The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

[AE35Unit]

Not sure if this is supposed to be a collection of stories or a novel, as each 'story' continues on from the one before. So really they're just chapters in a novel.
I didn't get on with it to be honest, the comedy is funny in parts but the whole concept is very upper class. Bertie Wooster is someone many would call a posh twit, a privileged lazy bugger who has everything so easy. And the language just grated on me. Oh I say, what the deuce?
Ugh.

 

[CupofJoe]

I have many of the stories as BBC audiobooks. Great for long train journey. A bit of vocal acting brings the stories to life.
I have a soft spot for Gussie Fink-Nottle and his newts.

 

[Toby Frost]

I didn't get on with it to be honest, the comedy is funny in parts but the whole concept is very upper class. Bertie Wooster is someone many would call a posh twit, a privileged lazy bugger who has everything so easy. And the language just grated on me.

No offence intended, but that is pretty much the entire point of all the Bertie Wooster stories. He's a laughable (but not unpleasant) fool from the 1920s, and acts and talks like one.

 

[Aknot]

Like any book, they’re children of their time. I’ve always loved the Jeeves & Wooster series. It’s fun and lighthearted and portraits a kind world where hardships are trifles (for us, the readers).

 

[AE35Unit]

No offence intended, but that is pretty much the entire point of all the Bertie Wooster stories. He's a laughable (but not unpleasant) fool from the 1920s, and acts and talks like one.

The thing is I enjoyed the TV series, but the book just annoyed the life out of me. Full of annoying, irritating characters. The only decent one amongst them is Jeeves!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Nice to see a review here, even if we disagree on a few points.

 

[msstice]

I LOVED P.G. Woodehouse when I was a teenager. Just devoured all his Jeeves books. It was a nice escape from teenage angst. It's a great escapist theme: a world where the most serious problems are difficult female relatives and golf balls at the top of stairs (I do think the description of him slipping on a golf ball on the landing is the funniest passage ever).

I loved P.G.'s quote that circulated with some of the forewords.

I believe there are two ways of writing novels. One is mine, making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right deep down into life and not caring a damn.

 

[ColGray]

Bertie Wooster is someone many would call a posh twit, a privileged lazy bugger who has everything so easy. And the language just grated on me. Oh I say, what the deuce?

You hit the nail on the head: he's a privileged ponce who's never struggled or wanted for anything and that is the brilliance of Wodehouse. Bertie is a fkn indolent moron. He's cocksure. He belongs to the Drone's Club and prattles on about it. He's engaged and un-engaged with regularity and his biggest worry is displeasing his aunts.

To then juxtapose that against Jeeves -- educated, actually knowledgable, kind but unforgiving of personal failings, utterly unflappable -- it upends the British society of its day. The gentry aren't blessed by the divine: they're coddled man-children!

You can also find just about every Jeeves and Wooster (the Frye and Laurie Masterpiece Theater/BBC series) on Youtube. They're exceptional. Highly recommend.

 

[AE35Unit]

You hit the nail on the head: he's a privileged ponce who's never struggled or wanted for anything and that is the brilliance of Wodehouse. Bertie is a fkn indolent moron. He's cocksure. He belongs to the Drone's Club and prattles on about it. He's engaged and un-engaged with regularity and his biggest worry is displeasing his aunts.

To then juxtapose that against Jeeves -- educated, actually knowledgable, kind but unforgiving of personal failings, utterly unflappable -- it upends the British society of its day. The gentry aren't blessed by the divine: they're coddled man-children!

You can also find just about every Jeeves and Wooster (the Frye and Laurie Masterpiece Theater/BBC series) on Youtube. They're exceptional. Highly recommend.

Yea I get it, I just didn't enjoy the book at all. Preferred the TV series but even that would probably grate on me now