The Inimitable Jeeves [Paperback]

P.G. Wodehouse (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0140284125 | ISBN-13: 978-0140284126 | Publication Date: June 5, 2000

'The feeling I had when Aunt Agatha trapped me in my lair that morning and spilled the bad news was that my luck had broken at last ...' When Bertie sets his heart upon some jolly purple socks, relations with Jeeves become distinctly cold and unchummy. Things become a good deal worse when Aunt Agatha demands that he abandon his life of frivolity in favour of a peal of wedding bells. But the inimitable Jeeves has the matter in hand right from the start ...and as for the socks, read on about the startling dressiness of a lift attendant.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Martin Jarvis brings the madcap world of Bertie Wooster and his brilliant valet Jeeves to life with canny comedic timing and wildly varied voices that capture the essence of each of the many characters. In P.G. Wodehouse's classic stories about a gentleman and his gentleman's gentleman, we follow the hapless but lovable Bertie from one misadventure to the next—accidental engagements, calamitous lunches with the terrifying Aunt Agatha, clashes with noted nerve specialists and run-ins with bizarre political parties—each imbroglio neatly put right in the end by the faithful Jeeves. Jarvis perfectly conveys the spirit and sheer joy of these beloved stories in an audio book that will delight both Wodehouse fanatics and newcomers to the author's work. An Overlook hardcover.(Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From the Back Cover

A Jeeves and Wooster collection

A classic collection of linked stories featuring some of the funniest episodes in the life of Bertie Wooster, gentleman, and Jeeves, his gentleman’s gentleman – in which Bertie's terrifying Aunt Agatha stalks the pages, seeking whom she may devour, while Bertie’s friend Bingo Little falls in love with seven different girls in succession (he marries the last, the bestselling romantic novelist Rosie M. Banks). And Bertie, with Jeeves’s help, just evades the clutches of the terrifying Honoria Glossop... At its heart is one of Wodehouse’s most delicious stories, ‘The Great Sermon Handicap.’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (June 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140284125
• ISBN-13: 978-0140284126
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wodehouse is a timeless treasure, February 25, 2002

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Inimitable Jeeves (Paperback)

One of the earlier Jeeves and Wooster collections, this is a series of very loosely linked short stories generally following the same template: young, wealthy airhead Wooster or his pal Bingo Little gets in some sticky situation, and it is up to his genius butler Jeeves to devise an ingenious solution to the quandary. Here, the somewhat repetitious misguided amorous ramblings of Bingo make for the lion's share of troubles, although the high spirits of Bertie's cousins Claude and Eustace also make plenty of work for Jeeves. The stories can fairly be compared to contemporary TV sitcoms, as they to reply on recurring (often over the top) characters, a rarefied setting, a single type of humor, and recurring situations. Simply put, if you like one Wooster story (and don't get sick of them), you're going to like them all. Much of this can be explained by Wodehouse's mastery of the language and constant deft turns of phrase, period slang, and comic timing. Those who deride the shallow subject matter and milieu of the Jeeves and Wooster series need to recall the context in which these stories appeared. Only a few years removed from the horrors of World War I-an event barely alluded to in the series, despite the loss of an entire generation of British young men-the stories can be viewed as a bandage of sorts, an attempt to transport the reader to a world far removed from the traumatic recovery from the Great War. Not to mention Wodehouse's clear depiction of the upper classes as wastrels and idiots of the highest order when compared to the street savvy of the servants (as exemplified by Jeeves). Of course, one doesn't read Wodehouse for social commentary or as a salve these days, but for his dry wit and keen command of the written word.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Best, July 27, 2006

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Inimitable Jeeves (Paperback)

Were you to read only one Wodehouse book (God forbid) which one might it be? I would suggest this one, although there are numerous contenders from the Jeeves, Drones, golf, Mr. Mulliner and Blandings stories, not to mention the one-offs and great unknowns.

Although this book has what might be called an overarching narrative, being that all the tales are told in the first person by one Bertie Wooster, the chapters nevertheless neatly fall out as short stories even if with somewhat "cliffhanger" endings, which is to say they don't resolve.

That almost perfect format will delight both short story fans and afficianados of the novel, and also spun off some of the best TV yarns in the Jeeves and Wooster and World of Wodehouse TV series.

My British edition (for copyright reasons not for sale in the U.S.) shows a cover photo op of Ian Carmichael as Wooster in the BBC series "The World of Wooster". As PGW noted, this was one of many instances where Bertie was overly mature and greyed; there seems a deliberate attempt to make Carmichael seem older-- whereas most readers, Wodehouse included, see him as somewhat youngish.

In Wodehouse Playhouse, which includes brief vignettes of PGW, he gives his imprimatur to the series for at least casting Bertie somewhat younger. Even better was the stellar performance in Jeeves and Wooster, in which "Pearls Mean Tears" "Comrade Bingo" and a number of these other chapters, expanded into episodes, appear. No wonder such a wonderful series was inspired by such a delightful read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent entertainment, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Inimitable Jeeves (Paperback)

This is the first Jeeves & Wooster story Plum ever wrote. The main characters in this novel are Bertie and his valet Jeeves, a complete gentleman and the first to admit Bertie is a bit of a chump. There's also a wide collection of terrifying aunts, miserly uncles, love-sick friends and unwanted fiances that make the plot really witty. Bertie gets into a bit of a trouble when one of his pals, Bingo Little starts to fall in love with every second girl he lays his eyes on. But the soup gets really thick when Bingo decides to marry one of them and enlists Bertie's help. Luckily, he has the inimitable Jeeves to pull him out of it. Excellent entertainment and a good insight into life in England in the 1920s.