Thank You Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

Thank you Jeeves is the first of the Jeeves collection for me. But the reputation of this butler preceded him. As it happened, I was aware of Jeeves being the epitome of butlerhood. And along with Bertie Wooster, they make a pair good enough to win the tag team championship of getting-out-of-trouble contests.

This book has all the elements Wodehouse is so famous for. The simple to follow, yet multi-layered plot, the confusion about who’s going to get engaged to who, and of course that humour which inescapably makes you laugh. It even has a bit of a juxtaposition of American and British characters which Wodehouse carries off with a quite a charm!

The story begins with Bertie Wooster being evicted from his house for his insistence on playing the banjolele, which didn’t exactly produce the sweet melody that he intended too. And that singular stubbornness ends up involving his childhood pal, his ex-fiancee, his ex-almost-father-in-law and a bunch of sorted relatives and local policemen in a tangle, which requires all of Jeeves’ talents to unravel. And needless to say, Jeeves is quite upto the task.

As a first glance at the character of Bertie Wooster, I must say I quite liked him! His philosophy on the right partner to spend the life with was enlightening! And his attitude to his ex-girlfriend was so healthy, that a lot of those strife torn lovers who get dumped by their girlfriends should learn from. Even if someone can’t manage to be as angelic towards their ex-s as Bertie, at least there would be lesser cases of spurned lovers trying to take the life of their lost loves.

Last word, this is Wodehouse as his fans like him the best. If you are one of those people who have that sensibility to understand Plum, in-built into your DNA, then you are going to enjoy this one! It even has one hilarious preface on how Wodehouse writes his stories. That’s always a fun to know from the writer first-hand

P.S.: In JLA (Justice League of America), Wally West, the “Flash” refers to Alfred, Batman’s butler, as Jeeves! Fancy Flash reading Wodehouse!!!