So, a bunch of wealthy birds -- coves and chappies all -- have right rummy and bally goings on, by Jove, and when one of them gets into a dickens of a pinch, all is soon set to right, by Jeeves.
This is my first foray into P. G. Wodehouse, and honestly, I thought it would be funnier and less formulaic. The funnies:
There was something sort of bleak about her tone, rather as if she had swallowed an east wind. This I took to be due to the fact that she probably hadn't breakfasted. It's only after a bit of breakfast that I'm able to regard the world with that sunny cheeriness which makes a fellow the universal favourite. I'm never much of a lad till I've engulfed an egg or two and a beaker of coffee.
"I suppose you haven't breakfasted?"
"I have not yet breakfasted."
"Won't you have an egg or something? Or a sausage or something? Or something?"
"No, thank you."
She spoke as if she belonged to an anti-sausage society or a league for the suppression of eggs. There was a bit of a silence.
****
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.
****
I had decided—rightly or wrongly—to grow a moustache and this had cut Jeeves to the quick. He couldn't stick the thing at any price, and I had been living ever since in an atmosphere of bally disapproval till I was getting jolly well fed up with it.
I like British humour, and I don't need it to go full Benny Hill to make me chuckle, but the jokes here were weak tea for me. I listened to this collection on audiobook and there's a chance that I might have liked it better on the page -- perhaps I could have rolled around a bit more in the wordplay if it had been more leisurely.
As for the formula, half of these were Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves stories, and in every case, some rich chappie of leisure would come to Wooster with a rich chappie's problem and Jeeves would offer a solution. After the plan backfires, it is revealed that Jeeves has already set things to right. And probably thrown out one of Wooster's ugly ties. The stories are less charming when they feature Reggie Pepper -- especially since he has no Jeeves -- and the story that had a nasty manservant named Voules, "Rallying Round Old George", was the least charming of all.
I don't know that I was missing out on much before meeting Sir Wodehouse here but could be persuaded to try him again if the mood suited.
