Love Among the Chickens (Paperback)

~ P. G. Wodehouse (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Written when he was 25, LOVE AMONG THE CHICKENS launched P.G. Wodehouse's career as a novelist and introduced the world to Uckridge, one of his most extraordinary inventions. Robert McCrum's introduction shows how this fascinating early book holds within it so many of the themes which Wodehouse was to make his own. This edition uses Wodehouse's 1920 revised edition of the 1906 original. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Pelham (Plum) Grenville Wodehouse was born in 1881 in Guildford. Having spent his early years in Hong Kong he was sent to Dulwich College and worked as a banker, journalist and Broadway lyricist before embarking on his remarkable career as a novelist. He became an American citizen in 1955 and died in Southampton, New York on February 14 1975. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish (July 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1404315659
• ISBN-13: 978-1404315655
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,700,242 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An early example of the author's style, December 17, 2003

By	Paul Donovan (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Love Among Chickens (Hardcover)

The original version of "Love among the chickens" was substantially revised by Wodehouse at the start of the 1920s, and it is the revised volume that has finally emerged from its long period out of print. The central character of Ukridge (remarkably, married by this stage) offers Wodehouse the ideal combination of farce and dialogue that has served him so well in the past. As ever, the plot is incidental to the overall enjoyment of the book.

The fact that Wodehouse revised the work after his comic style had emerged (moving away from the schoolboy tales of his early years) does come through on occasions. Every once in a while a piece of dialogue or a phrase will jar slightly - noticeable only because of the generally smooth text surrounding it. It does not damage the enjoyment of the book, but it does remind the reader of how accomplished Wodehouse became in the post war era by highlighting the evolution of his style.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Romantic Fun!, October 18, 2004

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Long before there were Jeeves and Gally, P.G. Wodehouse was writing excellent comic novels about the foibles of the English upper classes. A number of these novels were built around the humorous character of Ukridge, a sort of beautiful dreamer who wanders about above the fray of dealing with reality. I recently read a fine companion book about Mr. Wodehouse's novels and realized that I had missed some fine early examples. Love Among the Chickens beckoned to me and I'm glad it did.

It can be expensive to know Ukridge. He'll invite you out to dinner, discover he has no funds, borrow the funds from you and never pay you back. Needless to say, friends try to avoid him.

Jeremy Garnet, the striving novelist, has successfully avoided his old school chum for some time when bad luck causes Ukridge to find Garnet's address. Soon, Ukridge is found barreling through the door along with the new Mrs. Ukridge to invite Garnet to the shore to co found an entrepreneurial enterprise, a chicken farm. In Ukridge's eyes, this is a made-to-order money machine. You borrow some chickens, raise some of your own, return the original chickens and your bounty expands from there. Naturally, neither Ukridge nor Garnet have the slightest knowledge or experience about raising chickens to lay eggs.

On the way to the shore, Garnet sees a lovely young woman who's reading one of his novels. He's immediately smitten, and the complications begin. Without a Jeeves to help him, things go downhill rather rapidly . . . interspaced with modest rallies.

You will enjoy some of the most humorous views of a new chicken farm that you can imagine with this book. What makes it even more delightful is that the book's dedication to Bill Townsend in 1920 (to the second edition) makes it clear that the book has nonfiction roots in the real-life adventures of Bill's friend on his Devonshire chicken farm.

Like most Wodehouse novels, little time is wasted in building humor and romantic possibilities. Enjoy!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early Wodehouse Is Silly Fun, January 11, 2007

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

This review is from: Love Among the Chickens (Paperback)

Not his very best, but still very amusing. Title says all about the plot: boy meets girl among chickens, boy loses girl among chickens, boy wins girl among chickens. A quick read, under-plotted by Wodehouse's later standards.

NOTE: This, and all Wodehouse's early stuff (20 or 30 years' worth!), is available in its entirety online! For free!