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A review by phileasfogg
Ring for Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
4.0
This is definitely the odd one out in the Jeeves series. It's narrated in the third person, and Jeeves isn't working for Bertie Wooster. This is because it's a novelisation of a stage play, and Wodehouse had decided not to include Bertie in the play.
It takes a little getting used to. Jeeves seems quite a different character: word-pictures about him shimmie-ing about, and about how intense emotion is revealed when one corner of his mouth lifts barely perceptibly, won't create a character on stage. So this Jeeves yaks yaks yaks. He must speak more in this book than in the entire rest of the series.
Also, he's a butler. No doubt this was a concession to the theatre-going public, many of whom probably thought Jeeves was always a butler. It saves a tedious explanation. And as I'm sure someone said somewhere: though Jeeves is a valet, or gentleman's personal gentleman, when required he can buttle with the best of them.
The humour is pretty broad, more so than in Wodehouse's other novels. There's even a character who is actually trying to be funny. It was probably all in the delivery... But the requirements of the stage are of course very different than the requirements of a novel, especially a Wodehouse novel, where the funniest lines are always the narrator's.
One of the odder lapses is that Jeeves is aged. I've always been fascinated by the way cover artists often picture Jeeves as a much older man. Bertie often refers to himself as 'the young master', but surely with a twinkle in his eye as he types. I've always imagined Jeeves was only a few years older than Bertie; perhaps about thirty. This may be because of that early story where Jeeves has several girlfriends. Or the other early story where Jeeves comes up with a cunning plan in which someone pays him to visit night clubs every night. But in this book, which is clearly set in the early 1950s, Jeeves is asked if he was in World War One, and he replies that he 'dabbled' in it. Suddenly he's at least 50! I choose to ignore.
Despite all this, I was won over and found myself enjoying the book, though not as much as Wodehouse's best.
It takes a little getting used to. Jeeves seems quite a different character: word-pictures about him shimmie-ing about, and about how intense emotion is revealed when one corner of his mouth lifts barely perceptibly, won't create a character on stage. So this Jeeves yaks yaks yaks. He must speak more in this book than in the entire rest of the series.
Also, he's a butler. No doubt this was a concession to the theatre-going public, many of whom probably thought Jeeves was always a butler. It saves a tedious explanation. And as I'm sure someone said somewhere: though Jeeves is a valet, or gentleman's personal gentleman, when required he can buttle with the best of them.
The humour is pretty broad, more so than in Wodehouse's other novels. There's even a character who is actually trying to be funny. It was probably all in the delivery... But the requirements of the stage are of course very different than the requirements of a novel, especially a Wodehouse novel, where the funniest lines are always the narrator's.
One of the odder lapses is that Jeeves is aged. I've always been fascinated by the way cover artists often picture Jeeves as a much older man. Bertie often refers to himself as 'the young master', but surely with a twinkle in his eye as he types. I've always imagined Jeeves was only a few years older than Bertie; perhaps about thirty. This may be because of that early story where Jeeves has several girlfriends. Or the other early story where Jeeves comes up with a cunning plan in which someone pays him to visit night clubs every night. But in this book, which is clearly set in the early 1950s, Jeeves is asked if he was in World War One, and he replies that he 'dabbled' in it. Suddenly he's at least 50! I choose to ignore.
Despite all this, I was won over and found myself enjoying the book, though not as much as Wodehouse's best.