The Clicking of Cuthbert

Rating:
Summary: The First Volume of Oldest Member Golf Stories
Review: Can anyone find new sources of humor in golf? Certainly, it takes a great humorist to do so. P.G. Wodehouse pulled off this feat by combining an obvious love for the game with sense of irony about the humiliations that golfers experience for their sport, a subtle mix of love and how golf can complicate that emotion, and a hilariously overbearing narrator who is obviously the biggest windbag in the golf club.

Be sure to read the book's foreword in which P.G. Wodehouse describes how he was taken by golf.

As the Clicking of Cuthbert opens, a young man is about to give away his clubs and quit golf. The Oldest Member relates to the young man The Clicking of Cuthbert in which an earnest young golfer in love finds the way to his beloved's heart through a most circuitous detour through the drawing room to discuss literature.

A Woman Is Only a Woman explores how falling for the wrong woman (one who doesn't care for golf) can blight life and friendship.

A Mixed Threesome shows how the judicious man is careful to whom he introduces his fiancée . . . while looking at the pleasures of golf compared to the pleasures of marriage. It's very funny.

In Sundered Hearts, a misunderstanding about golf leads to a marriage and a marital mishap.

In The Salvation of George Mackintosh, Wodehouse looks at the awful pest . . . the non-stop-talking golfer.

In Ordeal by Golf, that old tradition of doing business on the course takes a predictable turn as two men fight it out for advancement by playing with the boss.

The Long Hole looks at both the potential for cross-country golf to be an adventure and the trickiness of the rules.

The Heel of Achilles looks at the role of confidence in building up the golfer.

The Rough Stuff returns to an old theme of Wodehouse's, the need to let your emotions go to make contact with the heart of the one you love.

The Coming of Gowf is a writer's fantasy about creating a fanciful golf story. Anyone who has ever struggled with an editor will be laughing for days.

Fore!!




Rating:
Summary: The Oldest Member's greatest hits!
Review: If you've enjoyed Wodehouse's golf writings just half as much as I have, then I've enjoyed it twice as much as you! But, surreally, folks, I've really enjoyed Wodehouse's works on tape, for those long & medium drives, & even more for those interminable waits in traffic while trying to force my way to and from the metrop. Listening to Plum's stuff on tape reminds me of the Car Talk bumper sticker, "I'm Not Laughing At You, I'm Listening To Car Talk".
I had gotten an abridged (45 minute) tape of Wodehouse golf stories from Amazon UK, & while it was nice, it left me a little "peckish" for more. When I saw this unabridged set was available, I dove on it like Bertie Wooster on a policeman's helmet on Boat Race Night.
While I really enjoy the stories, Frederick Davidson's vocal stylings of The Oldest Member remind me of a Seattle kids' TV show character, Foghorn. Doug Setterberg, who played Foghorn, had had a laryngectomy, & spoke through a small amplifier. Remember what those sound like? Normally anything by Wodehouse is soothing, & relaxing, but after 1/2 hour of Davidson's droning tones, I was biting huge patches out of my upholstery & the headliner in my Humber Super Snipe. I give this set 9 stars just because of the brilliance of Wodehouse's stories, although this set needs more content. The set ends with "The Coming Of Gowf", one of my least favorite of Wodehouse's golf stories, but the last 5 minutes of this story takes up about 5 minutes of the 5th cassette of the set, leaving PLENTY of space for wonderful tales such as the tales of Rodney Spelvin. I deduct 5 stars due to this, and due to the reader's voice, leaving a net of 4 stars. I really wish they had chosen someone like Richard Wilson II to read this, but what the heck, eh? Now if PBS & the BBC were to do these stories for TV, that would be something!

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious title story
Review: Many of these golf stories are not above average Wodehouse humor--but that's funny enough! The title story alone is worth the price; it's very clever, very funny, and one of his best little gems. Cuthbert is having trouble competing with a local literary light for the attention of a fair maid, until a bigger foreign literary light comes to put the local novelist in the shade. Vladimir Brusiloff's character is a marvelous caricature of the deep, dark, dismal Russian novelist; his systematic self-promotion by tearing down the reputations of other literary lights with lightning-bolt rapier thrusts (which at the same time humiliate Cuthbert's local rival) is ingeniously funny. In the end, an unexpected enthusiam proclaimed pontifically by the visiting literary lion enables Cuthbert's prowess in the great game of golf to trump the literary pretensions of his local rival in the great game of love.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious title story
Review: Many of these golf stories are not above average Wodehouse humor--but that's funny enough! The title story alone is worth the price; it's very clever, very funny, and one of his best little gems. Cuthbert is having trouble competing with a local literary light for the attention of a fair maid, until a bigger foreign literary light comes to put the local novelist in the shade. Vladimir Brusiloff's character is a marvelous caricature of the deep, dark, dismal Russian novelist; his systematic self-promotion by tearing down the reputations of other literary lights with lightning-bolt rapier thrusts (which at the same time humiliate Cuthbert's local rival) is ingeniously funny. In the end, an unexpected enthusiam proclaimed pontifically by the visiting literary lion enables Cuthbert's prowess in the great game of golf to trump the literary pretensions of his local rival in the great game of love.

Rating:
Summary: A woman is only a woman, but a hefty drive is a slosh
Review: Probably most famous for his Jeeves and Wooster books, P.G. Wodehouse was an avid golfer. 'The Clicking of Cuthbert' was the first of two books Wodehouse wrote about golf (the other being 'The Heart of a Goof'). It was originally published in the US as "Golf Without Tears" in 1924 - 2 years after the first UK publishing. It's also one of the first books by Wodehouse that I read, back in the days when I did play the game myself. However while I have, just like the Oldest Member, long since retired it's still a book I can pick up and enjoy.

Rather than a straightforward novel, the book is a collection of ten short stories. With the exception of the tenth, each story is 'told' by the club's Oldest Member. There is a common theme throughout the stories the Oldest Member tells - how golf is vital to success in every aspect of life. The last story, however, is my favourite one in the book. It's a historical tale, telling of the coming of a strange new religion called Gowf to the country of Oom.

I think that this book would appeal more to the golfing community than to the uninitiated. There are certain terms and phrases specific to the game, which mightn't make much sense to a non-golfer and could possibly break the flow of the story a little. Furthermore, some of the terminology associated with the game has changed since the book was written. Clubs are referred to in the book as baffies, niblicks and mashies while, at the time Wodehouse wrote the book, the word bogey meant par. On the other hand, it's still a book written by P.G. Wodehouse - he does have a very distinctive style of writing and certainly appears to have a hugely loyal fanbase. If you've read other books by him and enjoyed them, odds are you'll enjoy this - regardless of your expertise on the golf course. If you haven't read any Wodehouse before, I'd probably suggest starting with a Blandings or a Jeeves novel.

Rating:
Summary: A woman is only a woman, but a hefty drive is a slosh
Review: Probably most famous for his Jeeves and Wooster books, P.G. Wodehouse was an avid golfer. 'The Clicking of Cuthbert' was the first of two books Wodehouse wrote about golf (the other being 'The Heart of a Goof'). It was originally published in the US as "Golf Without Tears" in 1924 - 2 years after the first UK publishing. It's also one of the first books by Wodehouse that I read, back in the days when I did play the game myself. However while I have, just like the Oldest Member, long since retired it's still a book I can pick up and enjoy.

Rather than a straightforward novel, the book is a collection of ten short stories. With the exception of the tenth, each story is 'told' by the club's Oldest Member. There is a common theme throughout the stories the Oldest Member tells - how golf is vital to success in every aspect of life. The last story, however, is my favourite one in the book. It's a historical tale, telling of the coming of a strange new religion called Gowf to the country of Oom.

I think that this book would appeal more to the golfing community than to the uninitiated. There are certain terms and phrases specific to the game, which mightn't make much sense to a non-golfer and could possibly break the flow of the story a little. Furthermore, some of the terminology associated with the game has changed since the book was written. Clubs are referred to in the book as baffies, niblicks and mashies while, at the time Wodehouse wrote the book, the word bogey meant par. On the other hand, it's still a book written by P.G. Wodehouse - he does have a very distinctive style of writing and certainly appears to have a hugely loyal fanbase. If you've read other books by him and enjoyed them, odds are you'll enjoy this - regardless of your expertise on the golf course. If you haven't read any Wodehouse before, I'd probably suggest starting with a Blandings or a Jeeves novel.

Rating:
Summary: Formulaic, but pure Wodehouse (and a great gift for golfers)
Review: The "Oldest Member" of a country club narrates ten comic tales to dispirited and frustrated younger golfers in order to boost their spirits, enhance their morals, and keep them from snapping their clubs in half. In typical Wodehouse style, most of the stories involve chasing skirts as well as replacing divots (although definitely not in that order of priority).

There are two principal scenarios: a player's love of golf either impresses or repels the girl of his dreams, or two players fall in love with the same woman and their performance on the course settles the dispute. Since these formulae have, of course, a very limited number of possible outcomes, it's best to savor the chapters singly, more to enjoy the humor and less to anticipate the endings, which are usually foreseeable. (My favorite story strays from the basic blueprint--sort of. A golfer with a mean temper relies on some randomly selected sayings of Marcus Aurelius in order to maintain his cool, impress his boss, earn a promotion--and keep his fiancee.)

How much one appreciates this volume will, not surprisingly, depend on whether one plays golf. Golf lovers are sure to enjoy these sketches, which are greatly enhanced by Wodehouse's trademark drollery and smart-aleck asides. Recuperating 18-hole addicts (I myself have been club-free for 23 years, 6 months, 10 days) will find themselves heading for a tavern to avoid relapse. Golf widows (and widowers) are likely to burn the volume before they get to page 20. And non-golfers--even readers who enjoy Wodehouse's other works--are certain to be baffled by passages such as this one: "The twelfth is a long, dog-leg hole, bogey five. Alexander plugged steadily round the bend, holing out in six, and Mitchell, whose second shot had landed him in some long grass, was obliged to use his niblick. He contrived, however, to halve the hole with a nicely-judged mashie-shot to the edge of the green."

If haven't read Wodehouse before, this volume isn't where you should start--especially if you don't play golf (I recommend "Joy in the Morning"). If, however, you have had to endure the passions of a golfer, this is probably one of the best gifts you can get him or her.

Rating:
Summary: Good story, badly read
Review: The narrator's style and characterization are misplaced. It's as if an affable uncle is reading a story badly. Wrong choice, especially when there are such good Wodehouse interpreters out there (e.g., Jarvis, Mordern, Carmichael, etc). Wodehouse is, of course, wonderful, but choose another edition.