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Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Best Ever Written
Review: I read this book many years ago and it's still refreshing and highly enternaining.
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Summary: Wodehouse at his worst
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. This book does no justice to the Jeeves line of stories. It is disjointed, and not in the least bit funny. If you really want to see Wodehouse at his best, I would recommend "Thank You Jeeves". Anybody who reads this book will be off Wodehouse for life, that's for sure.
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Summary: Wodehouse starting point
Review: Jonathan Cecil has the genius to bring Jeeves and Wooster to life. If you've not experienced the absolute brilliance of Wodehouse, then this is the one to begin with. I've listened to these tapes at least 100 times while driving or doing some domestic chore. They remain as fresh and delightful as ever..an inspiration to be good humored and innocent throughout our lives.
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Summary: Wodehouse is a timeless treasure
Review: One of the earlier Jeeves and Wooster collections, this is a series of very loosely linked short stories generally following the same template: young, wealthy airhead Wooster or his pal Bingo Little gets in some sticky situation, and it is up to his genius butler Jeeves to devise an ingenious solution to the quandary. Here, the somewhat repetitious misguided amorous ramblings of Bingo make for the lion's share of troubles, although the high spirits of Bertie's cousins Claude and Eustace also make plenty of work for Jeeves. The stories can fairly be compared to contemporary TV sitcoms, as they to reply on recurring (often over the top) characters, a rarefied setting, a single type of humor, and recurring situations. Simply put, if you like one Wooster story (and don't get sick of them), you're going to like them all. Much of this can be explained by Wodehouse's mastery of the language and constant deft turns of phrase, period slang, and comic timing. Those who deride the shallow subject matter and milieu of the Jeeves and Wooster series need to recall the context in which these stories appeared. Only a few years removed from the horrors of World War I-an event barely alluded to in the series, despite the loss of an entire generation of British young men-the stories can be viewed as a bandage of sorts, an attempt to transport the reader to a world far removed from the traumatic recovery from the Great War. Not to mention Wodehouse's clear depiction of the upper classes as wastrels and idiots of the highest order when compared to the street savvy of the servants (as exemplified by Jeeves). Of course, one doesn't read Wodehouse for social commentary or as a salve these days, but for his dry wit and keen command of the written word.
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Summary: Laugh like you never have before
Review: Published in 1923, this first volume in the Jeeves series is a collection of short stories, all loosely tied together. Most of the stories in this collection center on Bertie's old school chum Bingo Little and his extraordinary propensity for falling in love with `every second woman he meets.' Notable in this book is Jeeves's constant displeasure at some ill-chosen article of clothing belonging to the young master, and his haughty way of expressing his disapproval - and, of course, Bertie's constant giving in to Jeeves's wishes. Although not the funniest or wittiest of Wodehouse's books, it is a wonderful introduction to the characters and the unique humor and style of Wodehouse. The story that stands out to me in this collection, on the strength of its purely ingenious premise, is The Great Sermon Handicap, followed by The Purity of the Turf.See next: Carry On, Jeeves
Rating:
Summary: A great beginning
Review: Published in 1923, this first volume in the Jeeves series is a collection of short stories, all loosely tied together. Most of the stories in this collection center on Bertie's old school chum Bingo Little and his extraordinary propensity for falling in love with 'every second woman he meets.' Notable in this book is Jeeves's constant displeasure at some ill-chosen article of clothing belonging to the young master, and his haughty way of expressing his disapproval - and, of course, Bertie's constant giving in to Jeeves's wishes. Although not the funniest or wittiest of Wodehouse's books, it is a wonderful introduction to the characters and the unique humor and style of Wodehouse. The story that stands out to me in this collection, on the strength of its purely ingenious premise, is The Great Sermon Handicap, followed by The Purity of the Turf. See next: Carry On, Jeeves
Rating: 
Summary: Lukewarmly recommended
Review: This book is a collection of about a dozen loosely-connected stories centering around a moderately wealthy, idle young man named Bertie Wooster and his ingenious valet, the famous Jeeves. Bertie is always getting into crises, either through the demands of his fearsome Aunt Agatha, his gambling addiction, or the absurdly numerous love affairs of his friend Bingo (yes, Bingo). After the situation appears to be an irreparable disaster, Jeeves (often not consulted initially because he is annoyed with Bertie over his purple socks or other poor fashion choices) steps in and saves the day by some clever tricks.
The stories are written in a seemingly exaggerated 1920s British English (at least, some of Dorothy Sayers's characters show similar speaking patterns but not nearly as comically extreme) - lots of "I'll be dashed!"s, "Shift-ho, Jeeves, what?"s, and "I say!"s - which I enjoyed, though that's probably a personal quirk. They are consistently clever, witty, and amusing, but they mostly hover just below the threshold of actual laughter (with a few exceptions, such as the gambling contest on which priests could preach the longest).
Verdict: Lukewarmly recommended. If you want to laugh out loud, Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett is better. But reading Wodehouse is fun, and definitely a pleasant way to, e.g., pass the time waiting in an airport.
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Summary: Fun
Review: This book isn't quite a novel, but rather a series of related short stories that approximate one. Each works quite well in this context and contains the usual Wodehouse verbal charm, but with the added bonus of allowing you to absorb the whole scene without need to reference much of the rest. What you miss out on is the author's (unique, at least in the past century) ability to weave an intricate and unblemished plot over two hundred and fifty pages, but it can be fun to examine a thread in detail from time to time.
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Summary: A good laugh, but Plum could do better
Review: This is a pretty early Jeeves & Wooster (not, I think, the very first, as somebody says below) and it suffers a bit from being a rambling collection of episodes tied up with the absolute slimmest of attempts at an overall theme. Broadly speaking, it deals with the repeated encounters between Bertie and the irrepressible Bingo Little, whose amorous misadventures make up most of the book. There's a slight uncertainty about Bertie's diction; Wodehouse is too keen to emphasise Bertie's stupidity, which leads to a certain repetitiveness, and the book lacks the inspired lunatic poetry of later stories. Still, it does contain the classic line about "aunt calling to aunt like mastodons bellowing across the primeval swamp", and it's clearly a test-bed for many later ideas. But if you're a Wodehouse beginner, I'd direct you first to "Joy in the Morning" or the all-time classic "The Code of the Woosters". Wodehouse's genius wasn't just his sense of humour, it's his benignity; you can be a raging left-wing anarchist like me and still find his books a delight, because he has so few prejudices and is capable of being so funny about almost nothing at all. He is amazingly lacking in malice. His books are absolutely not a useful guide to Britain in the 20s, or for that matter Britain at any time - they obey their own internal laws, and you either get it or you don't. That his career lasted from before Henry James' death to a time when Don DeLillo had already published three novels is something I find slightly appalling - but I'm still glad the books are there.
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Summary: Funniest Wodehouse
Review: This was my first Wodehouse book, and it remains my favorite. I have read it at least 10 times, and still chuckle audibly when I do so. It never gets stale. Every single chapter is hilarious. If you love humor and love the English language, you will treasure this book!
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