My Man Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse [modern library classics]

Jeeves #1

by P.G. Wodehouse

Who can forget our beloved gentleman's personal gentleman, Jeeves, who ever comes to the rescue when the hapless Bertie Wooster falls into trouble. My Man Jeeves is sure to please anyone with a taste for pithy buffoonery, moronic misunderstandings, gaffes, and aristocratic slapstick.

Contents:
"Leave It to Jeeves"
"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"
"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg"
"Absent Treatment"
"Helping Freddie"
"Rallying Round Old George"
"Doing Clarence a Bit of Good"
"The Aunt and the Sluggard"

Of the eight stories in the collection, half feature the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, while the others concern Reggie Pepper, an early prototype for Bertie Wooster.

Revised versions of all the Jeeves stories in this collection were later published in the 1925 short story collection Carry On, Jeeves. One of the Reggie Pepper stories in this collection was later rewritten as a Jeeves story, which was also included in Carry On, Jeeves.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Classics, Short Stories, Audiobook, Comedy, British Literature

Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1919

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

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sir?' said Jeeves, kind of manifesting himself. One of the rummy things about Jeeves is that, unless you watch like a hawk, you very seldom see him come into a room. He's like one of those weird chappies in India who dissolve themselves into thin air and nip through space in a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just where they want them.

Most people today probable associate Jeeves with the man that has all the answers not because they have read P.G. Wodehouse, but because they have accessed Ask Jeeves on the web.


Not the Jeeves I know

Over the years I've read Wodehouse here and there, but it has been so long since I've read most of them that I have decided to go back through the entire works of Wodehouse. Overlook Press has reissued Wodehouse in affordable hardback editions that are actually kind of fun to collect. http://www.overlookpress.com/p-g-wode...

This collection of stories is equally split between four Jeeves and Wooster stories, and four stories with an early version of Bertie Wooster under the name Reggie Peppers. There was such a shift in style between the Jeeves stories and moving into the Peppers stories that I actually looked at the book to see if I had grabbed the right one. There is humor in the Peppers stories, but nothing like the graceful, yet ribald wit of the Jeeves and Wooster stories. I had no clue that Reggie Peppers existed in the Wodehouse world so I'm a bit gleeful to make his acquaintance.

I was popping off answers to emails at work yesterday and after reading back through one such message I discovered bits of Wodehouse lilt to my language. I had to go back through and tone my word choices down. I've found living in the Midwest it is best to take any elevated language or tone out of my writing because people here assume that I am showing off. Also don't sound too happy about anything or they will think you are going crazy. My point being though is that Wodehouse's writing style is so engaging and contagious. He is also laugh out loud funny and here is one example out of many that had me chortling.

Lady Malvern was a hearty, happy, healthy, overpowering sort of dashing female, not so very tall but making up for it by measuring about six feet from the O.P. to the Prompt Side. She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by some one who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight around the hips that season.

Okay so part of the reason this was so funny to me was I had one of the people that work for me in my office for a yearly evaluation. She was sitting in one of my office chairs.



Everything went swimmingly until we finished and she got up to leave. She is one of those women that are pear shaped. She took two steps with the chair still attached to her hips and then the chair just popped off.

I have to give myself credit I held it together.

My brain was scrambling for something to say that A)wouldn't make me laugh and B)wouldn't come across in any way shape or form as insulting. I came up with are you alright?. She laughed and said that she might need to lose some weight or I might need to get some bigger chairs. I notice now when she comes in to talk to me that she lists to one side to keep one hip from hooking under the arm of the chair. So I laughed at Bertie's assessment of Lady Malvern's tight fit in his arm-chair and the memory it inspired of the chair incident in my office.

Now of course I couldn't read the books without seeing Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as Jeeves and Wooster. I have watched the series twice and if you haven't seen it you are really in for a treat. Several stories from this book were lifted for episodes. Much of the dialogue is exactly the same because how could you improve on the wit and repartee of Wodehouse?


I endeavor to give satisfaction, sir.

Now part of the charm of Hugh Laurie playing Wooster is that his facial expressions are just priceless. He does gobsmacked about as well as anyone in the film industry. I find myself laughing out loud at his expression without him having to say a word. For me, Tim Conway is the funniest man ever, but Hugh Laurie as Wooster is on the short list.


I tried to think of something to say, but nothing came. A chappie has to be a lot broader about the forehead than I am to handle a jolt like this. I strained the old bean till it creaked, but between the collar and the hair parting nothing stirred.


Most disturbing, sir.

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse in 1955 was naturalized as an American citizen. We do our best to steal the most talented from around the world. He wrote 96 books, so I will have my work cut out for me to read them all, but it is also such a relief to know that there are so many of them and each one I'm sure will elicit a heady combination of snorts, snickers, and chuckles. Wodehouse lived to be 93 serving notice to the rest of us that comedians who avoid early deaths from drug abuse tend to live to a ripe old age. I suggest to all that you read Wodehouse, laugh out loud don't smother your glee, let it out, and in the process you will be healthier, and will, according to studies, live longer. Keep a Wodehouse handy for a day when you are feeling glum.


P. G. Wodehouse


Precisely sir.

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[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-Read 2022:

Breakdown of a few stories.

Leave it to Jeeves - This was my first intro to Jeeves and especially Bertie Wooster. Bertie is a right moron but he has so much stupid energy he's actually a delight. Jeeves manages him quite nicely.
I've gotta feel sorry for the rest of the "Right" set. Or not. They're all babes in the woods. Maybe that's why these are classics.

Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest - What really sets these stories apart is the absurdity, the tiniest little things becoming the direst concerns. This one was chuckle-worthy.


The Aunt and the Sluggard - I honestly loved this one. Jeeves is the perfect trickster here, living up the life on everyone else’s expense while Wooster is the huge butt of the joke. Nothing is sadder than a bleeding heart.


Original review:

Slapstick Aristocracy? I guess that pretty much sums it up. The butler is always smarter and more ingenious than anyone else in the book. :)

It's pretty and pretty much the beginning of all other similar writings and imitators, and for that, I really appreciate it. Moreso, it's funny and still relevant even if it's just a tad dated. We've still got tons of historical novel interest, but this one was timely for its day in 1919.

The timing and the idiocy and the fairly complicated plotting in the background really made poor Wooster shine as the idjit that he is. I heartily recommend this for anyone interested in the humorous classics.

[Apatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What ho! This Goodreads review lark is a rummy thing. Here I sit, drinking buckets of tea, that indispensable tissue restorative, waiting for the old muse to come up with something, squeezing the old bean until it turns purple, and the blighted screen remains stubbornly blank. What is a frightful chump like me to do? How interesting it must be to be one of those animal-trainer Johnnies: to stimulate the dawning intelligence, and that sort of thing.


Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, best portrayal of J&W ever.

OK, if I keep that sort of faux-Wodehouse business up the old bean will surely explode—or possibly implode. Still, one must endeavor to give satisfaction and all that sort of rot. It’s been many years since I read a Wodehouse book, there was a time when I could not get enough of them. Unfortunately if you read to many of them one after the other they do tend to seem very similar and the magic fades. Better to not over indulge, don’t you know.

P.G. Wodehouse’s books are kind of magical, though, there is never any substance to them that I can discern, no moral lessons or in-depth exploration of the human condition. They are just fun and astonishingly written. Wodehouse wrote several series of books, but the most popular one by far is clearly the “Jeeves and Wooster” series.

Fortunately, quite a few of Wodehouse’s books are in the public domain including My Man Jeeves. My Man Jeeves is a collection of eight short stories, half of them featuring Jeeves and Wooster, the others feature Reggie Pepper, one of Wodehouse’s less well known (and less funny) protagonists. In any event, none of the stories fail to raise a smile or the odd chuckles. I don’t expect to split my sides reading a Wodehouse book, his humour is not in the style of Douglas Adams or Monty Python, though he may have been an inspiration for both of them. It is enough that his stories are “extremely diverting”, uplifting, and it is wonderful just to soak up the language, don’t you know. It has been said—by some literary Johnnies—that Wodehouse did not simply write but orchestrated the English language. Who am I to argue with these brainy blighters?

All the stories are about helping a friend out of a difficult situation, usually disinheritance; and they tend to involve deception, stealing or a harebrained scheme of some kind. If the scheme is Jeeves’ it usually works, sometimes with unexpected results, if it is anybody else’s they go pear-shaped—landing the schemer “in the soup”.

Reggie Pepper—like Bertie Wooster—is a “gentleman of leisure”, living off an inheritance and spends all his time amusing himself. Reggie is a little bit brighter than Bertie and also has a butler called Voules, who speaks like Jeeves but is not nearly as intelligent or concerned about his employer’s wellbeing. Reggie’s schemes for helping his friends always go awry. The most memorable one is when he kidnaps a child in order for his friend to present said child back to his cute auntie, and be regarded as a hero. It transpires that the child is not related to the girl at all.

The Jeeves and Wooster stories are all set in New York, where Bertie is on the run from his irate Aunt Agatha. My favorite of the four stories is “The Aunt and the Sluggard” which involves his friend Rocky Todd and Rocky’s formidable aunt. Bertie has to pretend that Rocky owns his flat which results in his being evicted from his own residence by the aunt who takes an immediate dislike to him:
“The aunt took the chair which I'd forgotten to offer her. She looked at me in rather a rummy way. It was a nasty look. It made me feel as if I were something the dog had brought in and intended to bury later on, when he had time. My own Aunt Agatha, back in England, has looked at me in exactly the same way many a time, and it never fails to make my spine curl.”

When I review a short story collection I usually write a brief note for each individual story. Not this time, old scout, the stories tend to be fairly similar. “The cases are in some respects parallel, sir”, as Jeeves would say. They are all pretty much top-hole. If you are feeling down and need cheering up it occurs to me that reading My Man Jeeves might prove efficacious.

Toodle-oo!

Note:
Librivox audiobook read by Mark Nelson, an American chappie, don’t you know, but he did a corking job. American accent for all the British characters notwithstanding, but narrated with plenty of vim!

Quotes:
Wodehouse is one of the most quotable authors ever. Here are some of my favorites from this book:

Thick Bertie
“I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know.”

Superhero Jeeves
“He's like one of those weird chappies in India who dissolve themselves into thin air and nip through space in a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just where they want them.”

“He flowed silently out of the room—he always gives you the impression of being some liquid substance when he moves.”

Jeeves’ enigmatic smile
“Jeeves smiled paternally. Or, rather, he had a kind of paternal muscular spasm about the mouth, which is the nearest he ever gets to smiling.”

Reggie Pepper
“A fellow who may have been a perfect knight-errant to a girl when he was engaged to her, doesn't feel nearly so keen on spreading himself in that direction when she has given him the miss-in-baulk, and gone and married a man who reason and instinct both tell him is a decided blighter.”

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re in the throes of dark days, you’ve got three main options to turn to in order to get you through: mind-altering substances, food, and P.G. Wodehouse. While there are very few things a good Old Fashioned and a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies can’t improve, Wodehouse might be the most effective remedy of all.

As noted in a review of another Wodehouse classic, Jeeves and Wooster stories are highly formulaic, and the delight in reading them comes not from plot, but from Wodehouse’s bracingly hilarious prose and what-the-hell-does-that-mean slang. This book is no different, but take note: not every story contained herein is a Jeeves and Wooster story; some of them are Reggie Pepper stories, which knocks this down a star rating.

Why, you ask? Well, Reggie stories are like Jeeves and Wooster-lite. Reggie was, as I understand it, a prototype for Bertie Wooster, and it’s clear that the idea wasn’t fully baked. The Reggie stories lack the effervescent charm and over-the-top hilarity of his descendent. Given the sequencing in this book (Jeeves/Wooster stories, a brace of Reggie stories, and then back to Jeeves and Wooster), it’s a little bit like buying a Led Zeppelin album, rocking out to the first four songs, and then puzzling out why Robert Plant and company apparently took a break to do lines of coke off of a groupie’s backside while letting Whitesnake handle the next three songs before coming back to bang out the final two tunes themselves.

Still, Wodehouse is always worth a go, and I’ll be back again for another cracking wheeze the next time I’m feeling rummy.

[Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories of rich men being nice to their fellow rich friends, or deceiving their rich families, are everywhere. That there is an inherent goodness in Wooster (or his doppelganger, Pepper--Wodehouse switches protagonists & they are pretty identical other than by name, which is indeed part of the theme that all aristocrats are equally dim) may be the takeaway here, in these modern times. Jeeves is the perpetual Everyman, trapped in a world he's too good for, being appreciated & always adulated by the Gods; remaining in that constant position, always in some unworthy person's life (tragically so).

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things Good Reads is particularly good for is answering strange little questions about ourselves. Questions we might not think to ask otherwise, but then when we do ask make us wonder how else we would ever have known… For example, the other day it struck me that I don’t really read any Wodehouse in the Summertime. And I’ve been able to check when I read all my Wodehouse's and it is true. I guess the reason for that is that I don’t need his warmth and sunlight and laughter in the Summertime, but come the Winter he is like a hotwater bottle in between starched white sheets. An unexpected warmth when all seems icy and unforgiving.

I listened to this as a talking book and it was good. But the problem with the first story on the cd is that Jeeves is the narrator – and it doesn’t quite work, in much the same way that stories where Holmes is the narrator don't quite work. You need to hear the story from the perspective of the guy doing the oooos and ahhhhs, not the magician.

Still, couldn’t have come at a better time – utter magic.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this all before! I know I sometimes complain that once you've read one Wodehouse story you've read them all, but no, I mean I literally have read all these stories already. Ah well, I've also seen every episode of shows like All In The Family or Are You Being Served? about half a dozen times, so why not give these wonderful words a rerun read through?

Well the answer would be because this is not Wodehouse's best effort at joining up words in a pleasing manner. He's had better goes at it with say The Code of the Woosters, The Mating Season or Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves.

And then there's the issue of all these Jeeves & Wooster stories being set in New York. I've never been a fan of the stories set in America and I finally put my finger upon the why. Wodehouse's American characters living in America are dull. They lack the daffy spark of his English ones or even his Americans visiting the UK. What is it about England that makes them all go hilariously looney? Must be something in the gin water.

AND THEN there's the issue of the title. When a book's titled My Man Jeeves it'd better be carpetted wall-to-wall with Jeeves. This is not. Only about half of the stories are about the Jeeves and Wooster dynamic duo. The rest are about Reggie Peppers, who is a Bertie Wooster-lite.

If I was to bottomline all this, I'd say My Man Jeeves is not a rotten potato from the first Bush administration that you've finally unearthed from behind the fridge. No, it's a decent enough book and a good one to start off your Wodehouse reading career. However, there's better hilarity to be found amongst the author's canon.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 4 out of 5]

EXCERPT: Jeeves - my man, you know - is really a most extraordinary chap. So capable. Honestly, I shouldn't know what to do without him. On broader lines he's like those chappies who sit peering over the marble battlements in the Pennsylvania Station in the place marked 'inquiries'. You know the Johnnies I mean. You go up to them and say: 'When's the next train for Melonsquashville, Tennessee?' and they reply, without stopping to think, "Two-forty-Three, track Ten, change at San Francisco." And they're right, every time. Well, Jeeves gives you the same impression of omniscience.

THE BLURB: Who can forget our beloved gentleman's personal gentleman, Jeeves, who ever comes to the rescue when the hapless Bertie Wooster falls into trouble. My Man Jeeves is sure to please anyone with a taste for pithy buffoonery, moronic misunderstandings, gaffes, and aristocratic slapstick.

Contents:
"Leave It to Jeeves"
"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"
"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg"
"Absent Treatment"
"Helping Freddie"
"Rallying Round Old George"
"Doing Clarence a Bit of Good"
"The Aunt and the Sluggard"

MY THOUGHTS: I had, of course, heard of Jeeves, but until I was sick in bed some time ago and had the great fortune to discover the TV series playing, I had never encountered Wodehouse's paragon of virtue. Had Stephen Fry not been playing Jeeves, I probably would have flicked on past. Thankfully I didn't.

This is my first encounter with Jeeves off screen, and a thoroughly enjoyable encounter it was. I loved the good natured but bumbling Bertie, and Georgie Pepper, an earlier prototype for Bertie Wooster. The stories simply reinforce a belief of mine that no good deed goes unpunished.

British humour at its best.

I listened to My Man Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse, narrated by Simon Pebble, produced by Blackstone Audio, courtesy of OverDrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com. https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

[Jaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-faithful-to-nostalgia-stars
Re-reading childhood favorites may not always be a good idea.The caricatures images of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie will forever be etched in my mind as Jeeves and Wooster (can't imagine anybody else in the role of these two characters.) I don't know whether that is a good thing or not...
The stories did manage to make me giggle and break out into a chuckle once or maybe twice...can't say much beyond that. In all honesty it was just an okay read, which will be a 2 starred reading experience for me. Adding one more for old-times-sake.

[Samadrita · Rating 3 out of 5]

The downside to acquainting yourself with Wodehouse, at a ripe old age, is that you don't glean anything else out of his writing other than the humor and that too appears to be strangely contrived in ways. And the repeated usage of words such as 'chappie', 'rummy' and 'chump' end up annoying you more than you thought was possible.
Another author I should have read as a teenager. *sigh*

[Algernon (Darth Anyan) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Man Jeeves collection felt like an appetizer to me, small bites of petit-fours and cucumber sandwiches that serve best at wetting my appetite for the main course.

1) Leave it Jeeves . Introduces the reader to the omniscient nature of Jeeves, "the brains of the establishment" as Bertie candidly admits. From picking the right clothes to sage advice about betting on the horse races, Jeeves is infallible. And when he's not 100 % successful, as in this opening short story, he can turn defeat into victory by changing the goal posts. The scene of the crime is New York, where Bertie enjoys a self-imposed exile from the censorius eye of aunt Agatha. The plot revolves around my old acquaintance Bruce 'Corky' Corcoran, and touches on such subjects as ornithology, cabaret dancing and portrait painting.

2) Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest . Bertie is still in New York and is having a fashion disagreement with Jeeves about a pink tie and a Country Gentleman hat, leaving him without sage advice when he becomes babysitter for Wilmot 'Motty' Lord Pershore. His mother describes him as a vegetarian and a teetotaller and devoted to reading , but he will prove to be quite the dark horse once out of her censorius eye, and will get into a lot of trouble before Jeeves once more comes to the rescue.

3) Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg . A hard-boiled egg apparently refers to a person who is the exact opposite of a big spender when it cames to money, and the story deals with the efforts of Bicky Bickersteth to extract some financial support from his uncle, His Grace the Duke of Chiswick. Bertie tries to lend a helping hand, but in the end, the resolution relies once more on Jevees protuding bean. As a bonus we gain helpful business tips about the advantages of chicken farms and their productivity. As the duo continues to reside in New York, the fashion duel between master and valet escalates into moustache territory.

4) Absent Treatment . The story is told by a new character (for me), Reggie Pepper - a wealthy boulevardier that comes a bit short right after Bertie Wooster, but the tale itself is quite fun. Reggie is trying to help an "absent" minded friend, Bobbie Cardew, regain the favor of his young and temporarily 'absent' wife, who is incensed by his carelessness in forgetting such important dates as their wedding anniversary or her birthday. Favorite passage is some good natured poking at the silliness of astrology and zodiac signs interpretation.

5) Helping Freddie . Reggie Pepper is back in the business of helping his friends solve their amorous problems. The old Wodehouse twist of the broken engagement has left Freddie Meadows in the soup, and Reggie's solution is an escape to the seaside in Dorsetshire, where they stumble upon Tootles, a kid with a sweet tooth that may or may not be the solution of Freddie's woes. The story feels unpolished, more like a rehearsal piece for later books than a finished product; still, I recognized a lot of the author's favorite themes.

6) Rallying Round Old George . Reggie Pepper moves to a yacht in Monte Carlo, where he is once again persuaded to give a helping hand to a friend in need. A funny affair concerning an engagement broken in record time (a couple of hours) , a troublesome inheritance, a case of mistaken identity concerning twins and a first class valet whose name is not Jeeves but Voules, himself having troubless with his ladyfriend. Being in Monte Carlo, the story provides also some gambling and some European crowned heads. Again, one of the less stellar efforts from Wodehouse.

7) Doing Clarence a Bit of Good . My favorite Reggie story in this collection, where he falls victim, as Wodehouse charmingly puts it to the "coolness, the cheek, or if you prefer it, the gall with wich Woman, as a sex, fairly bursts" . Specifically, after giving the cold shoulder to his engagement proposal and marrying meek artist Clarence Yeardsley, his old flame Elizabeth Shoolbred has no scruples in dragging Reggie to her country residence in order to solve the terrible businness of the Yeardsley 'Venus' . A hilarious mess of stolen paintings, artistic temperaments and persuasive damzels.

8) The Aunt and the Sluggard . The last story brings us back to New York's bubbling night scene, where Bertie Wooster tries to help his recluse poet friend Rockmetteller 'Rocky' Todd convince a wealthy aunt that he is the soul of every party and lives life to the full in the big city. A welcome ocassion for Jeeves to show the more sociable angles of his personality, and for Wodehouse to throw some barbed arrows at modern American poetry. Also an ocassion for Bertie to realise how much he depends on Jeeves for his daily comforts and peace of mind.

---

At the moment Bertie Wooster is my favorite Wodehouse character, but Jeeves is the perfect counterpart to his scatterbrained and lazy attitude. I love how Bertie insists in every story about Jeeves talent for moving silently:
In this matter of shimmering into rooms the chappie is rummy to a degree. You're sitting in the old armchair, thinking of this and that, and then suddenly you look up, and there he is. He moves from point to point with as little uproar as a jelly fish.
When he is not shimmering, Jeeves has a tendency to:
- trickle
- slide
- float noiselessly
- stream imperceptibly
- flow
- teleport (Ok, I added the last one, but I'm sure I've missed ten more ways for making an entrance)

While I enjoyed these short stories and the New York setting, I feel they lack the depth and the complexity of the full novels featuring Jeeves and Wooster. A common theme in all of the tales is beautifully put by Bertie in one of the opening chapters:
'The older I get, the more I agree with Shakespeare and those poet Johnnies about it always being darkest before the dawn and there's a silver lining and what you lose on the swings you make out on the roundabouts.'
or, to paraphrase the Monty Python opus : "Always look on the bright side of life."
This may be the secret ingredient that makes me come back to Wodehouse on a regular basis. This and his wild word associations, like this image of 'Corky' Corcoran contemplating breaking the news of his engagement to his tight-fisted uncle:
'The poor chap gave one of those mirthless laughs. He was looking anxious and worried, like a man who has done the murder all right but can't think what the deuce to do with the body'

An added bonus in reading My Man Jeeves was the pleasure of recognizing the plots from several episodes of the television series featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, mostly from seasons 3 and 4.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. This did altogether NOT go the way I thought it would.

The almost slapstick-like comedic adventures Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves, have are well known and beloved around the world. Loving British humour myself, I was very much looking forward to finally catching up with some classic Wodehouse.
Sadly, the short stories about all kinds of encounters the English gentleman has in NYC and the valiant saves Jeeves has to come up with didn't quite do it for me.

We get a lot of mini-tales that give us a feeling for how hapless Bertie is versus how capable Jeeves is. However, I have to admit that I didn't burst out laughing once, barely even smirked. *sighs*

Humour is a fickle thing, but I usually love British hijinks so I was very surprised this wasn't up my alley. Maybe it was the form and the novel (the 2nd volume in the Jeeves series which I shall read next) will be more to my liking.

I kept trying to imagine these little episodes being performed on stage - maybe they would have worked better that way.

Mind you, the writing isn't bad at all. It has a nice flow to it and one can tell that Wodehouse was indeed a great writer. So I shall indeed continue with the second one.

[Sarah Grace Grzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This was awesome.

British? Check. Hilarity? Check. Quirky characters? Check. Sidesplitting descriptions and dialogue? Check.

I just *love* all the British-isms in both dialogue and descriptions. Some I had to google to know what they meant, but that just made it all the more fun. Oh, to talk like a Brit! I have so many highlights on my kindle.

Bertie is a hilarious and quirky character, and his narration is just so fun to read. The situations he finds himself in are so amusing. And Jeeves is . . . so proper and serious and hilarious.

Half a star off because it got a little boring in the middle, but the rest was so good, it was 5 star worthy! Highly recommended, especially if you love British humor! Recommend for ages 15-16+ for interest level.

A Sampling:

"I tell you, Bertie, I've examined the darned cloud with a microscope, and if it's got a silver lining it's some little dissembler!"

"I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know;"

"Lady Malvern tried to freeze him with a look, but you can't do that sort of thing to Jeeves. He is look-proof."

[Deacon Tom F. (Recovering from a big heart attack) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice book.

Jeeves is a great character. He always comes to the day when problems occur. It was very funny, even hilarious in places.

I certainly could use a Jeeves in my life. Oh, the pain of middle class....lol

The language is very British while being enchanting. It caused me to use the dictionary more than I usually do. It is from 1919 though as well as being British.

I recommend. A fun book.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care for the stories about Reggie Pepper; but what a great name!

The stories about Jeeves and Bertie were funny and entertaining.

After one or two tales they become redundant and a bit flat.

For more enjoyable versions of these stories about the most famous of butlers, watch Jeeves and Wooster with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as the title characters.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lighthearted and fun romp from an earlier era. Jeeves is brilliant! He runs rings around Bertie and saves him from many scrapes. There is genuine affection between them.

Here are my favorite examples of P. G. Wodehouse's humor from my favorites of the short stories:

Jeeves and the Unbidden Quest:

"I'm all for rational enjoyment and so forth, but I think a chappie makes himself conspicuous when he throws soft-boiled eggs at the electric fan. And decent mirth and all that sort of thing are all right, but I do bar dancing on tables and having to dash all over the place dodging waiters, managers and chuckers-out just when you want to sit still and digest."

Dialogue between Jeeves and Bertie:
Jeeves: "Did you call sir?"
Bertie: "Jeeves, there's something in there that grabs you by the leg!"
Jeeves: "That would be Rollo sir."
Bertie: "Uh?"
Jeeves: "I would have warned of his presence, but I didn't hear you come in. His temper is a little uncertain at present as he has not yet settled down."
Bertie: "Who the deuce is Rollo?"
Bertie: "His lordship's bull terrier sir. His lordship won him in a raffle and tied him to the leg of a table. If you will allow me sir I will go in and switch on the light."

"There really is nobody like Jeeves. He walked straight into the sitting room, the biggest feat since Daniel and the Lion's Den without a quiver. What's more his magnetism, or whatever they call it was such that the dashed animal instead of pinning him by the leg calmed down as if he'd had a bromide and rolled over on his back with all his paws in the air."

Helping Freddie:

"As a companion, Freddie, poor old chap, wasn't anything to write home to mother about. When he wasn't chewing a pipe and scowling at the carpet, he was sitting at the piano, playing "The Rosary" with one finger."

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Pretty good set of short humorous stories.

This is the first thing I've read by Wodehouse, and from what I can tell from other reviewers, this isn't even his best stuff.
Looking forward to getting my hands on more!

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories - very good fun, a nice amount of silly, and I can't wait to read more Jeeves books!

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not absolutely certain of my facts, but I rather fancy it’s Shakespeare—or, if not, it’s some equally brainy lad—who says that it’s always just when a chappie is feeling particularly top-hole, and more than usually braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping. There’s no doubt the man’s right. ("Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest")

"Jerome, are you there?" That’s what I thought after reading the first pages of Wodehouse's My Man Jeeves. Their styles seemed so similar ("seemed"; so far, I prefer JKJ). Good writing and a simple plot filled with funny anecdotes that make the book worthwhile. It’s sounds simple but, as I always say, not anybody can be funny. 19th-century people had sense of humor too, naturally (reference to Jerome and others, since Wodehouse is a 20th-century chappie). I don’t know why I’m kind of surprised when I see myself laughing with those guys and just awkwardly smiling while reading the “funniest guys of the 21st century”.

Wodehouse once wrote: “I go in for what is known in the trade as ‘light writing’ and those who do that – humorists they are sometimes called – are looked down upon by the intelligentsia and sneered at.” Sad, odd and true. Some intellectual fellas, snobs or whatever, with Tolstoy in their hands, often reject writers that have the amazing skill of mixing literature and comedy. Forgetting, perhaps, that humor can also be a great resource to analyze human nature. We have literary masterpieces that prove that. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to bear a life of ONLY serious classics. I need both. And when I read about Wodehouse, I knew I had to read his works.

This is a collection of short stories about Bertie Wooster (not the smartest guy in town and he's kind of aware of that), Reginald Jeeves, his brilliant valet that always had an answer for everything, and other characters like Mr. Pepper and a lot of chappies... Every story was written with remarkable wit and subtle humor. However, sometimes his humor was so subtle that I didn't know I was reading something intended to be funny. It was entertaining–most of the times; other times, I got lost in a sea of numerous funny-ish details–, but, all in all, it was a good read.

I have like a billion more "Jeeves" to read. I honestly don't know what my next book is going to be. But I'll figure it out soon, chap.


March 01, 14
* Also on my blog.

[Gorab · Rating 2 out of 5]

By Jove!
These chappies leading a rummy life sipping in their stiff b.-and-s.
And all of a sudden Woosh! Jeeves and Bertie disappear to give way to Reggie and co.
Eh? What the deuce?
Overall this was bally awful!... what?

[Melindam · Rating 3 out of 5]

What Ho!

The Jeeves&Wooster stories were jolly good (but there was 3 of them only, the rest were about Reggie Pepper) & P.G. was a ripping chap and not a blighter, doncherknow, but it is not his best collection, which means he made me smile a lot even though there were only a few LOL moments.

Toddle-oo.

[Kerrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an article last year noting it was the 100th anniversary of the book My Man Jeeves by P.D. Wodehouse. It sounded like such a fun book, I added it to my "To Be Read List". It turns out Jeeves isn't my cup of tea.

My Man Jeeves is a collection of eight short stories.  Four of the stories feature Englishman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, who live in New York City and four stories are about Reggie Pepper, who lives in London. Both Reggie and Bertie are independently wealthy and do not work (nor does it appear they have ever worked). In each of the eight stories, a friend of either Bertie's or of Reggie's finds themselves in a predicament. The friends are typically unemployed men who depend on an allowance from a wealthy relative. They will lose their allowances if they are not saved by either Jeeves or Bertie. A couple of the stories involve helping a hapless friend with a romantic situation.  Jeeves is able to get Bertie's friend's situations solved through unusual means. Reggie takes care of his own friends, often without proper acknowledgment.

I simply couldn't relate to the idle rich lifestyles. I didn't find the situations or solutions funny. There were some spots of humor, and the writing was well done.  I listened to an Audible version, and the narration was excellent.  3-stars.

[Violeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jolly good old classic British humor- the best there is!

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first encounter with Bertie and Jeeves, as well as many other memorable characters. Fun and delightful. Classic British humour. Great audiobook.

Published:1919

[Retired Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend loaned me this book, having read the entire series, and I found it to be very funny and delightful! My "to read" stack is so high, I didn't feel like continuing with the series but I may take it up again someday. Great characters...

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is absolutely ridiculous and very amusing. Bertie Wooster is a an English gentleman of comfortable means who having mucked up an errand given by Aunt Agatha is hiding in New York City and enjoying a life of restrained pleasure. Not being the brightest bulb in the pack, he is fortuitously accompanied by his man Jeeves. Bertie is a helpful chap, and always extends an offer of assistance to friends; he provides emotional and financial support while Jeeves is the planner.

Stories included:
"Leave It to Jeeves" - snatching victory from the jaws of repeated defeat

Jeeves is a tallish man, with one of those dark, shrewd faces. His eye gleams with the light of pure intelligence.

"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest" - saving face

I gave Motty the swift east-to-west. He was sitting with his mouth nuzzling the stick, blinking at the wall. The thought of having this planted on me for an indefinite period appalled me.

Jeeves had projected himself in from the dining-room and materialized on the rug. Lady Malvern tried to freeze him with a look, but you can't do that sort of thing to Jeeves. He is look-proof.

"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg" - win/win, lose/lose as Bertie tries to help another skint friend

No one can call me an unreasonable chappie, and many's the time I've given in like a lamb when Jeeves has voted against one of my pet suits or ties; but when it comes to a valet's staking out a claim on your upper lip you've simply got to have a bit of the good old bulldog pluck and defy the blighter.

"Absent Treatment" - contains no Jeeves :(
"Helping Freddie" - contains no Jeeves :(
"Rallying Round Old George" - contains no Jeeves :(
"Doing Clarence a Bit of Good" - contains no Jeeves :((

"The Aunt and the Sluggard" - vicarious wild, wild life

As I stood in my lonely bedroom at the hotel, trying to tie my white tie myself, it struck me for the first time that there must be whole squads of chappies in the world who had to get along without a man to look after them.

Poor Bertie, a good deed never goes unpunished, though the horror inflicted upon his wardrobe was a bit too much.

I read all the stories that contained Jeeves because the petty little disputes between Bertie and Jeeves amuse me, and while the tone is near identical in the others they just don't have that je ne sais quoi that ensures hilarity. Maybe I shorted them by not giving them a fair shake. Oh, well. *flits onwards*

[Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's P.G. Wodehouse, so why not five stars?

Well, here's the scoop. I love Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. One of the most clever duos to have ever graced the printed page. Between Jeeve's restrained resourcefulness and Bertie's self-admitted idiocy, there is a lot of potential for misadventure, and Wodehouse delivers it in droves.

Half of the short stories in this volume are Jeeves and Wooster material. The other half is from what I glean as earlier material, with a main character named Reggie Peppers. Now, Peppers is a fore-runner of Wooster, no doubt, but he is a bit of a homunculus, a shadow, a pretender, when compared to the sharp imbecility of Bertie Wooster. Peppers is . . . well, smarter. And more wordy. The clipped down anti-witticisms of Wooster are watered down in Peppers, which leaves the Peppers stories a little wanting. Peppers wants to be Wooster, but doesn't quite get there because, quite frankly, Peppers isn't dumb enough.

I am so glad that Wodehouse decided to stick with it and followed through to give life to Bertie Wooster. This isn't to say that Wodehouse missed here. Peppers made an adequate character, but Wooster, with Jeeves as his foil, is pure stupid genius. The Wooster stories in My Man Jeeves bear this out. The merry bungling of Wodehouse's longer works is apparent and the plot lines are as ridiculous and convoluted as one can expect in short fiction (though not as ridiculous and convoluted as his novellas/novels). Five stars for Bertie, negative one star for Peppers. Still strongly recommended!

[Beata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good English sense of humour!

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow, I have made it this far into my life without reading anything by P.G. Wodehouse. My Man Jeeves is the first book in the Jeeves series. It is a delightful collection of short stories first published in 1919. It introduces readers to several eccentric and lovable characters. The collection features eight stories, four starring aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his brilliant valet Jeeves, and four featuring Reggie Pepper.

The Jeeves and Wooster stories are the standouts of the collection. Bertie constantly finds himself in absurd predicaments, only to be rescued by the infinitely resourceful Jeeves. The plots typically involve Bertie attempting to help friends with romantic entanglements or financial troubles, only to become hopelessly entangled himself. Jeeves inevitably steps in with an elegant solution (which often comes with a small price for Bertie to pay).

I found this book an excellent introduction to Wodehouse's writing. The prose is playful and witty. I have recently been looking for “fun” books, which also serve as escapism, and this book fits perfectly. I certainly will be reading more of this series.

[Girish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Jeeves-Wooster short story collection is akin to the wright brothers aircraft - surely a piece of genius but way ruddier than how you've grown to love them. My first audio book as well, this was a different experience.

The book is complete with all the buffoonery, muddled up scenarios, slapstick wit and wry English humor. A collection of 8 stories - 4 of which featuring Reggie Peppers who seems like the earlier version of Bertie, always trying to help his friends. Reggie Peppers is said to have tried to steal Jeeves by offering twice the salary to add the connect.

Needless to say, the Jeeves stories are more endearing. The stories are set in New York, where Bertie is hiding from Aunt Agatha after he failed to prevent his cousin Gussie from marrying a club dancer. Jeeves is more a direct Mr.Fixit in the stories where Bertie is the victim of a good heart. In the last story, Bertie vacates his house to help his friend Rocky keep up a lie to his aunt. The best story featuring Reggie is the one where he helps his friend figure out his angry wife's birthday.

Some lovely quotes to go with. A fun read!