretend to be part of a minstrel troupe.
An enjoyable story, the only jarring note being the usage of racist terms to describe the mostly off stage minstrel troupe. I realize that the book was in some ways a product of it's time, but hearing Wooster use the "n word" even a couple of times was too much for my modern sensibilities. I gave the book a 4 instead of my usual Wodehouse 5, other works of PGW's are just as humorous and don't have the racist terms.
Still, if you are a Jeeves and Wooster fan, you need to read this one, as several characters make their appearance again in later novels.
The crux of the story is that Bertie and Jeeves part ways due to Bertie's latest musical addiction, banjo playing. Jeeves ends up in the employ of Bertie's old classmate Chuffy, while Bertie ends up in a summer cottage on Chuffy's estate, along with his new valet, who is definitely not anything like Jeeves. Before the end, Bertie will be shanghied, engaged against his will, and forced to pretend to be part of a minstrel troupe.
An enjoyable story, the only jarring note being the usage of racist terms to describe the mostly off stage minstrel troupe. I realize that the book was in some ways a product of it's time, but hearing Wooster use the "n word" even a couple of times was too much for my modern sensibilities. I gave the book a 4 instead of my usual Wodehouse 5, other works of PGW's are just as humorous and don't have the racist terms.
Still, if you are a Jeeves and Wooster fan, you need to read this one, as several characters make their appearance again in later novels.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2018
If you want to escape from modernity with P.G. Wodehouse you will get free tickets.
The world of Jeeves and Wooster is a frozen slice of English 1920s idyll where people enjoy picnics and play cricket on the village green and people walk out in their Sunday best, the sun always shines and somewhere is the call of a wood pigeon and the sound of a church bell pealing. The worst thing that ever happens is a social faux pas or accidentally getting engaged through farce and misunderstanding.
But don't worry. Jeeves is always at hand to rescue the day with a bit of manipulation.
Delightful. Like a warm and comfort blanket.
The world of Jeeves and Wooster is a frozen slice of English 1920s idyll where people enjoy picnics and play cricket on the village green and people walk out in their Sunday best, the sun always shines and somewhere is the call of a wood pigeon and the sound of a church bell pealing. The worst thing that ever happens is a social faux pas or accidentally getting engaged through farce and misunderstanding.
But don't worry. Jeeves is always at hand to rescue the day with a bit of manipulation.
Delightful. Like a warm and comfort blanket.
January 4, 2018
EXCERPT: About three months before, noting a certain liveliness in my Aunt Agatha, I had deemed it prudent to pop across to New York for a space to give her time to blow over. And about halfway through my first week there, in the course of a beano of some description at the Sherry-Netherland, I made the acquaintance of Pauline Stoker.
She got right in among me. Her beauty maddened me like wine.
THE BLURB: Thank You, Jeeves is the first novel to feature the incomparable valet Jeeves and his hapless charge Bertie Wooster - and you've hardly started to turn the pages when he resigns over Bertie's dedicated but somewhat untuneful playing of the banjo. In high dudgeon, Bertie disappears to the country as a guest of his chum Chuffy - only to find his peace shattered by the arrival of his ex-fiancée Pauline Stoker, her formidable father and the eminent loony-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop. When Chuffy falls in love with Pauline and Bertie seems to be caught in flagrante, a situation boils up which only Jeeves (whether employed or not) can simmer down...A display of sustained comic brilliance, this novel shows Wodehouse rising to the top of his game.
MY THOUGHTS: I have been having a bit of a Wodehouse/Jeeves fest this week. You really can't beat a bit of bumbling Bertie and the dry acerbic wit of Jeeves. The British do the 'comedy of manners' superbly well. I will be listening to more episodes of the series.
I listened to the audiobook Thank You, Jeeves recorded live by L. A. Theatre Works via OverDrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
She got right in among me. Her beauty maddened me like wine.
THE BLURB: Thank You, Jeeves is the first novel to feature the incomparable valet Jeeves and his hapless charge Bertie Wooster - and you've hardly started to turn the pages when he resigns over Bertie's dedicated but somewhat untuneful playing of the banjo. In high dudgeon, Bertie disappears to the country as a guest of his chum Chuffy - only to find his peace shattered by the arrival of his ex-fiancée Pauline Stoker, her formidable father and the eminent loony-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop. When Chuffy falls in love with Pauline and Bertie seems to be caught in flagrante, a situation boils up which only Jeeves (whether employed or not) can simmer down...A display of sustained comic brilliance, this novel shows Wodehouse rising to the top of his game.
MY THOUGHTS: I have been having a bit of a Wodehouse/Jeeves fest this week. You really can't beat a bit of bumbling Bertie and the dry acerbic wit of Jeeves. The British do the 'comedy of manners' superbly well. I will be listening to more episodes of the series.
I listened to the audiobook Thank You, Jeeves recorded live by L. A. Theatre Works via OverDrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
December 9, 2014
And so we come to the first of Jeeves and Wooster novels.
I wonder how nervous PG Wodehouse was when he sat down to write this book. After all, here he had characters who had proven their worth in short stories, but would the material really stretch far enough for a whole novel? Could he spin out a plot that would sustain such a length? Was there a danger of the whole thing becoming episodic, a series of short stories joined together? Old P.G. always came across as a jovial and sanguine individual, but when he sat down to write this was there some sweat on the old brow? If so he needn’t have worried. ‘Thank you, Jeeves’ is a delight, which shows Wodehouse at the absolute top of his game.
Using the country house formula that he would most definitely make his own, Wodehouse introduces some unfamiliar conflict into the central relationship by having the master and the valet separate over Wooster’s love of banjolele playing. But they’re soon thrown together into a tight locale, with lots of opportunity for Jeeves to pull the young master out of the fire – as they confront an aggressive American millionaire, his flighty daughter, nosey policeman, a psychotic and socialist butler and Sir Roderick Glossop.
The 21st century reader may raise an eyebrow at the stuff with the blackface, but then this is a relic of a different time whilst still being fairly timeless (and if we want to go down that judging everything by modern PC standards route, then this would won’t hold up for long – Wodehouse’s female characters will certainly wilt under scrutiny.) What this book offers is comic situations piled onto comic situations, combined with one of the best prose styles in literature. And all one can do is sit back and enjoy the ride and marvel at how smooth it all is.
I wonder how nervous PG Wodehouse was when he sat down to write this book. After all, here he had characters who had proven their worth in short stories, but would the material really stretch far enough for a whole novel? Could he spin out a plot that would sustain such a length? Was there a danger of the whole thing becoming episodic, a series of short stories joined together? Old P.G. always came across as a jovial and sanguine individual, but when he sat down to write this was there some sweat on the old brow? If so he needn’t have worried. ‘Thank you, Jeeves’ is a delight, which shows Wodehouse at the absolute top of his game.
Using the country house formula that he would most definitely make his own, Wodehouse introduces some unfamiliar conflict into the central relationship by having the master and the valet separate over Wooster’s love of banjolele playing. But they’re soon thrown together into a tight locale, with lots of opportunity for Jeeves to pull the young master out of the fire – as they confront an aggressive American millionaire, his flighty daughter, nosey policeman, a psychotic and socialist butler and Sir Roderick Glossop.
The 21st century reader may raise an eyebrow at the stuff with the blackface, but then this is a relic of a different time whilst still being fairly timeless (and if we want to go down that judging everything by modern PC standards route, then this would won’t hold up for long – Wodehouse’s female characters will certainly wilt under scrutiny.) What this book offers is comic situations piled onto comic situations, combined with one of the best prose styles in literature. And all one can do is sit back and enjoy the ride and marvel at how smooth it all is.
March 28, 2023
বইয়ের সেরা ডায়লগ বোধহয়, 'বাগদান কেটে গেলে বাগদত্ত আর বাগদত্তা ভাই-বোন হয়ে যায়' 🤣🤣🤣
ভাই রে ভাই! কী কাহিনি! হাসতে হাসতে শেষ।
ভাই রে ভাই! কী কাহিনি! হাসতে হাসতে শেষ।
March 1, 2018
More like "No Thank You, Jeeves."
May 14, 2020
Another old faithful. I was feeling so blue that I followed the instructions on the fly cover - When feeling down, whip out a Wodehouse, to remove the frown (turn that frown upside down).
It really works!
The antics of Bertie, ably assisted by Jeeves, put the smile on the face and the 'period' character writing of Mr W put the icing on the cake. I was chortling loudly by page 2.
A mirthful Toast
It really works!
The antics of Bertie, ably assisted by Jeeves, put the smile on the face and the 'period' character writing of Mr W put the icing on the cake. I was chortling loudly by page 2.
A mirthful Toast
May 28, 2016
আমার লাইফে পড়া অন্যতম শ্রেষ্ঠ রম্য উপন্যাস। মন-মেজাজ ভাল না থাকার পরও, এইটা পড়ার সময় হাসতে হাসতে সিরিয়াসলি অবস্থা 'খারাপ' হয়ে গেছে। যেমন উডহাউসের রম্য, তেমনই খোন্দকার আলী আশরাফের অনুবাদ। নিঃসন্দেহে আমার পড়া অন্যতম শ্রেষ্ঠ অনুবাদ। পি জি ওডহাউসের 'বিদঘুটে' ইংরেজি সম্পর্কে হালকা-পাতলা ধারণা থাকায় অনুবাদকের প্রতি শ্রদ্ধা আরও বেড়ে গেছে। মুগ্ধ।
March 29, 2022
This was a typically well-plotted Jeeves and Wooster story that had me chuckling. However, mid-story, in a plot-line at the heart of the story, there are many references to a group of n****r minstrels, rather than negro minstrels. The constant use of the 'n' word did throw me off. I understand that blackface and use of the 'n' word were prominent in Britain, even seen on Brit TV until 1978. I also understand historical context, but this is not the use of a term for historical and social commentary and accuracy as with Huck Finn.
Its use in a 1934 comedy novel about upper-class Brits made me feel like I'm reading aristocratic satire by a fairly reactionary and clueless author. I think this may be why this otherwise well-written work was the last of the first 10 Jeeves books I got around to reading.
WIKIPEDIA states that: "Blackface minstrels were a staple of British seaside resorts until World War II. The term "n****r minstrels" was historically used to differentiate blackface minstrels from "colored minstrels" who were actually black performers."
I also though it interesting that recent performances of the book have dealt with the material, as described in Wikipedia:
"In 1998, the novel was dramatized by L.A. Theatre Works ... In this adaptation, the minstrel musicians were changed to Appalachian hillbilly performers.
I liked the book and still enjoy Wodehouse but this may not be the best Wodehouse to start with - or recommend.
Its use in a 1934 comedy novel about upper-class Brits made me feel like I'm reading aristocratic satire by a fairly reactionary and clueless author. I think this may be why this otherwise well-written work was the last of the first 10 Jeeves books I got around to reading.
WIKIPEDIA states that: "Blackface minstrels were a staple of British seaside resorts until World War II. The term "n****r minstrels" was historically used to differentiate blackface minstrels from "colored minstrels" who were actually black performers."
I also though it interesting that recent performances of the book have dealt with the material, as described in Wikipedia:
"In 1998, the novel was dramatized by L.A. Theatre Works ... In this adaptation, the minstrel musicians were changed to Appalachian hillbilly performers.
I liked the book and still enjoy Wodehouse but this may not be the best Wodehouse to start with - or recommend.
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