Review: JEEVES AND WOOSTER by PG Wodehouse

Original Publication Date: 1934

Genre: Mystery, comedy

Topics: Society, love, no good deed goes unpunished












Review by Sharky & Smiles:

Imagine you’re a pleasant, helpful, not very clever member of the upper class. Imagine your friends aren’t even that clever or that pleasant and helpful. And they keep getting into trouble and expecting you to get them out of it. Of course, they’re your pals, so you do, mostly based on plans your incredibly intelligent valet makes up. Same thing applies when you mess everything up and get into even deeper trouble.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, needlessly overcomplicating a simple problem.

Simple problem you say? Now imagine if X loves Y but can’t meet Y so Z goes to make sure Y doesn’t get stolen away by Y’s charming guest while pretending to be A because A is engaged to B and B’s relatives are expecting A to visit and A can’t make it.

... what...

That’s the BASE plot of the book we read. It just gets worse from there until everything collapses on itself like an abused soufflé. Somehow into a happy ending.

The pattern is broadly the same in each book in the series, but they’re all uniquely absurd in their own ways. The nice thing is you can probably just grab any Jeeves and Wooster book (and there’s a lot of them) and enjoy it as a stand-alone, without having to worry about sequence or whether you have to read five other things to know what’s going on.

You’ll likely never know quite what’s going on anyway, and that’s the fun of it. It’s another one of those wild rides where you just have to trust the author. And if you can’t do that, if you keep stopping to roll your eyes or object to how silly things are getting, you don’t enjoy. These are SILLY books. So silly. Complete, absurd, slapstick, screwball comedy narrated with a style I’m completely in love with.

Remember what we said about Hitchiker’s Guide being weird with amazing narration? This is very like that, but without the freedom of weirdness of being set in space among aliens. And if you think a non-magical, non-alien setting doesn’t give you much leeway to be silly and strange, boy are you wrong.

The characters are more like caricatures, the plots are basically ridiculous, and the narration keeps going off on its own tangents in the most amusing ways. Great descriptions, run on confusions and liberal use of ‘dash it all!’

I’m 100% behind the way things are narrated. But I tend to lose patience with the characters sometimes, they’re all such idiots. They’re supposed to be but that doesn’t always help.

I caught Sharky yelling oh my God just tell the truth already at the book.

Oh my God just tell the truth already it’s not that hard but you’re making it harder what is happening why is nobody making any sense.

It got worse for him when someone tried to tell the truth, it got over-exaggerated by someone else, and now nobody believes the original truth.

WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY IS NOBODY MAKING ANY SENSE.

But that’s why you have to hold on and just trust the author. Everything has to go horribly for the main character, Bertie, before things can get better for anyone else, and always in the most ridiculous ways. It would almost be tragic if it wasn’t so funny.

Unlike Sharky, Jeeves is actually helpful. And objectively the smartest person in every book.

But even the stupidest characters can be really sarcastic and witty, even if Bertie can never quote anything properly even when he’s trying to act clever.

Someone somewhere once said something very profound about comedy and tragedy being the same. Kind of. Broadly. Probably.

Now you know what to expect when Bertie quotes anything.

I like the setting. There’s something nice about spending time in a little bubble where the biggest problem tends to be ‘my aunt is angry at me and she’s very scary’. It reminds me of those books where kids could have adventures because they didn’t really have to worry about anything else. Despite the fact that these books are set between wars and during, we’re in a sunny little patch where things are good, money- and status-wise, but love and family is confusing and people are unreasonable and sometimes there isn’t time to dress for dinner and you feel out of place.

Just so you know, Smiles has been shaking in place, trying not to spend the entire review just spouting off quotations rather than talking about the book.

I just want to quote so many things! ... which I do with every book. Tell you what, between this review and the next one, we’ll do a mid-week upload with a quote from each of the books we’ve reviewed!

Wha- we didn’t discuss that!

Oh Sharky, when do I ever discuss what we’re going to do with you?




Download Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse at Project Gutenberg|Librivox

VERA by Elizabeth von Arnim

Original Publication Date: 1921

Genre: satire/comedy

Topics: love, marriage, feminism, Gothic




















By heidenkind

Ten signs you shouldn't marry that guy you're going to marry according to Elizabeth von Arnim:

• He's old enough to be your father.
• Your friends hate him. ALL your friends.
• Your family also hates him; but even worse, he doesn't give a shit if they do or not.
• When he talks politics, he bears an eerie resemblance to Dick Cheney.
• His last wife died under mysterious circumstances.
• The only thing that upsets him about this is it infringes on his schedule.
• He has absolutely no imagination.
• Or sense of humor.
• He reminds you of a two-year-old, but requires even more attention.
• His library consists entirely of expensive books he bought in bulk, keeps locked behind glass, has never read, and has no intention of ever reading.

Vera is often called a satire of Gothic romance in summaries of the novel, and it is--but not in a silly Airplane! sort of way, more in a here's-what-it-would-really-be-like-bitches sort of way. It's the story of Lucy, a young girl who meets Everard Wemyss literally hours after her father has died, leaving her an orphan. It goes without saying she's in a vulnerable state. Coincidentally, Wemyss himself has recently lost his wife, Vera, under mysterious circumstances. Was it suicide or an accident? No one really knows, but the two deaths pull Everard and Lucy together. It's almost like they're meant to be! But how long will Lucy survive once Everard takes her back to his ominous estate and the site of Vera's death?

What makes Vera different from other Gothic romances--such as, for example, Rebecca--is that Everard really is as awful as he seems. Worse, actually. The man has no redeeming qualities WHATSOEVER. He's a narcissistic, selfish bastard and an emotional vampire. Lucy's constant excuses for his controlling behavior and acceptance of his insults are MIND BOGGLING.

I know right now you're thinking Vera is probably depressing, but weirdly it's not. It is actually funny, if only because Arnim is so clever and takes such delight in making us hate Everard (fun fact: he is supposedly based on her second husband). You also can't help but laugh at Everard because he is so ridiculously awful.

I'm not sure I would recommend Vera to fans of Rebecca, because the purpose of the two books is completely different, despite the similarities in plot. I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoyed The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, found Twilight infuriating, or if the heroes of Gothic romances annoy you with their douchey-ness. It is a really good book.




Download Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim at GirleBooks|Librivox|Project Gutenberg

Review: THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Original Publication Date: 1777

Genre: play

Topics: comedy, aristocracy, gossip, love





















Review by heidenkind:

Lord Peter Teazle suspects his wife is having an affair with Charles Surface, a charming ne'er-do-well who's in dire financial straights. She's not; Charles is actually pursuing Lord Peter's ward, Maria, and so is his brother, Joseph (who is also a ne'er-do-well, but seen as respectable because he has money). Hurt by her husband's accusations, Lady Teazle decides to behave in accordance to his suspicions and considers an affair with Joseph. All of this drama is brought to you by the scheming Lady Sneerwell and her friend, Snake. Will Lord Peter realize his wife really does love him, and will Charles pull himself out of debt so he can marry Maria?

The School for Scandal is a fun play. It kind of reminded me of Dangerous Liaisons, if Dangerous Liaisons was meant to be a comedy and was about English aristocrats instead of French ones (read: there's a lot less sex). In both you have two aristocratic characters, a man and woman, who make a pact to manipulate people they know for their own amusement. The major difference between The School for Scandal and Dangerous Liaisons, and what makes the former a comedy, is that Lady Sneerwell and Joseph aren't the central characters--that honor goes to the much more likable Lord Peter, Lady Teazle, and Charles Surface.

A teaser from a 1959 BBC production of The School for Scandal

The central story about Lord Peter and Lady Teazle is actually kind of sweet, because Lord Peter really does love and adore his wife. For some reason he just can't believe she would have married him for anything other than his money. Charles Surface also turns out to be a good guy, if a roguish one, with genuine respect for Maria and affection for his uncle. I would have liked a stronger emotional conclusion to Lord Peter and Lady Teasle's story, but these two storylines definitely qualifies The School for Scandal as a proto-romcom in my mind. The play also has some great lines in it. My favorite was, "They murder characters to kill time," but Lady Teazle also gets some good comebacks in when she's arguing with Lord Peter.

The School for Scandal is definitely worth reading, especially if you're a fan of the 18th century and/or romantic comedies where misunderstanding is piled upon calculation and the clever lines come quick and fast (something along the lines of Down With Love). Listening to it performed by a cast in the Librivox version was especially fun.



Download The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan at Project Gutenberg|Librivox

Guest Review: MAPP AND LUCIA by EF Benson

Original Publication Date: 1920-1939
 
Genre: comedy
 
Topics: society, English village politics
 




















Review by Liz Inskip-Paulk (http://ravingreader.wordpress.com/):

Burying into Benson…

I’ve been diving into the fictitious and rather perfect world of an English country village and its inhabitants the last few weeks, this one of Risholme, the home of Lucia and her gang and all the machinations involved in their social shenanigans.

E. F. Benson (1867-1940) wrote a series of novels with the group title of “Mapp and Lucia”, all revolving around the social goings on of a group of (mostly? all?) upper-middle/upper class villagers who are vying with each other as to who should “rule village society”. Lucia rules the roost so far in the series, but she’s had some serious challenges from Daisy et al. especially when she left for London for a while.

I am up to number 3 in the Benson series now* although I did read a couple of them (accidentally) out of order just to get a taste of things, and if you are after a light frothy read about domestic community social politics, then these Lucia books are *perfect* for that. (It could be argued that the Mapp and Lucia books are a more domestic version of Wodehouse’s Bertie and Wooster, I suppose.)

Lucia is the de facto “head” of the village, although in her absence, the inhabitants grouse about her leadership style, and it is this tension that provides the ongoing theme throughout the Mapp/Lucia series. Benson provides an anonymous omniscient and rather camp narrator to tell the story, and this works very well as it allows the reader to see the different PoVs involved in the tangled weave of local politics (socially speaking) through a rather witty lens.

Clearly, the world of Risholme is idealized and epitomizes the idea of “traditional English village” more than real life, but they are rather fun to read. A slightly snarky sense of humor pervades the story, which removes some of the seriousness of the events, and they are really funny in places.

The Benson Mapp/Lucia series is relatively easy to get hold of on-line -- he was a prodigious author, writing a large body of work including fiction, non-fiction, articles and essays -- but it is for Lucia that he remains most famous for.

The Mapp/Lucia series are a treat to read, but like anything sweet, will need to be spread out to get the most fun from it. At the same time, though, I recommend that you don’t leave huge gaps between each title so you can keep the key characters straight.

Take a visit to Risholme and see for yourself!

E. F. Benson’s Mapp and Lucia series:

• Queen Lucia (1920)
• Miss Mapp (1922)
• Lucia in London (1927(
• Mapp and Lucia (1931)
• Lucia’s Progress (1935) (also known as The Worshipful Lucia)
• Trouble for Lucia (1939)

Download the Mapp & Lucia Series by EF Benson at Librivox|Project Gutenberg

Review: PENELOPE'S ENGLISH EXPERIENCES by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Original Publication Date: 1900

Genre: comedy

Topics: travel, society, comedy of manners













Review:

Penelope is one of three American women living in London. Although they're of different backgrounds and ages, they all share one talent: social faux pas among the British!

Penelope's English Experiences is a collection of very short (think newspaper column-length), humorous essays about the travails of living in England for an American woman. The essays center around things like trying to understand British currency, British humor, and how intimidating English servants are. Kate Douglas Wiggin (of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm fame--which I didn't know until I googled her) pokes gentle fun not so much at the British but at Americans traveling abroad and how they desperately want to be liked by everyone, including the servants.

Mind, when I say "humorous" I don't mean these stories are laugh-out-loud funny. They did make me chortle once or twice (there's a comment Penelope makes about Americans procrastinating that struck me as particularly clever... no idea why, of course ;), but mostly the stories are just cute, and some are pretty obscure.

I suppose you could call Penelope's Experiences Abroad a proto-chick lit novel. It's all about her adventures as a single woman living in London, and is very episodic. Unfortunately I've never been a big fan of chick-lit, and since there wasn't any narrative to speak of, it was easy to get bored during the more obscure columns. Honestly, the only saving grace is that the stories are so short.

I would say Penelope's English Experiences, as unoffensive as it is, is skippable--unless you have a particular interest in turn-of-the-century women living in London, in which case you'll probably get all the jokes and find this book pretty interesting.



Find Penelope's English Experiences at Librivox|Project Gutenberg

Review: TRIPS TO THE MOON by Lucian of Samosata

Original Publication Date: c. 150

Genre: comedy

Topics: philosophy, history, satire, adventure

Other titles: True History, A True Story













Review:

Lucian of Samosata was a rhetorician in Ancient Rome and, from what I gathered in the introduction to this book, a thorn in the side of everyone he ever met. His modus operandi was to ridicule the practices of other philosophies; in Trips to the Moon, historians are his main victims.

A 2nd-century rhetorical treatise doesn't exactly sound like a laugh riot. The only reason I downloaded Trips to the Moon was because le fabeau Ralph Snelson narrated it. While it wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, it was amusing, and an interesting read.

The book is divided into three parts: first is the introduction from the translator, then "Instructions for Writing History," and finally "True History," which Lucian tells us is completely made-up.

As a disillusioned academic, I have to say I found Lucian's criticisms of historians to be spot-on. Apparently the behavior of over-educated elitists hasn't changed that much in the last 1800 years! Seriously, you put some unimaginative khakis on these guys instead of togas and you've got modern academia in all it's glory, which probably shouldn't surprise me as much as it did.

To boil down his argument, Lucian thinks that historians should only write about things they know from first-hand experience. Obviously, if you're writing about events that happened before you were born, this would be impossible. Thus Lucian argues historians are just using their imaginations to make stuff up, then pretending that what they've written is "fact." Ergo he's going to write the truest history that ever was, by making everything up but being totally honest about what he's doing.

So follows an adventure where Lucian and some companions travel beyond the Straight of Gibraltar and wind up having all sorts of adventures, including being trapped in a giant whale, flying to the sun, meeting gods and goddesses, and traveling to the moon just in time to become embroiled in a war.

Trips to the Moon is categorized as the first science fiction novel and a precursor to Edgar Rice Burroughs and HG Wells, but personally I think that's a total misunderstanding of both Lucian's point and the genre of science fiction. This is a satire of contemporary culture and a story meant to be beyond ridiculous. The appeal of science fiction is that it might happen, which is a conceit Lucian not only doesn't make claim to, but would probably make fun of if he was alive today. Even if you're only passingly familiar with ancient writings, it's easy to see that he's referencing previous works and then upping the ante to make the tales absolutely incredulous.

Also, there are a lot of references in the text that have no purpose other than to mock past and current historians. For instance, Lucian meets Herodotus in the belly of the whale, where he's being eternally tortured for telling lies in his own Histories, and reflects that he's happy he's never told one. Before that Lucian meets Homer, who spends most of his time telling historians who disagree with him to go fuck themselves (in summary).

Overall I found Trips to the Moon very interesting. It does start to drag at the end, but it's very inventive and clever, and occasionally amusing. Every criticism Lucian has of the study of history was and still is completely valid, and I only wish we had our own Lucian to remind academics not to take themselves so seriously.


Read Trips to the Moon at Project Gutenberg|Librivox|Sacred Texts