Heavy Weather [Hardcover]

P. G. Wodehouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

Fans of P. G. Wodehouse's comic genius are legion, and their devotion to his masterful command of the hilarity borders on an obsession.

It's Heavy Weather for Lord Emsworth and the Empress, especially with the appalling Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe snooping around with designs on the prize pig.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A brilliantly funny writer--perhaps the most consistently funny the English language has yet produced. -- The Times (London)

The works of Wodehouse continue on their unique way, unmarked by the passage of time. -- Kingsley Amis

Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale....He has made a world for us to live in and delight in. -- Evelyn Waugh

From the Publisher

Fans of P.G. Wodehouse's comic genius are legion, and their devotion to his masterful command of the hilarity borders on obsession. The Overlook Press is pleased to feed their obsession by returning his funniest books to print: Heavy Weather, Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Mating Season, Laughing Gas, and more.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 321 pages
• Publisher: The Overlook Press/Peter Mayer Publishers; 1st edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585672300
• ISBN-13: 978-1585672301
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Direct Route Pays Off!, October 30, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Heavy Weather (Audio Cassette)

In most P.G. Wodehouse stories, the innocents and the not-so-innocents attempt to solve tricky family problems with feats of misdirection and partial truths. The result of these complicated ruses is usually a great deal of unexpected consequences that will tickle almost any funny bone. Heavy Weather is an unusually fine example of this type of story.

Monty Bodkin, who's rolling in dough, must hold a job for a year to win the approval of his fiancee's father. Then the wedding bells can chime. Monty isn't the most helpful fellow, and makes a hash out of his writing for Tiny Tots. He soon uses his uncle's influence a second time to get a new job as private secretary to Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, whose pride and joy is his prize-winning pig, the Empress of Blandings.

This new employment creates much consternation for Sue Brown, who is engaged to marry the jealous Ronnie Fish. Monty and Sue had been engaged earlier, and Sue's afraid that Ronnie won't be able to handle having Monty around. Wedding bells for Sue and Ronnie depend on getting Clarence to release trust funds for Ronnie. There are a few other problems, as well. For example, Sue earns her living as a chorus girl. What will Ronnie's mother, Lady Julia, think?

The key theme of the story is that true love will win out, if the lovers follow their hearts and seize opportunity when it arises. In that way, the end will charm almost anyone . . . much like Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream does.

In most stories like this, you can anticipate how the obstacles will be overcome. Well, Heavy Weather will surprise you, if you are like me. The plot complications and resolution are delightfully adept, acrobatic, and subtle. I felt like I was watching the elephants do their ballet dance again in Fantasia. The contradictions between the messy moments and the final neatness are brilliantly handled!

The conflict between the desire to have a good reputation and the willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed (including cutting all possible corners) is shown off to good effect in Heavy Weather. Developing this point creates questions about what real goodness is, versus assumed goodness from social position and family connections. In fact, inherited intelligence is also questioned for its morality. The more powerful minds in the story tend to use those capabilities to plot for self-advantage, rather than to accomplish anything meaningful for all involved. Those of limited intelligence, by contrast, tend to follow their hearts and try to do the right thing.

Good results follow in this story whenever people are loyal and honor goodness.

What can you accomplish by being loyal and honoring goodness today? And tomorrow?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belly Laughs Abound, January 23, 2009

By 

Anne E. Korsmo "Anne" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heavy Weather (Hardcover)

Heavy Weather

Some humor is timeless. My father loved Wodehouse. I'd hear him in the living room laughing out loud, and catch him reading Wodehouse. Now, I hear my husband in the living room laughing out loud, reading Wodehouse.

So I read this book. It is set in a timeless England, somewhen between the wars. The people Wodehouse writes about are archetypes, and are as familiar as the faces around my table at Thanksgiving. The situations are pure farce. I ask myself, how does this work?

I think it's the language. No one writes like Wodehouse. His timing and word choices are unique.

I invite you to sample a timeless classic that will never be a book you are proud to be caught reading, but will always be a friend that can cheer you up in the bleakest of weather. Wodehouse. Ah.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LIGHT READING, August 20, 2008

By 

M. Doug Evans "reading fool" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heavy Weather (Hardcover)

PART OF THE BLANDINGS CASTLE SAGA. GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YOU. WHENEVER YOU FEEL BLUE READ 2 PAGES BEFORE SLEEPING.