Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (Everyman Wodehouse)

published	2002 by Everyman's Library (UK)
binding	Hardcover
isbn	184159105X (isbn13: 9781841591056)
pages	240
description	Bertie Wooster's blissful bachelorhood is in dire peril: unless he can patch things up between Gussie Fink-Nottle and the horrifying Madeline Bassett,...more [close] Bertie Wooster's blissful bachelorhood is in dire peril: unless he can patch things up between Gussie Fink-Nottle and the horrifying Madeline Bassett, Bertie must wed the heiress of Totleigh Towers. Disaster looms as Gussie rebels against his new vegetarian diet, and a furtive supply of meat pies from a pretty cook lead him further astray. Only Jeeves can save Bertie from entombment at Totleigh, but Jeeves so strongly disapproves of his young master's new hat that Bertie may have to rely on his own wits for once. [close]
date added	12-18-06 edit book

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Trevor rated it:

05/06/08

This book was first published in the same month I was born. In fact, in the UK only two days before I was born, though five months earlier in the US – which surprised me somewhat. I really like the idea that there might have been someone quickly reading this over the weekend that I was born and laughing away cheerfully at it all. Yes, I like that idea very much.

Wooster is truly one of the great narrative voices in English Literature. There are moments when it is nearly dangerous to lis...more This book was first published in the same month I was born. In fact, in the UK only two days before I was born, though five months earlier in the US – which surprised me somewhat. I really like the idea that there might have been someone quickly reading this over the weekend that I was born and laughing away cheerfully at it all. Yes, I like that idea very much.

Wooster is truly one of the great narrative voices in English Literature. There are moments when it is nearly dangerous to listen to him as I drive. The man who reads them, a Jonathan Cecil, ought to have been given a K years ago. I’ve never heard a better reader for audio books in my life. His timing is immaculate and he brings the subtle (and not so subtle) humour of these books to the fore. He has Wooster’s slightly baffled and bewildered (if that is the word I’m looking for, it starts with a B anyway, whatever it is) voice to a T.

There are very clever jokes – like talking about Stinker’s left hook and how adroit it is (adroit being from the French for ‘to the right’). The plot is never as simple as you think it is going to be – I mean, you know how things are basically going to work out, but the moment you think you know what is going to happen next something totally unexpected occurs (often occasioned by Jeeves – who has a minor but essential role in all of these books) and generally it is something that has a very funny comment to make on – well, what it means to be human, I guess.

I really can’t rave about these books enough. I’ve finally tracked some more down in a secondhand bookshop, but they are as rare as hens’ teeth – which is hard to imagine, as the idea they should ever be out of print beggar’s belief. You would think someone would have thought of printing The Great Big Book of Jeeves and Wooster – or some such thing – I’d have bought a copy – I might even have bought a couple of copies. I’ve friends, they would read this stuff too, I’m quite sure.

There is a bit of this towards the end where Wooster is talking about a man who thinks he, that is Bertie, is a kleptomaniac and the man is an adventurer who is forever nipping off to the jungles of the Amazon and such places. Anyway, Bertie is forced to the conclusion that the native aboriginal peoples of Brazil really aren’t much chop – as they have had ample opportunity to kill this old fool and clearly have not availed themselves of the occasion as it has presented itself – and the punch-line is when he says something to the effect that, “And these natives have the audacity to call themselves savages”.

The other bit that made me laugh and laugh was where Bertie was being accused of plotting to steal an ornament and while being so accused is told to stop saying Oh! or Aye! (I understand that might not sound funny – but try it in context and it is close to the funniest thing I’ve ever heard) And of course the line about finding it difficult to continue a conversation when someone begins it by saying, “So!” – oh dear, sheer genius.

I think I’ve liked this one the most so far, although, I’ve liked all of them the most as they have gone along. They are a pure delight.
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Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (Everyman Wodehouse)

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