The White Feather - P.G. Wodehouse

A simple, straight, sweet book. I would have thrown it away in the empty fields beyond my bedroom balcony if Wodehouse had written anything else. I read P.G. Wodehouse mostly for his way with words. His light sense of humour helps, and the happy endings always cheer me up.

The book is about the horrors and helplessness of a typical geek in a setting which demands physical prowess. Sheen, the geek, fails miserably short of expectations. He then ends up being the disgrace of the house, the black sheep. And the seething and boiling that ensues in his soul in the weeks following the unfortunate incident, drives Sheen to take some remedial, if not drastic, measures. Fortunately he has a mentor to guide him. And a world renowned mentor, at that.

So how does the story unfold? Does Sheen manage to win the glory back for his house? Does he redeem himself fair and square? This is nail-biting, blood stopping, breath freezing suspense. Actually, its not. It’s P.G. Wodehouse for crying out loud. I read him for just plain fun. Predictability be damned. And that’s what a P.G. Wodehouse book gives me. Do not expect this book to be a crash course on “boxing”. Because while it is the central sport in the book, and a “straight left” can apparently knock down even Hercules himself, there is a lot more to boxing than Wodehouse cares to explain. But one thing that he does contribute to boxing, which was never before present in the sport, is his quintessential humour.

You can relate to the Sheen the geek, or Drummond the good guy who everyone in school listens to, the school days rowdiness... all of it. Really speaking, the book is not as funny as some of the other Wodehouse books, and the plot is quite simplistic as well. This is a work from the initial part of the Wodehouse’s career and is not nearly as “totally awesome” as his later works. Yet, I enjoyed the book immensely. A Wodehouse fan will definitely love this book. I guess the other readers could give it a miss. In fact, if I were to be neutral this book would get pretty low ratings. But as it turns out, I am a Wodehouse Fan. So Five Stars for the book!