It had been a long time since I picked up a book to read. Who could be a better author than P.G.Wodehouse to oil the old hinges and reignite the interest of reading? His books not only offer a blissful indulgence into a world of unadulterated joy, but also a lot of exercise for those grey cells, thanks to his rich vocabulary usage.
His Bertie-Jeeves stories revolve around similar lines like Bertie getting into a predicament in spite of his unsurpassed attempts to steer clear out of mess and it’s Jeeves who extracts him out. His tales are narrated by Bertie in first person.
Story: In this story, Jeeves is a member of the Junior Ganymede club. This club is exclusively for butlers and valets. The primary rule of this butlers’ club is that all members should record all information and mishaps about their masters in the club book, however weird or embarrassing the secrets of their bosses are! This book could potentially help fellow butlers in deciding whether or not they should accept a particular employer’s job offer. This explosive club book has a history of eighty years of juicy collection and is placed under lock and key with the club. Bertie is worried that such a book could be used as blackmailing stuff by anyone who lays his hostile hands on it.
Bertie’s favourite aunt Dahlia(who has a booming voice fit to hound several horses to their stables), has invited him to stay with her for a few days. He is overjoyed to accept this invitation since he has always loved the delicacies served by her French cook Anatole. To add to this, his old chum Ginger is also at the aunt’s place contesting for the upcoming Market Snodsbury elections. On reaching the aunt’s place, Bertie is in for a shock since the people he would not like to be found dead in a ditch with are the very inhabitants of the old aunt’s home. Two of them are his ex-fiancées- Florence and Madeline. He is rattled further to know that his friend Ginger is engaged to none other than the bossy and snobbish Florence. It is she who has forced him to contest for the elections. To add to the chaos, Madeline thinks that Bertie is deeply in love with her and that he has become a petty thief since she broke his heart and left him.
All’s going kind-of-well (since nothing can go too well for Bertie with so many pests around) till a retired butler Bingley is successful in pinching the tell-tale club book of secrets! Beneath its covers, lie the tantrums committed by the election contender Ginger during his merry and carefree days. Now, will Bingley hand this over to the opposition or to the press? If Ginger loses this election, Florence will break off their engagement. Let’s leave it to the resourceful Jeeves to get the book back into safe hands.
As we can guess, the book does arrive in safe hands eventually. But that’s not all. Ginger suddenly realizes that he is in love with his secretary and not the bossy Florence. The only way out of his relation seems to be to lose the election!
What follows is a laugh riot and a lot of funny twists where Bertie could get engaged to both the hard- hearted Florence as well as the fairy tale lover Madeline!
A review on this hilarious tale would be incomplete without a few quotes:
‘Wooster is the name, ’ I said. ‘I am my aunt’s nephew.’
‘These eggs, Jeeves are very good, very tasty. Laid, no doubt, by contented hens.”
‘It just shows the truth of the old saying that half the world doesn’t know how the other three-quarters live.’
‘Voters are like aunts, you never know what they will be up to from one day to the next, but it was a thing you couldn’t count on.’
Describing aunt Dahlia’s voice:
‘I wonder if aunt Dahlia ever sang lullabies for me in my cradle. If so, it must have scared me cross-eyed, giving me the illusion that the boiler has exploded.’
My Opinion: It’s an amazing book for readers familiar with the Wooster surroundings, but not recommended for beginners. There are way too many characters in this story and a new comer could get confused. As we laugh our lungs out on the crazy situations, we can’t help but feel sympathetic towards Bertie who tries his best to help aunts and friends out of some mess but himself gets entangled in a sticky web and worsens the cases. This book guarantees a smile frozen on the reader’s face till the time it is in his/her hands. I’ll put my opinion in Taarak Mehta’s style, “Aapke liye hai tahaake, masti aur dher saare hungaame. Sirf Much Obliged, Jeeves mein!”