I started mid-reading review, which is out of tradition for me. I add books on Goodreads mostly AFTER I finish reading them. But, was compelled to share some of Wodehouse's amusing sentences."It appears that there is harmless innocent American of the name of Wilbur Trout whose only fault is that he marries rather too often, which is the sort of thing that might happen to anyone.""Thomas Hardy would have seen in the whole affair one more of life's little ironies and on having it drawn to its attention would have got twenty thousand words of a novel out of it.""Like a serpent, although perhaps not altogether like a serpent, for serpents do draw the line somewhere, her brother Galahad had introduced another impostor into the castle.""Once, when they were children, Galahad had fallen into deep pond in the kitchen garden, and just as he was about to sink for the third time one of the gardeners had come along and pulled him out. She was brooding now on thoughtless folly of that misguided gardener. Half the trouble in the world, she was thinking, was caused by people not letting well alone.""One of the lesson life teaches us is never to look for instant bonhomie from someone we have rammed in the small of the back and bumped down two flight of stairs. That sort of thing does something to a man.""Except in the matter of marrying blondes he was not an adventurous man, and contemplation of the shape of things to come, as sketched out by Vanessa, had had the worst effect on his nervous system.""Not too many brains, either, which was an added attraction, for she mistrusted clever men.""Wilbur's room was the one in which, according to legend, an Emsworth of the fifteenth century had dismembered his wife with a battle axe, as husbands in those days were so apt to do when strain of married life became too much for them.""As Lady Constance seated herself at the desk and took pen in hand, the Duke's emotions were mixed. A proud man, he resented having his love letters written for him, but on the other hand he could not but feel that in the present crisis a ghost writer would come in uncommonly handy, for he had to admit that, left to his devices, he would not even know how to start the thing, let alone fill the four sheets which could be looked on as the irreducible minimum. He was a great writer of letters to the Times, the Government could not move a step without hearing from him, but this one called for gifts of which he knew himself to be deficient. It was, accordingly, with approval that he watched his collaborator's pen racing over the paper, and when she had finished, he took the manuscript from her with pleasurable anticipation of a treat in store.It was a pity, therefore, that perusal of it should have brought out all the destructive critic in him. He scanned the document with dismay, and delivered his verdict with asperity. He might have been one of those Scotch reviewers Byron disliked so much."This', he said, his eyes popping as they had rarely popped before, 'is the most god-awful slush I ever read!"If Lady Constance was piqued, she didn't show it. She may have raised an eyebrow, but scarcely so that it could be noticed. Like all authors, she knew her output was above criticism."
I almost put my rating as three stars but then I realised that I did actually enjoy this book a great deal and the only way I could criticise it is in comparison with Wodehouse's earlier books. Therefore, although this review will sound critical, it's sort of like pointing out that Mont Blanc is rather short in comparison with Everest. It's still a damn big mountain and this is still a damn fine book.PG was, I think, in his eighties when he wrote this, and his writing, while still sprightly, has lost a little of the sparkle and energy of his prime years. The cast of characters, instead of being moved about in an intricately choreographed dance around one another, sometimes seem to emerge from a haze for a moment only to disappear again. The situations at times seem a little formulaic (a regular Wodehouse reader could settle into the plot as into a comfortable old armchair), the resolutions of the various tangles occasionally seem rather abrupt. The dialogue still fizzes, though, particularly when one of the dias who is logueing is Galahad Threepwood.If you're only going to read one Wodehouse novel, my advice to you would be to pick one of the earlier ones, but quite frankly, if you're the sort of person who would only read one Wodehouse novel then I don't think we'd get along anyway.
What do You think about A Pelican At Blandings (1980)?
Wodehouse appears to be losing his touch late in life. But I had to read this anyway to bring closure to my friendship with the good folks at Blandings Castle. I don't think I'll ever read Sunset at Blandings; I can't stomach unfinished novels.But here are the obligatory quoterrific highlights:"'Are you under the impression,' she said, 'that it is my intention to marry that ruddy Gawd-help-us? If so, here is something for your files. I wouldn't marry him to please a dying grandmother. If I saw him perishing of thirst, I wouldn't give him the dew off a Brussels sprout. And if I heard that he had been run over by a motor omnibus and had broken his spine in three places, I would go about Blandings Castle trilling like a nightingale.' Those may not have been her exact words, but that was the gist, and her attitude left me disturbed. I may be hypersensitive, but I got the definite feeling that the wedding was off" (p.44)."Do you mean Dunstable?"Lady Constance started irritably, like the Statue of Liberty stung by a mosquito which had wandered over from the Jersey marshes. She spoke with the petulance that always came into her manner sooner or later when she conversed with her brother Galahad."Why do you persist in calling him that? You've known him for years. Why not Alaric?""Never mind what I call him. If you knew some of the things I'd like to call him you would be astounded at my moderation. Are you telling me that human walrus has fallen in love at first sight with Vanessa Polk?""Alaric is not a human walrus.""You criticize my use of the word human?" (p.48)"The Duke's vocal delivery...lacked geniality and enthusiasm. It fell somewhat short of the snarl of a timber wolf which has hurt its shinbone on a passing rock, but it was not enthusiastic and genial" (p. 189).
—Peter Krol
One of Wodehouse's later books does not have the sparkle of earlier works, but still mildly enjoyable. I admit that the plot has not stayed with me after a mere day or so but it is of a pleasant sort - dotty Emsworth, bossy Connie, young lovers with an impediment to their betrothal, someone or two under false pretenses, a theft being required. And an appearance by the Empress. And Gally to the rescue.I suppose there is a certain comfort to the predictability, the Alexander McCall Smith of his day for sheer volume and slightness of plot, but wittier and sillier and with a certain nostalgic charm for days that never were.
—Nancy
This slim volume is my first introduction to the witty pen of P.G. Wodehouse, perhaps best known now for his creations Jeeves and Wooster. Listening to the audio edition, superbly performed by Martin Jarvis, was like watching it unfold on the silver screen! It is a double comedy, in the Shakespearean application of the term. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud episodes in which surprise guests appear and disappear as well as belongings. In a way it made me think of the hilarious film "What's Up Doc?" starring Barbra Streisand -- memorable characters, implausible mix-ups, all of which are neatly tied up in the end.
—Vivian
