Wodehouse cracks me up discussion

It’s my view that Mister Schott does a jolly good impression of the Wodehouse prose style, but the story is, charitably, a hotch-potch, and these Jeeves and Wooster fellows are strangers to me. Bertie, in particular, if it’s meant to be the same chap, has experienced an intellectual renaissance. The loveable, affable, dependent and dependable Wooster is, in this book, a sort of cross between Noel Coward and, I suppose, Jeeves.

A couple generations have gotten hold of Jeeves & Wooster since Wodehouse stopped writing about them. I dunno if fanfic culture is activating novels like these. But regardless it’s satisfying to see the continuation. As Bertie ages, readers want to see happiness for both him and Jeeves. And it’s somehow intuitive that they won’t find it in each other. So we want to see potential spouses!

Whitney wrote: "A couple generations have gotten hold of Jeeves & Wooster since Wodehouse stopped writing about them. I dunno if fanfic culture is activating novels like these. But regardless it’s satisfying to se..."

I wholly agree. I have no objection to Faulks giving satisfaction where Wodehouse elected not to, nor even to Schott parachuting Jeeves & Wooster behind enemy lines, but The Wedding Bells felt like a daring yet legitimate venture into new territory, while The King of Clubs reads like a reboot.

I never could bring myself to read any Jeeves books not written by Wodehouse! :)

Elisabeth wrote: "I never could bring myself to read any Jeeves books not written by Wodehouse! :)"

Neither could I Elizabeth, but I have found the original books a perfect antidote to current times.

Tania wrote: "Elisabeth wrote: "I never could bring myself to read any Jeeves books not written by Wodehouse! :)"

Neither could I Elizabeth, but I have found the original books a perfect antidote to current times."

For sure!

Elisabeth wrote: "Tania wrote: "Elisabeth wrote: "I never could bring myself to read any Jeeves books not written by Wodehouse! :)"

Neither could I Elizabeth, but I have found the original books a perfect antidote ..."

I fully understand but note that Sebastian Faulks' Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is a warm, happy, hilarious close to second to the real thing. And I wasn't expecting to like it (I might even have been determined not to) and yet, I really did.

Ben Schott, however, is not a close second nor a distant third. I read Jeeves and the King of Clubs, in fact, because of Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. I read the second installment, Jeeves and the Leap of Faith, because I had read the first, and now I'm trapped in a quality dive that I can only hope stops at a trilogy.

For those interested, here are my reviews of The King of Clubs and Leap of Faith.