Customer Reviews

A Few Quick Ones

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In the Wodehouse novels, the plots are merely superstructure upon which to develop hilarious characters, ridiculous situations, side-splitting slapstick and delicious irony about the "upper" classes. In a short story, a Wodehouse plot plays a bigger role.

P.G. Wodehouse obviously had that point in mind when he designed and wrote the stories for A Few Quick Ones. To make the collection a treat, he has given you a sampler of his best characters. Unless you are a devoted Wodehouse reader, you probably don't know about some of these characters. I recommend that you become acquainted because you may discover many Wodehouse classics that you would otherwise have not met.

As a result, the stories will be the most fun for those who already know the stories well. Happy memories from other books and stories will help evoke chuckles where others may only grunt and smile.

But, that wasn't enough. What else could he do? Well, he could vary the way he plotted the stories so that it was less predictable what was coming next. In the process, he indulged himself in creating delicious ironies. At the same time, several of the stories contain as detailed a plot as occurs in any of his novels.

The book's opening story, The Fat of the Land, is an excellent example. Oofy Prosser, the Drone's club millionaire, is determined to win the fat uncles contest . . . and no amount of skullduggery and oiliness is too much for him. Will he succeed?

The Oldest Member stories are a treat for all those who love golf, but many people don't know the stories. Mr. Wodehouse included Scratch Man and Joy Bells for Walter which eloquently show how the divine game and love can go hand-in-hand . . . but not in the ways you expect. There can be danger, too!

The Right Approach develops a theme that Mr. Wodehouse repeats in the book; don't assume that you know what someone else is thinking. Much like Shakespeare's confused lovers, the addled male, Augustus Mulliner, finds himself faced with a horrible contretemps when he attempts to press his suit.

Jeeves Makes an Omelette is the book's only story involving the inimitable Jeeves, and Jeeves swings into action in an unmistakably effective way. The story is made more delightful by one of Aunt Dahlia's daffy schemes.

The inimitable Bingo Little also does his stuff in two stories involving his far from beautiful baby son, Algernon Aubrey Little. In both cases, Bingo's tendency to wager his last cent on a losing nag is the source of the problem. The first is The Word in Season which shows how timing can be everything. The other is Leave It to Algy where Bingo becomes a baby judge.

Big Business is one of the book's best stories. The book's theme relates to whether the male or the female of the species is the stronger and wiser.

A Tithe for Charity is a delicious bit of irony about that famously poor man, Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, in which he temporarily has some funds.

Oofy, Freddie and the Beef Trust is one of the best developed of the stories and has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing what might come next for days . . . even though you will read the story in minutes.

Unless you don't like to laugh, you should read this book!

By the way, I had to search a bit to find a copy. It was worth the tracking down I had to do.

First published in 1959, this volume collects ten tales featuring many of Wodehouse's most popular characters.

Stories are:

The Fat of the Land -- Freddie Widgeon organises a Fat Uncles sweepstake at the Drones club.

Scratch Man -- The Oldest Member relates Harold Pickering's attempt to become a scratch golfer.

The Right Approach -- Mr Mulliner shares how is nephew Augustus wooed the girl of his dreams.

Jeeves Makes an Omelette -- To help out Aunt Dahlia, Bertie Wooster steals a painting.

The Word in Season -- Bingo Little needs ten pounds so his wife won't know he gambled away his baby son's birthday money.

Big Business -- Mr Mulliner tells the story of his nephew Reginald who was swindled by a retired financier.

Leave It to Algy -- Bingo Little judges a Bonny Babies contest in exchange for 5 pounds so e can get his gold cufflinks out of hock.

Joy Bells for Walter -- The Oldest Member helps Walter Judson hold his temper on the golf course.

A Tithe for Charity -- When a chance meetings keep Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge from backing a loser at the track, he resolves to give a tithe of his money to needy strangers.

Oofy, Freddie and the Beef Trust -- Offy Prosser and Freddie Widgeon hope to make a bundle on a wrestling racket.

There are few things more enjoyable that reading Wodehouse. A couple of these stories were new to me, but even the ones I'd read before had lost none of their charm.

4.75 stars.

P.G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse has gone through something of a renaissance recently with the resurrection of his Jeeves and Wooster characters by ITV and Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. This Wodehouse book contains 10 of his great stories, involving all sorts of interesting Wodehousian characters - Drones, and golf-fanatics, and whatnot. Each finds himself in trouble, over love or money or both, and schemes to find a way out. And Jeeves and Wooster even put in an appearance in the story, Jeeves Makes an Omelette.

I did indeed find these to be some very entertaining stories. P.G. Wodehouse was a great at writing entertaining stories, full of entertainingly clueless characters, and outrageous situations. Do yourself a favor, unwind, open up A Few Quick Ones, and have a good time!

These stories are not from Woodhouse's prime. George Orwell once observed about Woodhouse that because he left England before WW I, most of his stories appeared set in the Edwardian era even if they were meant to be from the 1920s and 1930s. For instance, the boys at the Drones Club continued to wear spats decades after they had fallen out of fashion. Still, for most Americans, the England of the 1910s kind of blends together with the England of the 1920s and 1930s. But these stories, mostly written during the 1950s, seem to clash with the pre-WW II sensibility that I always associate with Woodhouse. Somehow, references to Sputnik are jarring.

Old as he was when the wrote these stories and much as he was returning to very well-worn themes, they are still entertaining. The magical word play is still there. The ingenious plotting and slapstick still work. So, if you are a Woodhouse fan and haven't read these stories before, this volume is well worth picking up. If you are new to Woodhouse, though, this is not the place to start. Instead, pick up a copy of "Right Ho, Jeeves," or the "Code of the Woosters" to see Woodhouse in his prime.

These Overlook Press editions are really quite nice. Given that Woodhouse's stories are still good on the second or third reading, paying a little extra for a hardcover edition seems well worth it.