Not George Washington [Paperback]

P. G. Wodehouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1600962297 | ISBN-13: 978-1600962295

A semi-autobiographical novel from the master of comedic complications, Not George Washington is a humorous, fictionalized account of Wodehouse's early years as a journalist (he edited the "By The Way" column for the London Globe magazine from 1904 to 1909). Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

First published in England in 1907, Not George Washington never appeared here in any form until now. And with good reason. It's a dreadful novel, beginning with its odd title. Told through several narrative voices, it's a dreary tale of a young Londoner struggling to make his fortune as a writer so he can marry his true love. Anyone reading this clunker will find it hard to believe it was coauthored by the creator of such brilliant characters as Emsworth, Psmith, and Wooster. Its chief interest lies in its use of some of Wodehouse's own early publishing experiences. Frederick Davidson's reading is a heroic effort to pump life into the book, but the patient was already dead on its belated arrival in America. Recommended only to libraries whose patrons insist (and loudly) on listening to everything Wodehouse ever wrote (cf., Cocktail Time, Audio Reviews, LJ 4/15/97, or Psmith in the City, Audio Reviews, LJ 1/98).?R. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

Optimized for the MobiPocket Reader, this is a very special edition of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse's "Not George Washington An Autobiographical Novel." The text of the book is completely in English. If you click on one of the words in the text, a convenient pop-up window appears with a customized German thesaurus for that word, which includes a variety of German translations that come from Webster's Online Dictionary (www.websters-online-dictionary.org). Running throughout the text, uncommon English words are highlighted in blue that are likely to be found in examinations in English Language Programs (ELP), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programs, or in English as a Second Language Programs (ESL). The highlighted vocabulary words are also likely to be found in foreign service, translation certification, Advanced Placement- (AP-), TOEFL-, TOEIC-, SAT-, PSAT- , GMAT-, LSAT-, GRE-, or similar examinations. TOEFL-, TOEIC-, GRE-, AP- and Advanced Placement- are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service; PSAT- is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation; SAT- is a registered trademark of the College Board; GMAT- is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council; LSAT- is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council. All rights reserved. These organizations neither sponsored nor are affiliated with this product. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Waking Lion Press (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600962297
• ISBN-13: 978-1600962295
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,954,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wodehouse's worst book, September 7, 2006

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Yoyogod "Check out yoyogodreviews.blogspot.co... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not George Washington An Autobiographical Novel (Paperback)

Wodehouse's books are usually very funny. They're full of clever wordplay, convoluted plots, and and lovable characters. Not George Washington doesn't have any of that. I only laughed once while reading the thing, and that was in the next-to-last chapter. The wordplay is not even remotely clever, in fact it's almost non-existent. The plot is slightly convoluted, but nowhere up to the usual Wodehouse standards. Quite frankly, I almost hated the main character, James Cloyster, because he's boring and a scoundrel. Trying to marry one woman when you're engaged to another is not the sort of behavior one expects from a Wodehousian hero.

This really isn't a good book at all. At best it's painfully mediocre. I can only recommend it to Wodehouse enthusiasts who want to collect copies of all of his works. Everyone else should steer clear. I can only give "Not George Washington" 3 stars, and that's being generous.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Accents, March 4, 2007

By 

Heli "Bookwurm" (Amsterdam) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Not George Washington - an Autobiographical Novel (Paperback)

The book itself I would rate three stars, but this edition only gets one star. This is an amateuristic edition in which all French accents are scrambled. Espièglerie becomes espiglerie and pied-à-terre becomes pied-terre. The printer should look for an other job, like taxi driver.

Don't buy this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Art Imitates Life, January 10, 2012

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not George Washington (Paperback)

Though one tends to think of his school stories when thinking of early Wodehouse, he did on several occasions stretch himself, and often with much better results than what he achieved with the school stories. "Not George Washington" is a case in point. Billed as an autobiographical novel, this story is very humorous and one of his better early efforts, along with "Love Among the Chickens" and "William Tell Told Again". Published originally on October 18th, 1907 and co-written with Herbert Westbrook, Wodehouse uses his early career and some of his and Westbrook's doings as the framework for the story.

The story is cleverly written, as it moves from one narrator to the next. The narrative starts as from Miss Margaret Goodwin, a woman who becomes engaged to James Orlebar Cloyster (Wodehouse). They fall in love and are engaged to be married, but first he must succeed as a writer, and so he heads off to London and they are parted. Her narrative jumps ahead a few years as she is still waiting, but has written a play which she sends to her husband so that he can succeed.

In London, the narrative shifts to Cloyster and returns to the time of his initial arrival and attempts to become a writer. Cloyster soon becomes distracted by other aspects of life, and the story artfully weaves its way through his career events, his personal relationships, and the waning of his feelings for Miss Goodwin. Cloyster ends up hiding his success from Miss Goodwin by publishing his works through three different men.

The narrative next shifts to Sidney Price. Price is one of Cloyster's fronts who becomes aware that he is not the only one who is allowing Cloyster to publish using his name. He and the others decide they want a higher rate and confront Cloyster, but Cloyster has decided to marry another woman (the cousin of a friend) and cancels his arrangement with all three of the men. Price then sees works still being published under the other two men's names, and learns that they have decided that they can write as well as Cloyster, so Price also begins to write and publish under his own name.

The narrative then shifts to Julian Eversleigh (Westbrook) - the friend of Cloyster who is the cousin of Cloyster's new fiancé - and then back to Cloyster as the story twists and turns at the end in a marvelous display of Wodehouse at his best. The overall story is fairly strong, though not quite at the level of the second version of "Love Among the Chickens", it is still one of the best of Wodehouse's early works.