Where Jeeves Saves Bertie From Some Foolishness or Other

The World of Jeeves: by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first collection of short stories about Jeeves & Wooster. The stories were selected by the author in 1931 and published again in 1967, and the earliest of the stories would be over 100 years old now.

I enjoyed these well enough. There is (as many note) a sameness to the stories, a repeated pattern with plot and conflict, which is part of their charm in small doses and deadly in larger doses, but it's the language that amuses most in any case. Well, IMO. I'm sure others enjoy the almost slapstick nature of some of the exploits, but I liked the silly wordplay and dialogue.

I like Aunt Dahlia (the aunt he likes, and who likes him) telling him how helplessly foolish he is (ivory from the neck up--comments of that sort) while he refers to her as "aged relative." It's funny when he repeats some Shakespeare that Jeeves has quoted him without having a clue where it comes from. Bertie's frustrations and privileged view of life and intolerance for small inconveniences are amusing, in a way, especially when he complains and it sounds super petty but he makes a huge deal out of it in his posh, rather idiomatic way. "Dash it all!" and "Jeeves, this is a bit thick!" followed by a diatribe against children or country girls or dogs.

I suppose some of author's point is to skewer the pointlessly rich. Clearly, men like Bertie Wooster need something to fill their time, because the nonsense he could fill his days with was annoying--betting on everything one could imagine, plotting ridiculous practical jokes, constructing absurd lies and hoaxes to get out of difficulties, drinking and overeating like it was a part-time job--but we're still supposed to be sympathetic to him. And I am. He's not a bad sort, but I'd hate to hang out with him, or most of his friends. His uselessness is part of the humor, I guess.

Jeeves, of course, is the hero, though he's also judgmental and manipulative. I'm not sure how much of that the author intended us to overlook. It is comedy, after all. But almost every idea Jeeves has works out, like he's Sherlock Holmes to the spoiled leisure class. He's still funny, though he never jokes; his dry responses are probably the best part of the book.

Part of the reason to read this, for me, was to become somewhat familiar with a name I'd heard frequently over the years. That accomplished, I'm not sure there's enough fun in the stories to draw me back. I hear he has other characters that might please more, so maybe I'll think about trying one of them in the future. 50/50 that happens. Maybe 40/60.

I'll let you know.

Recommended, anyway, for those who haven't read Wodehouse before and maybe would enjoy comedic writing. One might check it out at the library, though, first time. If you like it, there's a ton more....

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