Mike at Wrykyn [Paperback]

P.G. Wodehouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

A delightful romp through the early career of Mike, a talented sportsman. The evocation of public school life and the codes of honor belonging to school, family, and the game are conveyed with all Wodehouse's customary wit and brilliance.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Released as a single volume in 1909, the first two of this trio follow the misadventures of young cricket ace Mike Jackson and his chum at school. Published a little later in Wodehouse's career (1928), Money for Nothing serves up a Romeo and Juliet-like tale of the romance between the offspring of two feuding buffoons. Typical Wodehouse British farces.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

PG Wodehouse was born on the 15th October 1881 in Guildford, Surrey, England He was educated at Dulwich College between 1894 & 1900, and in 1900 he entered the employ of the Hong Kong & Shanghai bank at GBP80 per year. He began writing articles for various newspapers & periodicals In 1902 he resigned from the bank, and in the same year his 1st novel The Pothunters was published. 'Plum' then wrote many highly successful novels as well as musicals, and in 1929 he signed a contract to work as a screenwriter in Hollywood After several years in Britain, he moved back to to the USA permanently. In 1974 his last complete novel Aunts aren't Gentlemen was published, and in 1975 he was knighted by the Queen. On the 14th Feb 1975 Plum died in hospital "after a good morning's work on his latest novel" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140124543
• ISBN-13: 978-0140124545
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,841,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wodehouse revving up, January 18, 2004

By 

Robin Wolfson "Reliza" (Cameron Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mike at Wrykyn (Paperback)

"Mike at Wrykyn" is an early (1909) Wodehouse, written when he was just 28. It's the obligatory "school" novel for beginning novelists and gives hints of the incredible explosion of humor to come. Already we have the trivia of the everyday couched in terms of heroic epics ("Prefects must stand together or chaos will come.") and Wodehouse's fascination with the various manifestations of stupidity ("You haven't got a mind. You've got a cheap brown paper substitute."), and, of course, the wonderfully civilized responses to outrage ("The school's attitude can be summed up in three words. It was one vast, blank, astounded 'Here, I say.'" with emphasis on "say.")

This is Wodehouse flexing his muscles and doing, as he would say, his daily dozen prefatory to settling down to his real masterpieces, and it's most interesting in this light. Thankfully, he gave up novels about cricket in favor of novels about golf, a more easily parodied game. Wodehouse's love of the ridiculous languages of love and sports is only hinted at here, and the cricket passages are probably amusing only to cricket fans.

Still, "Mike at Wrykyn" is a must for any true Wodehouse enthusiast. And besides, it contains the following:

"There are situations in life which are beyond one. The sensible man realizes this, and slides out of such situations, admitting himself beaten. Others try to grapple with them, but it never does any good. When affairs get into a real tangle, it is best to sit still and let them straighten themselves out. Or, if one does not do that, simply to think no more about them. This is Philosophy."

Ah, yes. . .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early Wodehouse Packed with Fun (especially for cricketers), September 14, 2005

By 

Chris Ward (Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mike at Wrykyn (Collected Works of P.G. Wodehouse) (Library Binding)

This "boys' book" by P.G. Wodehouse is very good, but mostly as an introduction of young Mike Jackson, later to be Rupert Psmith's comrade in "Mike and Psmith" and others. So: read this and then head directly into "Mike and Psmith," which is a five-starrer sequel and the beginning of a number of amusing books about the two ("Psmith in the City," "Psmith, Journalist," etc.). As usual, anything by Wodehouse is laugh-out-loud funny, and if you know anything about cricket you'll like it even better-- Mike eats, sleeps and breathes cricket as only an adolescent schoolboy at the turn of the century can.

*Note: This book and "Mike and Psmith" and other Psmiths are available in their entirety online.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars School life with Wodehouse - what more could one ask?, March 27, 2000

By 

Sandhya Sriraman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mike at Wrykyn (Paperback)

The travails of Mike having to go to Wrykyn and being shadowed by his brother, his desperate attempts to be in the cricket team - how he still manfully gives up his position in the team for his brother, and the usual everyday routine of an English school - only with Wodehouse, nothing is ever usual. A dog painted red, and shortge of money, and then the best - Mike winning a place on the cricket team after all! Plum has made school fun, he has made it endurable and enduring.....What more could one ask?