My Man Jeeves

It would be presumptuous of me to write a review or a critic of P.G.Wodehouse. His writings have been revered by many and the tongue-in-cheek humor is something that authors aspire for even today.

Its an interesting thought that while I am a voracious reader of book, I never picked up a PG Wodehouse even though many of my friends are ardent fans of the author. It took an iPad and the free book for me to read the first Jeeves book.

'My Man Jeeves' is a collection of eight short stories introducing Bertie Wooster, an epitome of a rich feeble minded Englishman with too much money and time on his hands and his 'manservant' or butler Jeeves, the person whom he most depends on. While most of the stories focus on the interplay between Wooster and Jeeves the collection also introduces you to another character, Reggie who can be thought of as a prequel to Bertie Wooster but without Jeeves at his side. Needless to say the Wooster/Jeeves stories are what makes this collection a classic.

For a first time reader the writing introduces you to the English humor and Queen's English (I learnt quite a few new words in this book). As you read the simple stories you revel in the fact that you know what solution Jeeves will present to the problem at hand but you enjoy reading on how it is presented and accomplished. You wonder how Wooster did not think of the solution and realise that he does not need to when he has Jeeves around. You wonder at how Jeeves even decided on what dress Wooster looks good in and snigger when sometimes Wooster does not agree with the selection only to realise his folly later.

The stories are simple, brilliant, immensely enjoyable and with caustic humor built in. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a paid version of entire PG Wodehouse collection on my iPad.

Rating? Do I need to but its 4/5 only because I wanted all of them to be Wooster/Jeeves stories.