The Adventures of Sally

by P.G. Wodehouse

When Sally Nicholas became an heiress, she had to cope her brother's wild theatrical ambitions and the defection of her fiance, his replacement being a strangely unattractive suitor. A trip to England only made things worse, but then a piece of speculation might just offer a happy ending.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Classics, Audiobook, Romance, Comedy, British Literature

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

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 40 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 society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[Shala Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Effortlessly funny. I've noticed other reviewers panning Wodehouse for failing to provide sufficiently deep characterization or plots with substance. To me, that misses the point. Wodehouse revels in language. The things that man can do to a cliché! I read Wodehouse to remember how much fun it can be to string words together and I was not disappointed.

[Amy Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to try P.G. Wodehouse because references to him started cropping up around me and also there's a set of really cool hardcover editions in my local book store (Book Soup). What I surmised is that he wrote the kind of novel that might have been made into one of those witty romantic comedies from the forties that I love. Also he's well known for a series involving a butler named Jeeves.

I downloaded something like "The Novels of P.G. Wodehouse" on my kindle but through some fluke the free sample lasted one full novel and that novel was the Adventures of Sally. Sally has nothing to do with Jeeves, but she ended up making me a confirmed fan of Wodehouse.

He's light and I think all his work is probably similar in that it can be described as comic. Also, after I finished this I found an edition of collected selections of P.G. Wodehouse which was edited by Ogden Nash, one of my favorite humorous poets. Nash's introduction reads "P.G. Wodehouse needs no introduction." Why didn't I live when I could have a conversation with these characters? Or just sit around a coffeeshop while they talked to each other? Next time someone asks me which person, living or dead I would invite to dinner, it's a toss-up between P.G. and Ogden - and maybe Truman Capote because you just KNOW he had dirt that he hadn't even begun to dish...but I digress.

Wodehouse's humor, like Jane Austen's, rests in the characters he creates and his wry observations about the society that contains and supports their unique absurdity. These flawed human beings then exhibit a natural tendency to create misery for themselves, at which point Wodehouse steps in and sets them back to rights again.

It's as though Edith Wharton came back to life in a cheerful reincarnation and wanted all her characters to have a good laugh and get on with life instead of letting their miserable lives illustrate the tragic weakness of human beings and the cruelty of cliques. Except of course Wodehouse doesn't describe his characters in nearly the loving detail that Wharton lavishes on hers. It's really easy to see how they could be adapted to screenplays, though.

Because I am the kind of person who likes romance, comedy and especially the kind that contains clever observations on human nature, I'm hooked. I'm happy that Wodehouse has so many novels for me to discover and he is definitely a new favorite.

SIDE NOTE: all my reading this month has linked itself to each other...in That Old Cape Magic the father character sneaks off from the University where he is an English professor to read Wodehouse on the beach at the Cape unmolested by snobbery...

[Autumn Doughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of language and you haven't read P.G. Wodehouse before, do yourself a favor and get one of his books as soon as you can. You can thank me later.
In my opinion, this man was a marvel of witty word play and comic descriptions. I have spent the weekend in my reading chair thoroughly delighted by him. It's invigorating really.

Here are just a few quotes from The Adventures of Sally:

"The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun."

"Has anybody ever seen a drama critic in the daytime? Of course not. They come out after dark, up to no good."

"He trusted neither of them as far as he could spit, and he was a poor spitter, lacking both distance and control."

Have I mentioned that the Kindle editions are free since it's public domain? I can't wait to start the jeeves series.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my new Wodehouse favorites - and I should probably refrain from saying such a thing, since I may end up with so many Wodehouse 'favorites' that I'll have a hard time telling them apart. 

But, in this case, I do have a main reason for saying so. I'm discovering that there can be an element in the earlier Wodehouse works that sets them apart from the latter ones. ~by that I refer mainly to any of the 'series' novels. 

By the time P.G. branched out into books that would lend themselves to sequels, he sort of fell into a pattern. I don't so much mean a pattern of repetition - since, through his fluid language, he still brings a freshness to sequels -  but a pattern nevertheless of a certain familiarity, stemming from established groups of people with set, unchanging characteristics. 

We become comfortable with the series characters in a way that makes added development less important than farcical situations (which, admittedly, can have a certain sameness, even though they still 'work'). 

I've now read 5 or 6 of the early-career novels - and they have a clear focus on depth of character. From what I can tell, these are people who, seemingly, are not going to end up as 'series characters'; we're not likely to come across them again in later books. So it seems we get to know them better in their one time at-bat. 

A prime example appears to be Sally in 'The Adventures of Sally'. She is, quite simply, one of the author's best depictions of a modern woman.  

At age 21, Sally - an American (we're in New York City) - inherits money. Yet her sudden wealth doesn't much alter her personality:

Like so many alert and active-minded girls, she possessed in a great degree the quality of interesting herself in - or, as he brother Fillmore preferred to put it, messing about with - the private affairs of others.

Basically, Sally just wants to see the people around her - mainly the ones she feels closest to -  being happy  Her own happiness is something she spends less time on. 

Yet she knows her character's worth. She quietly champions the intelligence in women that's born of necessity... in dealing with men. She as much as says so to her less-practical brother re: the woman he wants to marry:

"... And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need."

A sub-focus of the story unravels how Sally's altruism may be the cause of her undoing - but she has too much pluck and nerve to be undone. Not that she understands herself completely - who ever does; and Sally can't seem to register when she's genuinely in love... which is rather hilarious. In various ways, three men play with her heart... but it will take a pure heart to win hers.  

A significant amount of 'TAOS' is set against the theater world - which Wodehouse has done elsewhere occasionally but here it's in fuller, detailed force. As well - and surprisingly - P.G.(in certain sidebars) shows he knows quite a bit about both rugby football (!) and boxing (!). 

Wodehouse affords Sally two notable instances in which her character is plumbed for strength: once when she's heartbroken (which Wodehouse wonderfully takes several pages to capture) and once (well, sort of twice) when she's suddenly faced with personal male fury (which she handles courageously in a bemused manner). 

Naturally, as always with Wodehouse, this stunning concoction is all designed as entertainment - but, dare I say, here we find P.G. embracing a tone that has a singular maturity... while being breathlessly funny. And to think... this novel is now just beyond being 100 years old... yet it is as fresh as a daisy in full bloom!

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early Wodehouse, I thought it lacked the sparkle of his usual works.

[Scot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a sudden craving for something amusing and comfy, and it had been awhile since I had read any Wodehouse (went through a 'Jeeves" phase some years ago) so when I stumbled across this listed in the free category on Kindle I gave it a go. Sure it is a period piece from 1922, but for me that's part of the charm--and the humor holds up much better than I expected. Our heroine Sally might be a bit flippant but she has a heart of gold, and very practically just wants the best for Fillmore, her obese brother who aspires to be a theatrical producer; for Ginger, the bumbling red-headed rugby player she takes under her wing after he stops a public dogfight; or for the colorful denizens of the New York boarding house where she lives as the story opens. How will an inheritance change her life and the attitudes and actions of those around her? What will she think of France and England when she visits there? Will her fiance Gerald Foster realize his dream and get a play produced? And what of the status conscious Mr. Carmyle, a man who on principle believes he deserves what he wants--how will he react to Sally's initial rebuke of his rigid class assumptions?

Of course the good guys and bad guys are immediately apparent in such light farce. Still, for me, breezy dialogue, startling but spot on similes and allusions, and the entire exercise experienced with the foregone assurance that everything will work out all right in the end combined to make this a delightful, soothing reading.

[Ian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

In ‘The Adventures of Sally’ like in ‘Jill the Reckless’ before it, Wodehouse has managed to create a heroine surprisingly convincingly by reaching outside the framework of farce and by not using the female characters as props or part of the scenery but as the central figure in the narrative.

The story is very much the opposite of ‘Jill the Reckless’; Where Jill lost her fortune and her fiancée Sally has not only inherited a fortune but is having men throw their hearts at her feet whenever she ventures out. Again, unusually for Wodehouse, all the characters are exactly as they are introduced to us, although some of them are as black hearted as a typical Wodehouse villain, no-one is using an assumed name or pretending to be a royal consort rather than a jewellery thief.

Despite these shifts of the sands as a book it ticks all the boxes and Wodehouse brings the courtship of Sally and Ginger through the business of a musical comedy and leaves us feeling that this is the best of all possible worlds descried in the best of all possible words. The Wodehouse maxim always seems to be why use six words when thirty six will cover the red and the black. Take Ginger on looking for work ‘You’ve no notion how well these blighters seem to be able to get along without my help. I’ve tramped all over the place, offering my services, but they all say they’ll carry on as they are.’ We can only hope Sally and Wodehouse can steer him into something worthwhile.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not as lighthearted as some of Wodehouse’s other novels. It was kind of getting depressing towards the end but as usual, it culminated in a happy ending.

There were some really funny parts but on a whole, I didn’t like it as much as the Blandings or Jeeves series.

Sally was increasingly turning out to be one of those women who talk and act as if they own the earth and go about treating people like their playthings, but Wodehouse thankfully, averted that by giving her actual human qualities and showing her inner emotions and regrets, which made her quite endearing and easy to root for.

All in all, it had enough material to hold me till the end, but personally, it's only a one time read.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've long heard this touted as a favorite non-Jeeves Wodehouse, and I can see why! Young Sally comes into her inheritance, and from there proceeds to travel the world, attempt to make over the lives of those she encounters, has unsuitable men fall in love with her, is jilted by a playwright (A PLAYWRIGHT, of all people!), and is genuinely one of my favorite Wodehouse heroines!

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

P. G. Wodehouse never wrote about anything that matters, never created a three-dimensional character, and never told a story that was worth telling. A typical novel has a rather stupid but good hearted person making a hash of some aspect of their lives, yet the problem is set right despite the powerlessness of the protagonist. So how did Wodehouse manage to get more than 90 books into print and why does he have such a faithful cult following? Beats the hell out of me. A partial answer is probably that his style has a slightly antiquated charm, and when he is at his best it can be charming indeed. This book has flashes of that charm, but is duller than most because the charm is lacking for long passages. Wodehosue can turn a nice phrase now and then, less here than in many books. The occasions when he does are very nice. I can not recommend THE ADVENTURES OF SALLY to any but a die-hard Wodehouse fan.

[Mela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would say, a jolly book ;-) Like a balm for a stressed mind.

Witty language, funny, likable characters, surprising situations/plot twists and these dialogues ;-)

My first novel by P.G. Wodehouse (for sure not last), so I can't compare but I have had a charming time during listening to this one.

For more read e.g. Alisha's or QNPoohBear's review.

[I have been listening to a splendid reading by Kara Shallenberg from LibriVox]

[Metodi Markov · Rating 1 out of 5]

Симпатична история, с предизвестен за читателя край. Исках да се поразведря малко, но не се получи, за съжаление.

Първите стотина страници ме развличаха донякъде, но в един момент книгата ми досади и след като съм сигурен в наближаващата наивна щастлива развръзка, не виждам смисъл да я дочитам.

Хумор няма, само клишета - мъжете глуповати, жените умни и практични и прочие тъпотии.

P.S. Засегната е бегло епидемията от испански грип, върлуваща из света по това време. И преди сто години, голяма част от хората са били същите невежи и идиоти, каквито са си и сега... :(

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is w Wodehouse novel I did not quite expect. Set mostly in USA; the roaring 20s in New York (mostly), this is almost chick lit, 1920s Wodehouse chick lit with wannabe theater moguls, dog fights (best dog fight in the history of literature, boxers and where no male character seems to have a brain of any sort. The heroine is just that, a female main character of somewhat heroic nature, and unlike other Wodehouse main characters is actually quite bright even if too gallant for her own good.. Some of the dialogue is to my taste, as toe curlingly delicious as anything else Wodehouse ever wrote. What a treat this novel was.


PS - Penguin, you forgot to justify the text on this volume? come on, this is just not professional.

[Kwoomac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sally is excellent. She manages to be snarky and patronizing toward all the boyish men in her life without any of them being the wiser. The year is 1922 and 21-year-old Sally has just inherited $25,000. She can move out of the rooming house in NYC and get her own apartment. Maybe start her own business. This being a Wodehouse novel, nothing goes according to plan. Ever. Lots of predicaments to deal with, misunderstandings to set straight. And of course there's love.

'I've missed you dreadfully,' she said, and felt the words inadequate as she uttered them. 'What ho!' said Ginger, also internally condemning the poverty of speech as a vehicle for coveying thought.

Exactly how I feel.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a cute, slightly comic rom-com from the 20's....
But I didn't think it was Wodehouse.
If I had read it without knowing who the author was, he wouldn't have been my guess. While there are some really humorous turns of phrase and great comic moments, it's not nearly as madcap and deliberately nonsensical as his other books. This was one of his earlier works (1921), and it feels strangely earnest. Maybe it's because he's writing with a female as his main character, or maybe it's just that he hadn't found his tone yet.
It's light-hearted but it still takes itself slightly more seriously than what I am accustomed to in a Wodehouse. That said, I did really like both Sally and Ginger.

[Teri-K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear. I seem to be in the minority on this book. I love Wodehouse, and not just his Jeeves and Wooster books. But I didn't love this. It's possible that part of the problem was the narrator. Frederick Davidson does a good job with Wodehouse books, but he made Sally sound like an air head; she could be Madeline Basset's twin sister. lol And I got the feeling she wasn't supposed to be that way. So if I'd read this I might have felt differently.

Still, I didn't see much in Sally to admire. She comes into money and has no plan for what to do with it, gets taken advantage of by her worthless brother, gets engaged to dreadful men, runs off out of the country for no good reason... the whole thing just didn't work for me. There were a few good lines, but the situations themselves didn't feel amusing and Sally never made sense to me as a person. It barely achieved 2 stars for me.

Best line in the book: “And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need.”

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Adventures of Sally - P.G. Wodehouse Carrying on with a theme of “books set in a time that never really existed” we have here a comedy which gives passing mention to the Spanish Flu and therefore would have to be set between 1917 and 1922, but which avoids any reference to the recent war. There’s a boarding house full of characters, and scrappy young things trying to make it on Broadway, and chaps who aren’t good at investing, but aren’t too distraught at being broke, and snobby aristocratic relatives. It’s all rather jolly and I would assume deliberately avoiding anything to grim or serious. A century on it continues to be diverting and pleasant. Personal copy

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is he first Wodehouse I've read that has a female main protagonist. It was amusing but not fall on the floor hilarious as some of his other books are. It was read by Kara Shallenberg who's become one of my favorite Lobrivox.org reader.

[Erika Pensaert · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5? Love Wodehouse's use of language and humor, but I just don't like 'perfect angel' Sally.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1922, this is a funny, charming, screwball comedy about a young woman, Sally Nicholas, and her attempts to manage the lives of almost everyone around her. There's her foolish, Flo Ziegfeld-wannabe brother, Fillmore, who has one wild scheme after another; her devoted admirer, Lancelot "Ginger" Kemp, with his flame-red hair, impulsive nature, and knack for losing one job after another; the aging, British expatriate actor, Maxwell Faucitt, whose observations about people are always dead-on; Ginger's rich, unpleasant cousin, Bruce Carmyle; and, my personal favorite, Toto. Not that Toto, but the singularly obnoxious pet of Sally's landlady, Mrs Meecher:

"Like everyone who had ever spent any length of time in the house, she had strong views on Toto. This quadruped, who stained the fame of the entire canine race by posing as a dog, was a small woolly animal with a persistent and penetrating yap.

Oh, does that sound familiar!

Sally is a nice girl, though perhaps too unselfish and generous for her own good. She is basically good at running everyone's life but her own. She sees the problems with other people's decisions - most notably those of Fillmore and Ginger - but never her own. She expects the best from people, but is occasionally disappointed in a rather dramatic fashion. Sally goes from one crazy situation to another. It's a wonder she even leaves her home. I don't understand why this wasn't adapted as a screwball comedy in the 1930s. It's a natural for it.

Like others have said, P G Wodehouse has a gift for language. You don't read his books for deeply drawn characters or realistic plots (definitely not!). You read them because they make you laugh. Wodehouse's novels are surefire cure for the glooms.

I have this in both audiobook and ebook form. The audiobook is from LibriVox read by Kara Shallenberg. Ms Shallenberg took some getting use to. She doesn't really differentiate between the characters, male or female, which makes it hard sometimes to figure out who's talking. I also thought Bruce Carmyle's last name was Carlisle until I read the book, due to her pronunciation. However, she grew on me after a while. She sounds quite amused as she's reading the book. The story is told largely from Sally's point of view, and I came to think of Ms Shallenberg's voice as Sally's voice. I also don't believe I would have ever guessed how to pronounce "Scrymgeour."

There are other versions available from Blackstone Audiobooks and AudioGO, though I haven't listened to them.

[Vimal Thiagarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Vintage Wodehouse. It took a while to warm up to the characters, but once it got going it just kept going with typical Wodehousian plot twists and improvisations and ended up being a good read.

[Harshita Choudhary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse's charm and wit shines through every sentence.

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 3 out of 5]

"If there is one thing rottener than another in a pretty blighted world, one thing which gives a fellow the pip and reduces him to the condition of an absolute onion, it is hopeless love." (75)

I was ill and did what I always do when I'm feeling under the weather—I turned to Wodehouse. Thankfully, I still have some works left to read, even if I am slowly beginning to reach the end of the man's splendiferous oeuvre. The Adventures of Sally is an interesting novel, noticeably different in tone from much of Plum's other work. It is more serious; or, differently put, it is less light-hearted. There are real struggles here—there is heartbreak and failure, which is not all redeemed by the end of the novel. An adjective actually came to mind that I don't think has ever suggested itself before while reading Wodehouse: bleak. Perhaps it was my own state of illness that picked up on and amplified this. All the same, there were good parts to the novel, and I enjoyed it in end.

"'I've missed you dreadfully,' she said, and felt the words inadequate as she uttered them.
'What ho!' said Ginger, also internally condemning the poverty of speech as a vehicle for thought." (257)

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want good ol' satirical British humor, Wodehouse is always a good choice. When Sally's fiancé wants to keep their engagement a secret she thinks that if she didn't love him, and if he wasn't an artist, she would wonder if he was a homicidal arsonist. Makes sense to me.

[Redbird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun summer - or anytime - read. Wodehouse is great for his use of the English language - and his blending his Queens English with his American lifestyle.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read . it had me chuckling on a lot of pages but it sort of dragged towards the HEA end which was expected anyhow.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this world of stress and war... This P.G. Wodehouse novel is a breath of fresh air, a ray of sunshine, and a smile on your face. Everything about this 'happy' adventure helps the reader see a bit of the lighter side of life.

Enjoy.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly enjoyable read! P.G. Wodehouse is absolutely hilarious. I’m glad I trusted such reviews and impulsively bought a box set of his writings from Cluny Media. Looking forward to other 9 books I have on my shelf!

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

All good fun, with moments of wonderful Wodehouse wit.

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Wodehouse locates stuffy respectability and high-handed authority in an uncle not an aunt.