Meet Mr. Mulliner [Hardcover]

P. G. Wodehouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2002

Mr. Mulliner, a character who provided Wodehouse with some of his best vignettes, is first introduced in Meet Mr. Mulliner, along with his endless supply of brothers, nephews, and cousins, who are featured in the tales Mulliner tells the regulars at his favorite pub, The Angler's Rest.

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

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, Joy in the Morning, The Clicking of Cuthbert, Lord Emsworht and Others, and more.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 203 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (May 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585672750
• ISBN-13: 978-1585672752
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect book of short stories, May 19, 2005

By 

Y. Deshmukh "Yogibear" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Meet Mr. Mulliner (Hardcover)

P.G. Wodehouse is a master of the English language and of creating highly improbable situations for his protagonists to get into and out of. Of his many superb characters, Mr. Mulliner is one of the most hilarious.

All these stories start off with Mr. Mulliner, a kindly Englishman in his sixties, sitting in an English bar and having a drink with his many friends. As the conversation swings this way and that, Mr. Mulliner is reminded of his seemingly unlimited nephews and nieces who went through just such a situation (as is being discussed), and he launches into a narration of their story. But of course each situation is unique and, more importantly, both completely improbable and yet plausible at the same time.

This book is the perfect read when you want a quick read and a bunch of chuckles. Or, you can just keep reading through the book and be a little annoyed when it is over and you realize there is no more stories left.

Never fear, though: you can re-read these stories with the same enjoyment over and over again, for years to come. Like fine wine, Wodehouse's narrations age beautifully. He is a master of comedy. No one else even comes close.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tales about chemists, ghosts, bishops, and bulb-squeezers, April 18, 2005

By 

D. Cloyce Smith (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Mr. Mulliner (Hardcover)

Through his barfly creation, Mr. Mulliner, Wodehouse dispels the common notion that all tall tales originate in Texas. In The Angler's Rest, an oh-so-British pub, Mulliner holds court--or, more precisely, he overwhelms the possibility of alternative banter among the regulars. The slightest conversational tidbit or abbreviated anecdote will set Mulliner off on a shaggy-dog story about the improbable escapades of one of his relatives, and each tale follows a similar blueprint, culminating in the expected "saved-from-a-tough-spot" resolution or (more often) a boy-gets-girl finale.

As always with Wodehouse, to sum up the plot of one story is to sum up all of them; instead, the devil is scattered, liberally, in the details. The pleasure of reading his tales arises not from discovering what happens--nor from even from seeing how it happens--but from the slapstick follies and rapid-fire wit of the character sketches who populate his world. Still, there are three stories out of the nine in this volume that stand out because they form a continuum of sorts; one might even call the trilogy an accidental novella. They feature common characters: the pharmacist William Mulliner, his wife Angela, their nephew Augustine (a curate), and the bishop of Stortford. The comedy results from the unexpected results produced by William's toxic and not-yet-patented concoctions--especially Buck-U-Uppo, which seems to have all the redundant power of Red Bull laced with a jolt of amphetamine. And it's absolutely priceless when Augustine addresses his superior with a greeting like "Cheerio, bish. How's the lumbago today?"

Ironically, the memorable nature of these three consecutive stories reminds me why I prefer Wodehouse's novels, in which the humor inexorably builds to an uproarious crescendo. I will always get a kick out of Wodehouse's shorter fare and the diversions they supply, but their impressions consistently fade as soon as the laughter dies down.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Wodehouse's funniest collection, August 3, 2006

By 

Laurel Benchley "lifelong reader" (at the intersection of 2 cultures) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Mr. Mulliner (Hardcover)

The Mulliner tales are mostly mildly entertaining. I usually laugh out loud at Wodehouse stories and re-read passages and whole books for joy at his use of language, but these stories don't have the same zing as other Wodehouse works. There a few cute ones with a few chuckles, but overall the stories feel tired.