Customer Reviews

If I Were You

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

 

 

Things get hairy when it's discovered that a peer and a barber were Switched At Birth. Now that they're grown up, is it too late to switch them back?

P.G. Wodehouse was a master of humorous storytelling. Best known for his works about Jeeves and Wooster, his stories that do not focus on these famous characters are just as entertaining - if not more so. "If I Were You" is a laugh-out-loud funny tale of two men having been switched at birth and trying to figure out if amends can be made almost thirty years later.

Tony Droitwich, the Earl of Droitwich, leads a happy-go-lucky existence and has just proposed to a rich young woman who will help shore up the Droitwich foundation. His Aunt Lydia and Uncle Herbert couldn't be more pleased. If only it wasn't for Tony's former nanny, Ma Price, and her impudent son Syd; for Syd is an annoying socialist barber in the making, and Nannie Price threatens to tell everyone the truth about the two boys - that Syd is the true Earl of Droitwich and that Tony is her son. Pressed against a wall, the family decides to give Syd a try, hoping to make the prospect of being an earl so hateful to him that he will give up his claim. Tony, meanwhile, fills in at Syd's post in the barber shop and finds himself liking the simpler life. Will things work out for the happiness of both parties?

"If I Were You" is a fast-paced and enjoyable read. Just when it seems that all dastardly plots have been achieved, Wodehouse springs a new twist at the reader. While definitely dated, or more like encapsulated in time, Wodehouse's humor is timeless and efervescent. It is a great find for those who can lay their hands on a copy of this rare comic work.

Reading P.G.Wodehouse is like going through life after drinking two glasses of champagne. His world is one where everyone would like to live, he is as absurd and as hilarious as life itself. His stories make one giggle; they take one back to that place where everything turns out right, the same state of mind one had when one was five years old. He is as light as a feather, yet his command of the language is uncanny. Wodehouse is addictive!

This novel is subtitled "Ye Old Baby Switcheroo," and the publisher doesn't mind giving away this much of the plot: "Twenty-eight years later, the son of a barber is now an earl, and the son of an earl is now a barber." So the dual themes are "hair restoration and heir restoration." If that sounds witty and droll, it's a good introduction to the rest of the book. This is an oversized, paperback, large-print edition from the oddly-named publisher, International Polygonics (IPL). I don't think a smaller font version exists in paperback. In the preface D.R. Benson says that If I Were You makes use of a bit of plot from W.S. Gilbert (as in Gilbert and Sullivan), and the sense of theatre runs throughout. Add "enter stage right" and "exit stage left" in a few places and you'd have a corking good play. Add singing and you'd have a sprightly musical. For fans who enjoy seeing Plum's "other life" in musical comedy creep into the books.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It's very funny and entertaining. I'd give it more stars if I could. I think this is one of P.G. Wodehouse's best!