Customer Reviews

Very Good, Jeeves!

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This collection of short stories from the Jeeves and Wooster series was first published in 1930. If the proof of classic status lies in how well a book stands the test of time, then this volume is indeed a classic. All eleven stories herein are excellently written and slyly humorous. Wodehouse once remarked that his stories were the opposite of "real world" stuff and in a way that is true, as his created world of Bertie Wooster and his butler Jeeves is in many ways a delightful fantasy. Having said that however, Wodehouse's comic situations and droll characterizations and observations reveal that he knew a lot about human nature. Like James Thurber his humorous fantasy is both an escape from and simultaneously an insight into human relationships and social situations.

One reviewer once remarked of this book's stories that "everyone was the best," and I'm tempted to agree, as all are worth reading and remembering. Perhaps my own favorite is "Jeeves and the Old School Chum" in which Wooster's former school mate newlywed Bingo Little suffers unmercifully from the ideas foisted on his romance novelist wife Rosie M. Banks' way of thinking regarding the pleasures of the dinner table, due to a visit from her "old school chum" Laura Pyke. Pyke is a "food crank" who (horrors) forces the rest of the household to abstain from cigarettes, alcohol, and most nourishment this side of tofu and bean sprouts for a time. Visiting Bertie suffers along with his buddy Bingo until such time as Jeeves can put things right. Along the way Bertie learns a little about the realities of marriage (the husband is master in his own home, unless the wife has an opposing viewpoint), the proper tactics for a male when intervening in an argument between two ladies (don't!, imitate the opossum and play dead), and how to bargain with a surly homeowner who has just gotten the baby to sleep (you'll have to read the story to find this one out).

A simply worded plot summary such as this can't even begin to come close however to conveying Wodehouse's command of the English language and his gift for humorous understatement. He has to be read to be truly appreciated. My own wish to anyone reading this review is for you to certainly find this volume or another one of the novels or short story collections in the series and give them a try. You won't be disappointed.

Also, if you haven't seen the PBS videos of the series starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry then I would strongly suggest checking them out. Several of the first season's episodes were inspired by the stories in this volume, and the series did an excellent job of conveying the warmth and humor of the stories to the screen. Watching them can only add to the pleasure of reading the stories. Still, reading Wodehouse is the best. I highly recommend him.

Previous: Carry On, Jeeves

The third and last short story collection, this volume contains some of the very best Jeeves and Bertie stories, again, stand-alone and unrelated. My favorite in this collection-and my favorite short story overall-is the brilliant Jeeves and the Impending Doom. Not only is the plot wonderfully eccentric, Jeeves manages to get in a very subtle jab at Bertie's intelligence which is particularly well-timed and memorable. Notable also is Jeeves and the Song of Songs, which is outright hilarious. And notable primarily for the irony of the story is The Love that Purifies, in which the kids vow to live upright lives, while the adults go out of their way to corrupt them into bad behavior. Memorable and hilarious stuff!

Next: Thank You, Jeeves

Any book from the Jeeves-and-Wooster series is a treasure, and this volume from well into the series is no exception. Bertie Wooster's world is one of elegance and pith, of high society and low comedy, of fun and foibles, homicidal swans, leaky water bottles and near death from starvation at the hands of a food faddist. Bertie is--how should one say this?--not the brightest jewel ever to have emerged from the British educational system and he relies on his gentleman's gentleman Jeeves, a butler with more than enough wit and savvy to save Bertie from the many scrapes he gets into. Jeeves usually has a knack for doing the "wrong" thing that turns out to be the right thing.

When these stories were written in the period between World Wars I and II they were social satires; now they are period pieces and must be considered as such. The wit is cracker-dry, especially some of the rejoinders emanating from Jeeves that can be read on two levels, one straight-faced and one slyly derisive of Master Bertie. We don't have the kind of finicky class distinctions outlined in these books (or so we are told), so perhaps the charm of this type of humor lies in the long view. Suffice it to say that Bertie and Jeeves are already staking a claim on immortality, and their books are selling as well as ever. If you like wit, funny situations, or just things British, pick up this book and give it a try.

"Very Good Jeeves" is the third book to be 'completely' dedicated to PG Wodehouse's famous duo - Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. The book, first published in 1930, is a collection of eleven short stories that had previously been published in Strand Magazine.

The book features Wodehouse's best known creations : Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. Bertie is the book's wealthy, good-natured and rather dim narrator. He's a member of the "idle rich" and, rather than having to work for a living, lives off an allowance provided by his uncle. He spends much of his time in the bar-room of the Drones Club, is fond of the occasional wager and has an appalling dress sense. Luckily, Bertie has Jeeves, to look after him. Without Jeeves, Bertie's life would be a mess : he makes an excellent hangover cure, his bets usually win and is intelligent enough to rescue Bertie from nearly any situation. He disapproves of Bertie's more garish items of clothing, and will - occasionally - take it upon himself to deal with the offending item.

Bertie's fearsome Aunt Agatha plays a small part in some of the stories, but the consequences tend to be immense. Agatha, who regularly takes it upon herself to decide what's best for Bertie, holds her dog, Macintosh, in higher esteem than her nephew. It's not only Bertie's life she interferes with, though. Te story I enjoyed most centred on Bertie's Uncle George - who'd been prevented from marrying the love of his life (a barmaid) by Agatha many years earlier. Now, George has set his sights on marrying a waitress - and Agatha, once again, has decided this must be stopped. Needless to say, she decides to drag Bertie into it.

Tuppy Glossop also turns up in a few stories - Tuppy and Bertie were at school together, though following a prank at the Drones Club, Bertie is in the mood for a spot of revenge. However, Bertie's cousin Angela is very taken with Tuppy and, when the course of true loves doesn't run running smooth, Aunt Dahlia drafts Bertie and Jeeves to help. Tuppy is also a nephew of Sir Roderick Glossop, who holds the view that Bertie is insane - largely thanks to Bingo Little, it has to be said. Unfortunately, Sir Roderick turns up again in this book, and Bertie doesn't do much to improve Sir Roderick's opinion of him. (Bingo, now married, also appears in a couple of stories).

There are also a couple of appearances for Bobbie Wickham. Where Bertie regularly finds himself accidentally engaged, Bobbie is - very unusually - someone Bertie actually wants to marry. However, Jeeves doesn't approve - while she is a little free-spirited and something of a practical joker, I'm not entirely sure Jeeves was being entirely altruistic in 'rescuing' Bertie from her womanly snares. (There's also a brief appearance of another girlfriend - an artist called Gwladys Pendlebury. In this case, Aunt Dahlia joins Jeeves in disapproving. Luckily, Bertie also has to deal with a rival by the name of Pim).

A very easy and enjoyable read, certainly recommended.

Ordered a book; received the exact book I ordered. Good shape, as advertised, prompt, well wrapped... . No Problem

By Jove! This is a wonderful Jeeves offering! No one is better then Wodehouse at putting words together! You will really laugh with this - and perhaps that is just what you need if you are reading this! Go ahead, enjoy!

And if you love Wodehouse, here is a very funny who-dun-it and Wodehouse's only mystery - its rare, so enjoy it too!

Death At The Excelsior: A British Humor Classic

Both very well recommend!

I am a huge Wodehouse fan--so much so that at last count I owned over thirty of his books.

This volume contains eleven excellent short stories:

Jeeves and the Impending Doom
The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy
Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit
Jeeves and the Song of Songs
Episode of the Dog McIntosh
The Spot of Art
Jeeves and the Kid Clementina
The Love That Purifies
Jeeves and the Old School Chum
Indian Summer of an Uncle
The Ordeal of Young Tuppy

In my opinion, no one does comic short stories better than P.G. Wodehouse; these are among his very best. Good-hearted Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, his gentleman's gentleman are winning pair, Plum's crowning achievement. The supporting cast of characters (Bingo Little, Tuppy Glossop, Roberta Wickham, Aunt Dahlia and the dreaded Aunt Agatha) are also memorable.

First published in 1930, there is a timeless quality to these tales. As much of the humour is based on human nature, modern audiences can relate--we all have interfering relatives and hapless friends. The situations Bertie finds himself in amusing and the dialog is full of carefully crafted zingers.

Many of these stories were adapted for Granada's Jeeves and Wooster series, available on DVD. Produced in the early 1990s, the show starred Hugh Laurie (House) and Stephen Fry, who did a superb job bringing the characters to life. The DVDs are an excellent introduction for the Wodehouse novice and a visit with old friends for those of us who already love Wodehouse's world.

Both book and DVDs are highly recommended.

While I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, I didn't generally find them terribly funny--though throughout it's always entertaining to hear Bertie Wooster's take on things--but there is at least one story, The Song of Songs, that is knock-down hilarious. I wouldn't want to give anyone too high expectations, but for days after reading the story I would think of it again and again, chuckling like an idiot. There's an ingenious situation, and Bertie's exchanges with Jeeves and his narration ("I commended my soul to God and went forth ...", "Well, they didn't rush the stage") are wildly funny. (That is, if you're into this sort of humor; if you don't like Song of Songs I doubt you'll like any Wodehouse.) Now I've read several of Wodehouse's novels, there are times when I'm not all that thrilled with the stuff, it seems almost formulaic, or clever but shy of brilliant, but Song of Songs is a masterpiece, than which it's hard for me to think of a funnier story or passage I've read anywhere.

BTW, among the Wodehouse I've read so far besides this, I guess I liked Code of the Woosters and some of the other Bertie-Jeeves stories best, did not like the Blandings, Psmith or Mulliner stories as much. If you're new to Wodehouse, I might recommend you first read one or two of the Bertie-Jeeves novels--my first was Code of the Woosters, which was great but has had the drawback that, so far anyway, few of his other works quite match that level of hilarity, at least for me.

This book was all right. It was a nice little break from The Master and Margarita, the book I had read before it. It is very light reading in every sense of the word. It's easy and the material is as fluffy as meringue. Basically you have the extremely well off gentleman of the early 20th century in England--Bertie Wooster--and his multitude of acquaintances who are constantly getting him into hijinks. His "genius" of a butler, Jeeves, always helps him out of these situations, which he often attempts to solve himself only to go crying out to Jeeves when nothing works out the way he thought it would.
Bertie Wooster often complains of his aunt Agatha. She deems him a crime on humanity, and to be totally honest, I would agree with her. All Bertie Wooster does is sit on his bum all day and have people wait and serve on him and think totally of himself. His problems are always just "problems". It's amazing that Wodehouse managed to fill as many pages with the storyline as he did. While it was nice to read about something completely not serious for a bit, it got old after awhile and found myself rolling my eyes. I really began to dislike Bertie simply because he isn't all that great of a person in that he is totally self-involved. He is probably also one of THE most sheltered characters ever. So, overall, I would say the book was all right for the reading of one story every so often, but all at once really makes me want to gag.