Customer Reviews

Eggs, Beans and Crumpets

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a perfect introduction into the world of Wodehouse. Although it does not involve Bertie Wooster or Jeeves, it does involve a set of interconnected characters getting into the awkward predicaments and hilarious misunderstandings that are the trademark of of Wodehouse. I've read a couple dozen of Wodehouse's works, and this is one of my favorites!

This collection contains four stories starring Bingo Little and his pals from the Drones Club, one Mulliner story, three Ukridge stories (not to be confused with Psmith, as I did in an earlier version of this review!), and one story not featuring a series character. If you are familiar with Wodehouse, you know the general tenor of the stories. If you don't know Wodehouse, these stories -- like most of his others -- are set in the early twentieth century and involve upper-class Englishmen getting themselves into and (barely) out of various comic fixes. These stores were originally written between 1925 and 1940 (the book itself was first published in 1940). This was the prime of Wodehouse's career and the stories are uniformly fresh and well-plotted and the writing is brilliant, with many laugh-out-loud lines.

Wodehouse's characters live in a Neverland that bears a passing resemblance to pre-1914 England. Wodehouse spent very little time in England after World War I and the manners, actions, and clothes of his characters were dated by the 1920s and 1930s, much less by the post-World War II period during which he continued to turn out novels and short stories. For instance, the members of the Drones Club continued to wear spats decades after they had fallen out of style. None of this much mattered to readers of these stories when they were first published and they are even less important now. Wodehouse rarely attempted to satirize actual events or recognizable persons (the Oswald Mosley character in the novel, "The Code of the Woosters," being a rare example). Instead, he was content to create a self-contained world that continues to entertain us many years later.

If you are unfamiliar with Wodehouse, this collection is not a bad place to start. If you like these stores, there are plenty more where they come from. If you don't like them, Wodehouse is probably not for you. Finally, these Overlook editions are very well done. If, like me, you find that you can reread Wodehouse every couple of years, it's nice to have his work in hardcover editions.

This collection of short stories is classic Wodehouse, cutting a witty swath through upper class Brits and their foibles. No more need be said.

A very competent process, ordering, shipping and delivery, top class, as has always been the case with my purchases through the Amazon system. Congratulations to Amazone and its trustworthy network of suppliers, you render a great service to the consuming public.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm not accustomed to the humor of leachy fellows or that I need to have a book with a plot but I just couldn't get into this book.

I stoped after the chapter Sonny Boy. I couldn't draw anything from the book that would let me go any further. It just wasn't intresting.

Where in blazes did this Bingo character come from? What happened to Stanley?

This is my first WOdehouse book I picked it up because I liked the title. Well don't judge a book by that.

Did I enter into the middle of a series?