Right ho, Jeeves!

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The 2012 re-read

Gussie Fink-Nottle is in love with Madeline Bassett but can't seem to talk to her. Madeline Bassett is in love with Gussie Fink-Nottle but thinks Bertie Wooster wants to marry her. Bertie's cousin Angela was engaged to Tuppy Glossop but they had a bust-up over whether or not Angela saw a shark. Can Jeeves put them all back together? He might have been able to, had he and Bertie not had a falling out over Bertie's white mess jacket...



First off, this review will hardly be unbiased. My love for P.G. Wodehouse is such that if the zombie apocalypse occured and Wodehouse came staggering toward me with a lust for brains, I would be completely unwilling to shoot him.



The second full-length Jeeves and Wooster novel is a big improvement over the first. The writing is crisper, the similes even more hilarious, and Jeeves and Wooster function like a well-oiled machine. Once again, the rift between Jeeves and Wooster was used as a plot device, more effectively than in Thank You, Jeeves.



As usual, quotable lines are in abundance. As usual, I did not write any of them down while I was reading.

"Lack of appetite? I'm as hollow as the Grand Canyon!"

"The exquisite code of politeness of the Woosters prevented me clipping her one on the ear-hole."



The strength of the Jeeves and Wooster books is that Bertie is a bit of a fathead, and he performs the role admirably in Right ho, Jeeves. Bertie thinking he could be as good as Jeeves at solving problems? Pshaw, I say! Once things are suitably muddled, Jeeves saves the day, as he always does. I do not consider the previous sentence a spoiler since it happens in every Jeeves book.



Funny moments abount, many of them centering on a drunken Gussie Fink-Nottle. Aunt Dahlia is in fine form. Tuppy, Angela, and Madeline Bassett were neglible but still had their moments.



Right Ho, Jeeves, the second Jeeves and Wooster novel, is a much better read than the first. Wodehouse is the master of the bumbling romantic comedy. Four easy stars.



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