Psmith Journalist

Rating:
Summary: Psmith in Another City - Rupert Comes to NYC
Review: "Psmith Journalist" is the third Psmith novel and finds the hero cavorting in the New York City of 1914, as he unilaterally takes over a weekly newpaper, runs afoul of politicians and gangsters, and consorts with other gangsters to arrange for his protection. This sounds rather grim but actually Psmith continues to delight us with his humorous language and indomitable aplomb. As with the other early novels the final plot resolution is rather weak but not without being preceded by a hundred-odd pages of hilarious dialog and action. Moreover, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into the New York of a distant year, with which the author was intimately familiar.

Rating:
Summary: Audiobook is a real let-down
Review: Maybe I've had an overdose of Wodehouse lately, having read Piccadilly Jim, Biffen's Millions, Plum Pie, and this book practically in a row, but I was simply not entertained by Psmith Journalist at all.

Perhaps it was Jonathan Cecil's reading (and I know that had a lot to do with it). His characterizations are indistinguishable and his attempt at an American accent is laughable (if you have heard any Monty Python, you'll recognize it).

But I think that could have been overlooked (or overlistened?) if the story had grabbed me. It seemed to be about Psmith taking over a New York rag and making it into a scandal sheet, involving a boxer somewhere along the way, but I can't be sure. I just didn't care, and I found nothing funny at all.

There is nothing to offer the casual Wodehouse fan in this novel. However, I will read his work again, as he has so much to offer in other books.

But I really think it's mainly Jonathan Cecil's fault.

Rating:
Summary: Psmith at large in New York
Review: This isn't Wodehouse's funniest novel, but it is definitely the most exciting, with a more dramatic plot than usual. Psmith takes on a crooked slum landlord, hounding him through the pages of 'Cosy moments' a bland family paper that he has transformed with the help of assistant editor Billy Windsor. Psmith is a wonderful character, languid, frivolous and comic on the surface, tough man of action underneath, a modern Pimpernell. there are some wonderful comic characters, especially Bat Jarvis, the tough gangland boss with a passion for cats. I wish Wodehouse had written more about Psmith, he could have been the hero of a whole series of thrillers, with Mike Jackson as his stalwart sidekick. Instead Wodehouse married him off in the next Psmith novel (Leave It To Psmith) and we hear no more of him, what a pity!

Rating:
Summary: Psmith at large in New York
Review: This isn't Wodehouse's funniest novel, but it is definitely the most exciting, with a more dramatic plot than usual. Psmith takes on a crooked slum landlord, hounding him through the pages of 'Cosy moments' a bland family paper that he has transformed with the help of assistant editor Billy Windsor. Psmith is a wonderful character, languid, frivolous and comic on the surface, tough man of action underneath, a modern Pimpernell. there are some wonderful comic characters, especially Bat Jarvis, the tough gangland boss with a passion for cats. I wish Wodehouse had written more about Psmith, he could have been the hero of a whole series of thrillers, with Mike Jackson as his stalwart sidekick. Instead Wodehouse married him off in the next Psmith novel (Leave It To Psmith) and we hear no more of him, what a pity!

Rating:
Summary: Comic Feast for any intellectual!
Review: This sharp and witty book is a must for any intellectual humanoid! The language is simply divine! It is a younger Frasier Crane working a Ph.D in linquistics of English, full of energetic laughter and irony.

Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: This was the first Psimth book which I read, and though there was a bit of the real world, and sentimental stuff too (unlike the Jeeves' series), I thouroughly enjoyed it. A must read for Wodehouse fans.