Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
13th out of 52 books
—
57 voters
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (Jeeves #13)
Bertie Wooster vows that nothing will induce him to return to Totleigh Towers, lair of former magistrate Sir Watkyn Bassett. Apart from Sir Watkyn himself, the place is infested with his ghastly daughter Madeline and her admirer, would-be dictator Roderick Spode. But when his old friend 'Stinker' Pinker asks for Bertie's help, there is nothing for it but to buckle down and...more
Hardcover, 211 pages
Published
December 17th 2002
by Everyman's Library
(first published 1963)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
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...more
Wooster is truly one of the great narrative voices in English Literature. There are moments when it is nearly dangerous to listen to him...more
Feb 17, 2009
Liz
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those who want to laugh.
Shelves:
reviewed
Bertie and Jeeves are at it again, getting into more hilarious scrapes as their saga continues. This time, Bertie is forced to return to the dreaded Totleigh Towers, home of the severe magistrate Sir Watkyn Bassett (who is convinced that Bertie is a no-good thief), and his fluff-headed daughter, Madeline (who goes on about fairies and elves and sunsets to anyone who will listen). Only the most dire of circumstances could have lured Bertie back into this nest of vipers, but for the sake of preser...more
Wodehouse, P. G. STIFF UPPER LIP, JEEVES. (1963). ***. In this installment, Bertie Wooster, the feather-brained master of malapropism, complicates his life by interceding with the predatory Madeline Bassett on behalf of his friend Gussie Fink-Nottle and finds himself entangled in terrifying misunderstandings. All of these misadventures take place at Totleigh Towers, owned by Sir Watkyn Bassett, a retired prosecuting judge with whom Bertie has had run-ins before. Bertie was once sentenced by Sir...more
Pelham Grenville Wodehouse era una persona inguaribilmente ottimista e con uno spiccato "Sense of Humour". Questa sua indole, però, gli ha causato spesso un mare di guai, dovuto anche al fatto che il suo fine umorismo non era capito da tutti.
Il numero infinito di opere da lui composte sono lo specchio fedele dell'animo di questo autore e "Teniamo duro, Jeeves" non fa eccezione. Il libro in questione è il classico romanzo umoristico "alla Wodehouse", con un' ambientazione tipicamente inglese nel...more
Il numero infinito di opere da lui composte sono lo specchio fedele dell'animo di questo autore e "Teniamo duro, Jeeves" non fa eccezione. Il libro in questione è il classico romanzo umoristico "alla Wodehouse", con un' ambientazione tipicamente inglese nel...more
The first I've read of the Jeeves franchise. I read a book in another flavor of Wodehouse a couple years back (or maybe two books I've since run together in my head?) that I liked well enough; but this one not so much. The irony works better in third person, I think. Wodehouse does pretty well at giving one a picture of Wooster at a distance from Wooster's own narration, but it's a bit in and out; the distance isn't consistent.
Interesting for its picture of Britain at a certain time; Wooster's w...more
Interesting for its picture of Britain at a certain time; Wooster's w...more
Not flawless. Too much repetition. Became tedious towards the end, Wodehouse's favored idioms became a little worn. But I blame that on me having too much of a good thing, not on Wodehouse wearing thin, as he's the only writer to curl my mouth in a LOL-shape with the same rapidity of a yodeler doing their exercises. I felt like one of those eternal repeat music videos bored teenagers put on Youtube to pass their time between eating cereal and having their mothers make their beds for them. I blam...more
This book is amazing - much like its author, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse - it is definitely one of the funniest books I have read. The language was incredible! When I was about a chapter into the book, I began to think that I might have already read it - that is how interchangeable P.G. Wodehouse's tales are, but he more than makes up for this with his wit and wisdom. There was a paragraph in the last chapter, in which Wooster is asked by Jeeves to dispose of his Alpine hat after exercising his i...more
I think I read more comics in the last couple weeks than I’ve read in more than ten years.
That’s it for a while. I promise.
Instead I get to talk about the antics of Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman Jeeves.
Wodehouse does not vary a great deal from book to book, he has a formula and he sticks to it. The brilliant thing is that his formula works extraordinarily well.
It goes like this. Wooster, a man of very little brain, gets caught up in the scheming of friends and relations and Jeeves...more
That’s it for a while. I promise.
Instead I get to talk about the antics of Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman Jeeves.
Wodehouse does not vary a great deal from book to book, he has a formula and he sticks to it. The brilliant thing is that his formula works extraordinarily well.
It goes like this. Wooster, a man of very little brain, gets caught up in the scheming of friends and relations and Jeeves...more
A satisfactory read - but... "Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" is consistently funny, and actually moves along the plots of the wealth of recurring characters. However, it feels a little bit like we're on autopilot. Nothing is quite as outrageous as in the earlier novels, and indeed often chapters will end with situations being salvaged rather than worsened! That's not to say that Wodehouse is straying from the formula: instead he's using the regular 'Jeeves' formula but seems to have removed some of th...more
P.G. Wodehouse's books, especially those featuring Bertie Wooster and his man servant Jeeves, are such a tonic and are just so darn funny, words fail me. This romp includes the usual incredibly clever and witty ridiculousness, splendidly narrated by Jonathan Cecil. His voices for each character are amazing - to us 'mericans, that's part of the fun - with the exception of the spoken voice of the one American (minor) character - the American accent fails Mr. Cecil, but this is a tiny nuisance. IMO...more
Have you ever read something so funny that you fell of the couch and sucked dust bunnies into your lungs? No? You've never read Wodehouse.
Bertie Wooster has another adventure at Totleigh Towers with Sir Watkyn and Madeline Bassett, the dictator Roderick Spode, the newt-loving Gussie Fink-Nottle, and the other characters from the area. Bertie runs afoul of Sir Watkyn Bassett and Spode who once again suspect him of attempted theft. The other characters each face crises in which Bertie becomes entangled at the expense of his already tarnished reputation with Sir Watkyn Bassett ultimately landing Bertie in jail. Jeeves works his magic...more
Because it's British humor & I'm not familiar with a lot of it, it was hard to fully enjoy, but I could tell it was witty & I would have liked it more if I got the expressions. The characters names were a bit confusing & I disliked how he kept abbreviating words by just their first letter, which made it impossible for me figure out what the word was. I wasn't THAT impressed for most of the book, & thought I wouldn't read another. After all, the English humor/wittiness is 90% of w...more
Eigentlich hatte sich Bertie Wooster nach der Affäre mit dem silver cow creamer (The Code of the Woosters) geschworen nie, nie wieder nach Totleigh Towers zurückzukehren. Nun jedoch haben sich Berties Freund Gussie Fink-Nottle und seine Verlobte Madeline Bassett verkracht, weil sie Gussie zum Zwangsvegetarier gemacht hat, was seine Laune nachhaltig verschlechtert hat. Er kann Madeline nicht mehr ertragen. Wenn sich die beiden aber nicht versöhnen, wird Madeline sich wieder an Bertie ranschmeißen...more
‘Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves’ carries on the saga starting with ‘Right Ho, Jeeves’ and continuing through ‘The Code of the Woosters’, ‘The Mating Season’ and ‘Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit’. The same cast of characters are reassembled at TotleighTowers the ancestral home of Sir Watkyn Bassett father of Madeline Basset whom is yet again estranged to her fiancé Gussie Fink-Nottle. Once the engagement is under the cosh, Bertie and Jeeves are summand to restore the larch to the thorn and God to the heave...more
I read about two Wodehouse books a year, and whenever I'm reading them, I wonder why I don't just sit down and read through everything he's written in about a week. Reading Wodehouse is an act of such unmitigated pleasure. Consider the high wire act of the following sentences: "There was plenty and to spare of the Rev. H.P. Pinker. Even as a boy, I imagine, he must have burst seams and broken try-your-weight machines, and grown to man's estate he might have been Roderick Spode's twin brother. Pu...more
view 2 comments
P. G. Wodehouse is hysterical, and his Jeeves & Wooster stories are the creme de la creme. When Douglas Wilson and Christopher Hitchens debated one another, they mentioned their one area of common ground: their love of Wodehouse, at which point they started quoting lines from his works.
This novel finds Wooster trying to stave off marriage to Madeleine Bassett, and to do so he must revisit Totleigh Towers. There are more twists and turns in this story than any 3 roller coasters put together.
This novel finds Wooster trying to stave off marriage to Madeleine Bassett, and to do so he must revisit Totleigh Towers. There are more twists and turns in this story than any 3 roller coasters put together.
I've been meaning to sample Wodehouse for some time. Wandering through a bookstore in TO last week, I randomly selected this title.
The setup - rich "leisure class" gentleman and his "gentleman's gentleman" (butler). Everyone's heard of the iconic Jeeves and Wodehouse's character defines the type...cool and ever able to get his gentleman out of a jam.
The story is told from the perspective of the gentleman, Bertie Wooster, and follows one amusing difficulty after another. Enjoyable light reading.
The setup - rich "leisure class" gentleman and his "gentleman's gentleman" (butler). Everyone's heard of the iconic Jeeves and Wodehouse's character defines the type...cool and ever able to get his gentleman out of a jam.
The story is told from the perspective of the gentleman, Bertie Wooster, and follows one amusing difficulty after another. Enjoyable light reading.
I hadn't read a Jeeves book in a year or so when I got this one at the library, and good God, I forgot how much I loved them. It's just so cheerful and funny, and though I wouldn't reccomend reading as your first Jeeves book (it has so many characters that you need to have known from previous books, or at the very least, the TV show) and, like some of the latter books, it's a little formulaic, you don't really find yourself caring about that, because the book is just so much fun and entertaining...more
The writing in this book is top-notch. I'd heard that Wodehouse labored over every phrase and that he was a master of the English language. I give my endorsement to his abilities. Like many books, the writing started out fun and interesting. And unlike most books, the writing stayed that way across every page to the end. There was so much originality to the language. I was frequently chuckling and occasionally hooting with laughter. One gets the sense that Wodehouse simply adored writing in Bert...more
Dec 17, 2008
Tamra
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to laugh
Recommended to Tamra by:
James Herriot
Shelves:
own-currently
HILARIOUS. This is all you really need know. However, I have written more if you wish to read more.
I just finished reading this as book 1 of 3 in The Jeeves Omnibus. I didn't know Wodehouse existed until I read that it was James Herriot's favorite book, and now I'm wondering why everyone in the world doesn't know about Wodehouse and Jeeves! Hilarious literature. And it is literature. It's very clever and well written. Some books that are funny aren't good lit as well, but Wodehouse pulls off bot...more
I just finished reading this as book 1 of 3 in The Jeeves Omnibus. I didn't know Wodehouse existed until I read that it was James Herriot's favorite book, and now I'm wondering why everyone in the world doesn't know about Wodehouse and Jeeves! Hilarious literature. And it is literature. It's very clever and well written. Some books that are funny aren't good lit as well, but Wodehouse pulls off bot...more
Coming to this from the unnatural language flow and plodding pace of the Millenium trilogy, it hit me just how fast Wodehouse works his sentences and how much concentration (comparatively) is required to pick up and enjoy the almost non-stop wordplay. I've never heard vegetarianism or Aberdeen terriers described more hilariously.
Tophole!
The very first line shows how brilliant PG is with language: 'I marmaladed a slide of toast with something of a flourish'.
Why don't we marmalade toast? We butter it, after all. And the choice of marmalade rather than jam, chocolate spread or Marmite. So British, so redolent of weekend breakfasts and holidays, so perfect in every way.
Lie down, relax, let yourself go into the hands of the master...
Cracking plot as well.
The very first line shows how brilliant PG is with language: 'I marmaladed a slide of toast with something of a flourish'.
Why don't we marmalade toast? We butter it, after all. And the choice of marmalade rather than jam, chocolate spread or Marmite. So British, so redolent of weekend breakfasts and holidays, so perfect in every way.
Lie down, relax, let yourself go into the hands of the master...
Cracking plot as well.
"I marmaladed a slice of toast with something of a flourish, and I don't suppose I have ever come much closer to saying "Tra-la-la" as I did the lathering, for I was feeling in mid-season form this morning. God, as I heard Jeeves put it, was in His heaven and all right with the world. (He added, I remember, some guff about larks and snails, but that is a side issue and need not detain us."
-- P.G. Wodehouse
-- P.G. Wodehouse
A refreshing dip into the world of Jeeves and Wooster is a welcome relief from any newer book where you don't know what you'll get. Here there are always gentlemen, civility, visits to country houses, antics, plans, and marriage to someone or other to be gotten out of. Bertie's stay at Totley Towers is filled with Stiffy's outrage over an amber statuette, Stinker Pinker's quest for a vicarage, and Gussy's forced vegetarianism.
P.G. Wodehouse is a truly hilarious British author! I'm a new convert. My husband has been telling me to read his stuff for years, but I was strangely resistant. Now I need to go out and read all his stuff (luckily my husband owns most of his collection already!) I just love his dry humor. His character Bertie Wooster is so funny because he is narrating his own life and can't see what a cad he is, but of course we all can.
Quite amusing and dearly enjoyable, but it suffers in comparison to The Code of the Woosters. As much as I loved the idea of a return to Totleigh Towers (cue horror music), I didn't find the execution as hilarious as I've oft encountered in other Wodehouse books. The prose, however, was in top form.
The family enjoyed this one, but it was not as funny as The Crime Wave at Blandings. But that doesn't have Jeeves or Bertie, and this has both in fine fettle. Some of what Wodehouse finds funny does nothing for me-- such as abbreviating random words with a single letter-- but there is still plenty to make me smile. The children followed the plot pretty well, and got the humor, but one book is enough for now. We moved on to the Prisoner of Zenda, and Jonny immediately remarked that it was nice to...more
Bertie Wooster returns again to the dreaded Totleigh Towers - the setting for what he generally calls the Cow creamer incident - once again, in an attempt to heal the threatening rift between Gussie Fink-Nottle and Madeline Bassett.
While perhaps not the best of the Jeeves books (they do tend to get a bit 'samey' after a while), this still manages to raise a few wry chuckles here and there
While perhaps not the best of the Jeeves books (they do tend to get a bit 'samey' after a while), this still manages to raise a few wry chuckles here and there
Feb 08, 2011
Andy Harmon
added it
I picked up Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by Wodehouse after reading Jonathan Ames.. Throughout Jonathan Ames stories he brings up Wodehouse and I figured that since I really enjoyed Ames, I would probably enjoy Wodehouse.. This was false!! I read 50% of this book and gave up. Wodehouse is a light and fluffy writer--take Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames and take away all the mischief and the entertaining story lines and boom--you have Wodehouse. That's all I got anyways, I wouldn't recommend this book...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricochet Book Club: My Book of the Week: Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves | 3 | 12 | Jan 27, 2013 03:52pm |
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 30 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class so...more
More about P.G. Wodehouse...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
