Customer Reviews

Meet Mr. Mulliner

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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.

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.

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.

Over a few drinks at The Anglers' Rest, Mulliner is likely to captivate the locals with tales about his cousins, uncles, brothers and various other relatives. Meet George Mulliner and learn how a mad dash through the English countryside can cure a bad case of stuttering. Meet Augustine Mulliner and his rise through the ranks of the Anglican Church with a trusty flask of his uncle Wilfred Mulliner's experimental Buck-U-Uppo tonic at his side.

Plum delivers a polished and quirky narrative throughout the nine short stories in this book. His formulaic method of story-telling makes you feel like you are one of those locals who come back time-and-again to slake their thirst over a Mulliner tale -- who insists, by the by, that they are all true and unexaggerated.

This volume collects the first nine Mulliner stories and was first published in 1927, P.G. Wodehouse's prime. I suppose that when reviewing any Wodehouse book that is not devoted to Bertie Wooster and his butler Jeeves, you need to add the disclaimer that these stories are "good but not as good as the Bertie and Jeeves stories." But in this case, I would say that the best of these Mulliner stories are the equal of the Bertie and Jeeves stories.

Mulliner is an apparently almost permanent resident of the Angler's Rest pub. He regularly regales his fellow imbibers were fantastic tales of the doings of his relatives. The two Buck-U-Uppo stories -- about an extraordinary elixir that revolutionizes the life of Mulliner's mild-mannered cousin Augustine -- and the Honesuckle Cottage story are among the best things that Wodehouse ever wrote. I imagine that the Mulliner stories must have been very popular in their day because in later years Wodehouse published several "Mulliner" stories that were actually Bobby Wickham or golf stories with a thin Mulliner introduction. In any event, if you are a Wodehouse fan, you will enjoy these stories. if you are new to Wodehouse, you are in for a treat.

Finally, I am a great fan of these Overlook Press reprints. They are sturdy hardcovers that are suitable for the multiple rereadings they are certain to get.

Unmistakebly Wodehouse, but not up to the standards of the Wooster, Psmith, or golf stories. With the exception of the supernatural (and quite remarkable) story Honeysuckle Cottage, it's all forgettable. Entertaining, but forgettable.