Customer Reviews

Mike at Wrykyn

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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. . .

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.

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?

One of Wodehouse's earliest novels, though not the first, Mike at Wrykyn is the first of the 'Mike at school' novels. This novel details Mike Jackson's experiences at the public school Wrykyn, paying especially attention to the sport cricket. Not only do we get scenes of Mike in action but we are also treated to the inner politics of how team members are chosen or excluded. This novel is filled with interesting personalities, whether they are members of Mike's family or whether they are the boys at Mike's school.

It is easy to overlook this book because it is one of his earliest novels. Wodehouse did not begin to hit his wacky stride until about six years later (when he published Something Fresh), but there are plenty of things in this book worth reading. I especially liked the way Mike's brother Bob is drawn. He actually comes across as more realistic than most of Wodehouse's creations. Also, there is a lot humor in the book. Not farce, but humor. The scene with the constable and the pond is a high point in the story and should make a person smile for many weeks to come.

Even in this early work, we can see many touches of the genius that would completely blossom in Wodehouse's books of the 20s and 30s. He is such a smooth writer and master of dialogue that Mike at Wrykyn comes across as a very pleasant, almost pastoral experience. And besides, anyone that can make cricket sound even half as interesting as it does in this novel can't be all bad. Don't forget to try Mike and Psmith after this book, as it picks up where this book leaves off.

....

...I picked up the novel most referenced by Orwell, "Mike at Wrykyn." I guess this edition is actually half of the original novel of the same name, now spun into "Mike at Wrykyn" and "Psmith."

....

"Mike" reads like a sepia-toned literate Hardy Boys novel. More atmosphere than substance, obsessions with cricket and afternoon tea draw more discussion than tuition, grades or politics.

In defending Wodehous, Orwell noted that Wodehouse's work is almost completely apolitical, and it certainly seems that way to me.

Wodehouse paints a world where every scene is an established set; nothing is in transition. Mike leaves for school and suddenly he is at school, he does not miss home, have trouble adjusting or even discuss his parents.

In the end this is a charming tale of two brothers, both anxious to make the "A" cricket team. Mike must make a decision between his ambition and his brother's fading cricket career at Wrykyn.

This book reads faster than a sitcom, and paints a picture of a clubby little school where details are forgotten and tea and biscuits mysteriously appear by way of nameless staff.

This is anglophillic escapism at its charming best.

This is the forerunner to all those glorious Psmith books. Psmith isn't in this book; it's about the early school experiences of his pal Mike in the days before they met. While it's funny in places, it's by no means up to Wodehouse's usual standard. Possibly for it's target audience (young English boys) it works well, I'm in no position to say. Given the very large number of books by Wodehouse that are superb, there seems not much reason to bother with this one.