I’ve only read one of his books, but it was one widely regarded to be his “funniest” (The Code of the Woosters.) I wouldn’t call it a slog, but it didn’t exactly fly by. Most of my favorite books are comic novels, and it’s not like I can’t laugh at more benign comedy (I love Charles Portis), but Wodehouse’s brand of kooky similes left me almost completely stone-faced. I see people quote “convulsed like a Pekingese taking a pill” and other lines like it as if they were the most hilarious creations to ever be conjured by the human mind, and maybe they are. But I never laughed, I barely even smirked if I’m being honest.
With a lot of authors, I would just assume one particular book didn’t click with me. But Wodehouse, from what I understand, wrote almost 100 books that are more or less functionally the same. Maybe it was a mistake starting with a novel instead of his short stories, although the Psmith books seem the most interesting to me.
Is it worth bothering with any more of his books, though?
He’s in my “way too Britishly British” pile along with the Carry On movies and (sorry) Douglas Adams. Just can’t get over the image of someone leaning over a lectern to place emphasis on a line like, “I should rather we have taken the train, Beatrice,” to a smug well dressed audience of British people drinking brandy and taking dainty nibbles out of cucumber sandwiches. Ghastly.
A part of me does think I might find his style a little too self-conscious to be funny. I generally admire extreme deliberation in writing but I wonder if there’s a certain point where it just sucks the life out of the jokes.
A part of me does think I might find his style a little too self-conscious to be funny. I generally admire extreme deliberation in writing but I wonder if there’s a certain point where it just sucks the life out of the jokes.