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Title: Leave It to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse ISBN: 0-394-72026-1 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 November, 1975 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Unlike olives, Psmith is not an acquired taste!
Comment: If you own 10 Wodehouse books, this should be one of them. For years I have been a huge fan of the farcical Bertie & Jeeves stories. This book also throws some romance and a touch of mystery into the brew. Be careful that you are not in public or that you are not in the middle of having a drink when you reach page 198, because I am warning you - you will erupt into a fit of freakish laughter which probably won't subside for another 5 or 10 minutes, with intermittent relapses thereafter.
The eccentric and congenially self-absorbed Wodehousian hero of this novel is Psmith - pronounced with a silent P as in Ptarmigan (he finds that his birth name, Smith, is just too boring). Although he holds a membership to London's six most exclusive clubs and never a wrinkle or misplaced crease did find its way into his impeccable attire, he finds himself in dire financial straits. To make it worse, while lounging in the smoking-room window of the Drones Club, he instantly falls in love with a passing young dainty - but he has no idea how to introduce himself into her society.
Yet there might be a solution to his problems through the ad for work-wanted that he recently placed in the Morning Globe. In the caption he expresses the sentiment that he will take on any job whatever (including assassinating Aunts) except for anything relating to fish. You have a problem? "Leave it to Psmith!"
He ends up impersonating a well-known Canadian poet in order to introduce himself onto the guest list at beloved Blandings Castle, presided over by the eminent Lord Emsworth. While there he must steal a diamond necklace from under the tireless eye of The Efficient One - Emsworth's flower-pot-wielding secretary Baxter. Enjoy!
Rating: 5
Summary: Leave it to Psmith
Comment: Psmith was one of Wodehouse's most popular characters. Wodehouse's last finished book was published in 1974...but he had retired Psmith by 1923, with the publication of Leave it to Psmith. Hard to believe, and a bit of a shame.
On the plus side, resoundingly, this swan song for R. Psmith is pure gold. What a terrific idea to finish up with Psmith at Blandings! Psmith is at his unpredictable best; his quest at Blandings involves a dual aim...pinching Constance Keeble's necklace in a good cause (several people would benefit from this unspeakable felony, including Psmith's old friend, Mike Jackson who, alas, never appears in this story where his name is so bandied about), and pitching woo to Eve Halliday, sorter and filer of Lord Emsworth's books. The plot really explodes once we finally get to Blandings, but the lengthy lead-in to this, which introduces the extensive roster of characters, provides many amusing moments as well, chiefly due to Lord Emsworth's ability to misinterpret anything said to him, and his inability to detect Psmith substituting for an irate poet whom Lord Emsworth only just parted company with, temporarily, a few minutes previously.
As for the frosting: the Efficient One, Baxter, is humiliated once again, this time via fifteen flower pots (not counting a sixteenth flower pot, the one he was really after, but moves around quite a bit, as flower pots containing valuable necklaces are apt to do), Freddy Threepwood is in the wrong place at the right time. And of course, Blandings Castle still collects imposters like some gigantic net built for this purpose. In fact, in this book it is as if a vast conveyor belt is dispensing imposters at the castle on some kind of regular schedule; once Psmith finagles his way into the castle as the poet McTodd, others with the same intention have taken a number and are merely a step behind.
There is no avoiding a bittersweet taste to this wonderful romp which sees Psmith fading into the sunset, but what a joyous way to go. Thankfully, my favourite Wodehouse character, the Ninth Earl of Emsworth, was not going anywhere just yet (a man losing his spectacles this often is, naturally, not so mobile).
Rating: 4
Summary: Another world of prose.
Comment: If you like Wodehouse you will probably enjoy Saki too.
The forward in the book was of interest, especially after just finishing Byron who Sheed claims created an anti-artist movement in England due the general disfavor Byron had among much of the public. Gilbert and Sulivan as well as Wodehouse, among others, are the resultant anti-artist artists. School Masters throughout England were on guard to make sure they did not produce another Shelly or Byron, drowning would be pretenders to the thrown in ridicule and derision. The likes of Wodehouse, not Flauberts, were the result according to Sheed, who introduced the book.
I laughed hardily some four times, chuckled some six times, felt soporific inducement twice, phantom retching feelings thrice. The plot's believability qualifies for the realm of sci-fi. Wodehouse creates a world of unique language and sophomoric hijinks, his anti-hero has a manner of speaking to everyone as if they were an affable child, without condescension, but with a co-conspirital flavor that is approving and jocund -- possibly Wodehouse's greatest quality. The book could be shorter, by some 50 pages, some jokes and jovial flavors of feeling were wrung out for everything they were worth.
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Title: A Damsel in Distress by P. G. Wodehouse ISBN: 1585674303 Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 15 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Mulliner Nights by P. G. Wodehouse ISBN: 1585674338 Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse ISBN: 1585674346 Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Psmith in the City by P.G. Wodehouse, P. G. Wodehouse ISBN: 1585674788 Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 11 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: UKRIDGE by P.G. Wodehouse, P. G. Wodehouse ISBN: 1585674796 Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 11 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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