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A review by barrypierce
Joy in the Morning: by P.G. Wodehouse
2.0
P.G. Wodehouse was one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century. The jacket of my copy of Joy in the Morning (1946) states that he wrote ‘more than ninety novels and some three hundred short stories’. Joy in the Morning features Wodehouse’s most popular creations, Jeeves and Wooster. I’m always apprehensive about comic novels. Many of them have dated horribly and some lampoon tropes that haven’t existed for decades. Jeeves and Wooster seems to have a timeless quality to them however. This is one of the reasons why Wodehouse is as popular today as he was during his heyday. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the word-play, the farce, and the utter ridiculousness of it all, I did have some reservations about Joy in the Morning.
Here I present my opinion on Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is an intense character to read. I can only stay with him for a couple pages at a time before I wander off. For me, the Holmes novels don’t work. There’s too many pages and not enough content to keep me entertained. This is why I think the Holmes short stories are far superior, there’s no room for unnecessities or exposition. Jeeves and Wooster fell into this as well. Whilst the novel is a comic romp, it also hits the three-hundred page mark. Some people may never want Wodehouse novels to end but for me it ran out of stream in the middle. I felt that things were happening purely to aid a joke and not the plot. This may have only been a problem with Joy in the Morning however. All the other Wodehouses (Wodehomes?) may be perfectly balanced comic masterpieces. I don’t know. But I will try more because I’ve got a veritable lake of novels to choose from. And of course there isn’t just Jeeves and Wooster. There’s Psmith, there’s the Blandings novels, there’s Ukridge and so, so many more.
Here I present my opinion on Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is an intense character to read. I can only stay with him for a couple pages at a time before I wander off. For me, the Holmes novels don’t work. There’s too many pages and not enough content to keep me entertained. This is why I think the Holmes short stories are far superior, there’s no room for unnecessities or exposition. Jeeves and Wooster fell into this as well. Whilst the novel is a comic romp, it also hits the three-hundred page mark. Some people may never want Wodehouse novels to end but for me it ran out of stream in the middle. I felt that things were happening purely to aid a joke and not the plot. This may have only been a problem with Joy in the Morning however. All the other Wodehouses (Wodehomes?) may be perfectly balanced comic masterpieces. I don’t know. But I will try more because I’ve got a veritable lake of novels to choose from. And of course there isn’t just Jeeves and Wooster. There’s Psmith, there’s the Blandings novels, there’s Ukridge and so, so many more.