goodreads tells me i've now read seventeen wodehouse books, with sixteen of those being novels and short stories -- the other is a wonderful collection i can only highly recommend, called Wodehouse On Wodehouse that is part memoir of his time writing for musical theatre, and partly selected letters, and also part sort-of autobiography. so it should be obvious that i love a good wodehouse novel. but i'm coming to terms that i have certain favourites and that wodehouse has a cast of archetypes for his fiction, and depending on which set you read first, you might take on a preference. i definitely have: it's jeeves and wooster that i love best though there are individual stories with many of the characters, the drones, mr. mulliner, uncle fred in particular, that i also adore. i've thought about wodehouse characters, trying to slot them into the various archetypes he uses and trying to determine the overlap and traits, and from them, my own predilections. wodehouse has a template and it's a mistake to focus on it: his comic archetypes and his classical structure serves its purpose as a springboard for wodehouse's pen, dripping with outrageously clever language, and dialogue, his remarkable facility with them might remind us again of that highly successful career in musical theatre, mostly writing the lyrics to guy bolton's book. they collaborated in a fruitful partnership of hits with composer jerome kern. above all, he has a truly genius comedic wit...and sometimes it hits one harder than others, in some books more so than others. wodehouse fans all have their favourites. and so, i must make it clear that while i'm invariably in wodehouse's corner, he's at a disadvantage here with me because i'm not with jeeves and wooster.in this novel, summer lightning, we are at blandings castle, with clarence, lord emsworth who is a fine an old mad lord as one could ever wish for, pig-happy and free of all cares except those that are visited on him by his fussy family. his nephew, ronnie fish (son to his sister, julia) stirs up trouble by wanting to marry a showgirl. lord emsworth is largely unaware of this for the most part while they, and the rest of his satellites (his bossy sisters, his brother, a jeeves-like sage aptly named galahad who is writing infamous memoirs, his scheming secretaries (former and current), his butler, his daughter, the much maligned neighbour/slash pig competition competitor all conspire around him. shenanigans ensue, and they are funny but a little... long for me. and then to find the action continued in the follow-up summer lightning, which further extends the story of the romance of ronnie and his show girl sue, and also resolving the other major plotline revolving around the memoirs that galahad's been writing that -- dash it all -- might tarnish the reputations of several members of the british aristocracy who also serve as family friends and acquaintances. again. the same story in essentials. and in short, too long. i may have perhaps liked them better had i not read them back-to-back. but they do feel like one really, really long novel to me. and perhaps it's just not as absurd as i like my wodehouse. certainly, i know i seem contradictory: i *just* said one had to go with the structure but there's too much of it, and just not enough i find funny here or enough wodehouse flourish to make me forget. and beyond that, i miss jeeve's ability to bring order to the chaos, and i miss bertie's ability to bungle it so jeeves has to do it all over again -- as they did in a similarly-themed (young lovers, scandalous memoirs) short story called "jeeves takes charge" that introduced the two characters, which i read, incidentally, on first delving into wodehouse books in earnest.. preference established. it's never out-and-out boring and a middling wodehouse is still better than many. this one just isn't a favourite.
‘Summer Lightning’ is the third novel in the Blanding’s saga and the fist in which the residents of Blanding’s themselves take centre stage. In ‘Something Fresh’ Blanding’s was a standard Wodehouse setting for a typical Wodehouse farce and in ‘Leave it to Psmith’ the family and staff were acting as supporting roles for Psmith to bring home his typical ‘vim and vigour’. After writing ‘Leave it to Psmith’ Wodehouse had written a series of magazine stories based on the Threepwood family which had clearly given him the confidence to use them as the major players in a novel.In his preface to the book Wodehouse takes the criticism of his previous novel ‘Money for Nothing’ that it contained ‘all the old Wodehouse characters under different names’ with typical good humour, writing ‘He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.’True to his word, as well as the residents of Blanding’s, Wodehouse also serves us up, Pilbeam from ‘Bill the Conqueror’ and Hugo Carmody and Ronnie Fish from ‘Money for Nothing’. In fact Ronnie Fish referring to his personal stock with the Family as ‘Fish Preferred’ gave rise to the title the book was published under in America. The plot is, of course, as familiar as the cast. Hugo is in love with Millicent Threepwood but the family want her to wed Ronnie but he is in love with Sue Brown of the London chorus and attending Blanding’s as one of many imposters. Galahad Threepwood endeavours to bring all these matters to a suitable conclusion whilst the efficient Baxter and Pilbeam try to obtain the manuscript of his memoirs to stop them from being published and embarrassing the neighbours and notably Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe.Galahad brings about a typical Wodehouse solution which will not impress any professional critic but can only impress anyone reading the book for enjoyment or entertainment.
What do You think about Summer Lightning (2012)?
The only thing better than reading one of Wodehouse's ridiculously funny books is listening to them being narrated by someone as good as Martin Jarvis. This book is the third in the Blandings Castle series that feature the muddle-headed old Lord Elmsworth, 9th Earl of Blandings who is so fondly devoted to his prize pig, the Empress of Blandings. Also appearing in this book are Lord Elmsworth's younger brother the Honorable Galahad Threepwood who is busy writing his scandalous memoirs to the horror of his shrew of a sister the Lady Constance Keeble. Typically, the plot in this story is just as inane as all the others, replete with the same kind of stock characters that show up every time. In this one there's the obligatory sweet young chorus girl who pretends to be a wealthy heiress because she's in love with the brainless nephew of the house who is trying to figure out a way to marry her despite the shock and outrage it will cause his family. Of course there's the ever present implacable butler, a Jeeves-like fellow named Beach who like every other Wodehouse butler is always endeavoring to give satisfaction. And there are the same places we're used to finding every time we delve into a Wodehouse novel: rose gardens, potting sheds, country pubs and stately homes. There are the same outlandish schemes that involve men who hide under beds, jump out of windows and climb up drain pipes for various reasons and women who sip champagne, break their engagements, and change into evening gowns for dinner. There is nothing that comes very close to reality in a Wodehouse book, but that together with his trademark style of writing makes these books impossible to read - or listen to - without laughing out loud.
—Trisha
The third full-length Wodehouse novel at Blandings Castle, first published in 1929 and entitled Fish Preferred in the UK and Summer Lightning in other markets and in reprints such as the 1954 Penguin paperback I found in Amsterdam for 3 Euros. (For a backgrounder on the Blandings Castle series, see here): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanding...By 1929, Wodehouse was at least a decade into his absolute creative peak, and would be for another decade at least. As such, Summer Lightning is another absolute corker. Baffingly complex, yes, but never illogical. Wodehouse is - as ever - supremely mirthful, and the story is perfectly paced and constructed, with perfect comic timing and a good deal of inventive wit. Surely among the best of Wodehouse, at least among his Blandings Castle books. I have not read the earlier Blandings Castle books, or at least I don't remember having done so, but the large cast of characters is easily handled, although some confusion as to who has done what and who knows what leads to occasional confusion. None of this matters though, as the story continues along at a satisfactory pace.
—Chris
So much love for Wodehouse! I've actually only ever read one Wodehouse book, and it was a Jeeves and Wooster. I much preferred this one, actually, probably because it was not so much isolated episodes as it was a real novel. The characters are, of course, completely stereotypical, especially Lady Constance and Lord Emsworth, but when written in Wodehouse style, they become completely fresh and hilarious again. And I'll say it again--enormous pigs called the Empress of Blandings are always, always funny.
—Anne
