1923; 281 pages. New Author? : No. Genres : Anthologies; British Humour; Classic
Literature. Overall Rating : 8½*/10.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bertie Wooster and I’ll be your
narrator of the stories in The Inimitable Jeeves.
Jeeves is my valet, and serves
me well. He’s a very quiet person, but when asked, will offer a lot of helpful advice when my joie de vivre (as the French say)
is being tested. Yes, I speak
French. It is an inherent part of my
Upper-Class social status.
Jeeves and I make a fine team
as I wend my way through the complex social circles of the titled peers of
London. I contribute the leadership and
intellectual qualities necessary and Jeeves supplements this with his fine
acumen of social decorum.
Hmm. Jeeves just heard me say that and rolled his
eyes. I wonder why.
What’s To Like...
The Inimitable Jeeves is a collection of eleven short stories from P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster” series. All were previously published in magazines in 1918-1922, then cleverly stitched together to make a novel-length book that came out in 1923. The majority of the stories take place in London, but there are also trips to France and New York City cleverly blended in. It was fascinating to watch Jeeves and Bertie in those foreign locales.
The main theme explored in The
Inimitable Jeeves is True Love.
Bertie’s childhood friend, Bingo Little, repeatedly falls into this sad
state (see the second excerpt below),
but it happens occasionally to Bertie himself (thanks
to his Aunt Agatha), and once even to Jeeves. Bertie’s cousins, Claude and Eustace, also
fall hopelessly in love, but their problem is that they both become enamored by
the same lass simultaneously.
Romance is not the only
theme in town. Claude and Eustace are adept at talking Bertie into heavy wagering—they themselves are usually broke—on such things as “the Egg ‘n Spoon Race”
and “the Great Sermon handicap”. You can
guess the outcome of Bertie’s wagering.
Being a quasi-anthology, there
isn’t really a distinct ending to The Inimitable Jeeves—just a final
short story. But it’s a good
choice. Bingo gets married; Bertie goes
crazy; Jeeves saves the day; and everybody ends up happy. To give details would entail spoilers.
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.5/5
based on 3,987 ratings and 299 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.20/5 based on 31,203
ratings and 2,548 reviews.
Kewlest New Word ...
Eftsoons (adv.) : soon afterward; shortly; once
again (archaic).
Others: Mazzard (n.); Persiflage (n.); Vergers
(n.); Ḕpris (adj.; French); Bally
(adj.); Rummy (adj.).
Excerpts...
“By great good luck I have found the very
wife for you, a girl whom I have only recently met, but whose family is above
suspicion. She has plenty of money, too,
though that does not matter in your case.
The great point is that she is strong, self-reliant and sensible, and
will counterbalance the deficiencies and weaknesses of your character. She has met you; and, while there is
naturally much in you of which she disapproves, she does not dislike you.” (loc. 695)
“Oh, Great Scott! I said. “Don’t tell me you’re in love again.”
He seemed aggrieved.
“What do you mean—again?”
“Well, to my certain knowledge you’ve been
in love with at least half a dozen girls since the spring, and it’s only July
now. There was that waitress and Honoria
Glossop and —”
“Oh, tush!
Not to say pish! Those
girls? Mere passing fancies. This is the real thing.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“On top of a bus.” (loc. 1528)
Kindle Details…
The main Kindle version (there
are a number of options) of The Inimitable Jeeves
is priced at $0.51 at Amazon right now.
Amazon markets it as part of a 16-book series labeled Jeeves & Wooster, but only nine of the 16 volumes are available in
e-book format. They range in price from free
to $12.99.
It seems rummy that
water should be so much wetter when you go into it with your clothes on than
when you’re just bathing. (loc.
827)
As you’d expect from a 1923
humorous novel, the profanity in The Inimitable
Jeeves is pretty light. I counted
just seven instances in the first third of the book; all of them of the milder
ilk. There are no f-bombs and no adult
situations. This is spoofery for the
sake of comedy.
The book is written in 1920s
English, not American, and which I thoroughly enjoyed. Some of the new (at least for me) words are given above; others included chemmy, coves,
and chappie. It’s always fun to learn a foreign language.
The only quibble I can come up
with is the page-numbering. I read The
Inimitable Jeeves on my Kindles—I have two of them—and both made a mess of the
page counts. My older Kindle simply
refused to give pages and/or text locations.
My newer Kindle started counting pages about 75% of the way through the
book.
But I pick at nits. This is my fifth “Jeeves” book (although
the first since 2012), and I’ve enjoyed them all. There’s something about wry British humor
that tickles my funny bone, and P.G. Wodehouse excels at keeping me laughing out loud.
8½ Stars. One last thing. P.G. Wodehouse also excels at coming up with scintillating character names. Some used here are: Honoria Glossop, Daphne Braythwayt, Old Lord Bittlesham, Cyril Bassington-Bassington, Charlotte Rowbotham, and Cynthia Wickhammersby. Are those fantastic appellations or what?!
