Three Men and a Maid

by P.G. Wodehouse

Through the curtained windows of the furnished apartment which Mrs. Horace Hignett had rented for her stay in New York rays of golden sunlight peeped in like the foremost spies of some advancing army. It was a fine summer morning. The hands of the Dutch clock in the hall pointed to thirteen minutes past nine; those of the ormolu clock in the sitting-room to eleven minutes past ten; those of the carriage clock on the bookshelf to fourteen minutes to six.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Classics, Romance, Comedy, Audiobook, British Literature

170 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 26, 1922

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a South Indian curry called sambar (no, not the deer - and it is pronounced "saambaar", and not "sam-burr", you North Indians) which you can find in all the five states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The thing about sambar is that it varies from one state to another, one locality to another (even within the same state), and one community to another. It is prepared spicy, non-spicy, with coconut, without coconut, with a multitude of vegetables added (depending upon the locality), with only onion... but all these are variations on one theme. The moment it touches your tongue, you say: "This is sambar!" And you never tire of it.

It is the same with Wodehouse novels. All variations on one theme; the moment you start reading, you know it's good ol' Plum; and you never tire of it. Majestic matrons; horrible harridans; ungentlemanly aunts; flighty females and their beefy beaus; wimpy washouts in love with winsome women; addle-brained aristocrats; valorous valets... these are some of the very common ingredients. Take them all, or only some of them, mix in varying proportions, cook with excellent English and season with high hilarity - and you have another Wodehouse tome. This novel is no different.

This is how it starts off:

Through the curtained windows of the furnished flat which Mrs. Horace Hignett had rented for her stay in New York, rays of golden sunlight peeped in like the foremost spies of some advancing army. It was a fine summer morning. The hands of the Dutch clock in the hall pointed to thirteen minutes past nine; those of the ormolu clock in the sitting-room to eleven minutes past ten; those of the carriage clock on the bookshelf to fourteen minutes to six. In other words, it was exactly eight; and Mrs. Hignett acknowledged the fact by moving her head on the pillow, opening her eyes, and sitting up in bed. She always woke at eight precisely.

Reading this, the seasoned Wodehouse fan heaves a sigh of relief; he knows that his hero is on the top of his form, and God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.

Here we have a pretty girl Wilhelmina 'Billie' Bennett, the daughter of a hypochondriac American billionaire and her three suitors; the resourceful Sam Marlowe, the literary Eustace Hignett and the wimpy Bream Mortimer; we also have Eustace's theosophist mum who has no other fault than not allowing her son to call his soul his own; the big game-hunter and empire-builder woman Jane Hubbard who is searching for her perfect timid man; the billionaire's romantic and resourceful valet Webster... and a host of others. They bumble along through life on transatlantic boats and remote country mansions, and we accompany them, chuckling all the way.

I was fed up with reading serious books and wanted a break, and picked this up yesterday night. Breezed through it in a couple of hours, with my spirits infinitely perked up, as though I had imbibed one of Jeeves's pick-me-ups.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard not to like a good Wodehouse novel - as he says himself somewhere, his books are basically set in a world where romantic comedies come into being. This isn’t one of the series of books he writes, there are no Jeeves or Woosters or Blandings of Blandings Castle. No need to tell you the plot of this one, really, the plots of a Wodehouse novel (although always masterfully plotted) aren’t really the main interest. There are some brilliantly funny lines, some leg crossingly acute observations of the human condition and a man who looks an awful lot like a parrot. What more could you possibly ask for in a novel?

What is most interesting about this one is that none of the characters are in the least bit likeable. Self-centred, stupid, nasty and spiteful – hardly the standard characters from a romantic comedy – and yet mostly everything works out well in the end, and if that isn’t a definition of a romantic comedy, it is hard to know what is.

If you have never read any Wodehouse don’t start here, start with Jeeves and Wooster. In fact, The world is an infinitely better place due to Mr Wodehouse.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I expected! I don't why I didn't expect much. I think the cover had something to do with it. My version had a picture of a little girl in a sailor suit. I haven't had much luck with Wodehouse books that feature children...unless it depicts Bertie Wooster booting one of the snot monsters in the pants as an aside. As it happens, the "girl" in The Girl on the Boat refers to a young woman. So I dodged that bullet.

On the whole, this is packed with some fun characters and witty lines. You can see Wodehouse shedding his romantic tendencies for his daffier side. The characters are more colorful and absurd than previous efforts. His descriptions are ramping up the hyperbole and razor sharp satire. However, the story runs a little long and the plot is loose...well, looser than Wodehouse is known for. Also, two of the mains are not particularly likable. It's not that all characters have to be nice or "good" or whatever, but you need to have a reason to pull for them. There's no reason here. They're just sh!tbags.

I believe this book pre-dates Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books, other than a single short story lumped in with a collection. I find that interesting because there is a very distinct Jeeves and Wooster feel to this one. The phrasing, the embryonic plot, those colorful characters, so much of what went into this book is the basis for what would come later in the novels he would become famous for.

[Pseudonymous d'Elder · Rating 3 out of 5]

___________________________
The Fickle Pickle: A Tale of Three Males and Females

Wilhelmina (AKA, Billie) is a beautiful young woman with red hair and green eyes. Men keep falling in love with her, despite the fact her hair and eyes make her light up like a Christmas Tree. For instance:

Eustace, a shy but rich poet dominated by his mother, meets her on a transatlantic trip on a fast ship and asks for her hand before they arrive at the other side. 

Bream, a childhood friend of Wilhelmina, has been in love with her for years, but never has the courage to pop the question.

Sam, Eustace's cousin, falls for her at first sight, and sneakily stages events to make himself look good in her eyes.

 
Wilhelmina is not without her flaws. She seems to immediately agree to marry any man who so much as asks her "Would you please pass me the salt?" during dinner. And he won't even have to get down on one knee.

She changes her mind the instant her fiancé of the day doesn't meet her callow ideals of what a romantic affair of the heart should be.  For instance, when Eustace, through no fault of his own, is late for their civil wedding ceremony at the local courthouse because someone has stolen his pants--all of his pants--Wilhelmina immediate dumps him because she can't possibly love someone who would get into such a ridiculous situation. 

I enjoyed this book. Mark Twain believed that humor could be derived from both situation and language. Twain often used situational humor in his stories, creating amusing scenarios and characters. He also employed clever wordplay and linguistic humor to entertain his readers. Wodehouse's humor depends more on his delightful use of language than on his silly plots, but I love his stories (most of them) just the same.  

🌟🌟🌟½ Stars. Fun Book. Maybe not Jeeves and Bertie or Blandings Castle funny, but it made the corners of my mouth curl involuntarily upward 'til they were too tired to pucker.


Note:"Three Men and a Maid" is also known as "The Girl on the Boat" in the UK.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse delivers again! So charmingly absurd and ridiculously hilarious. Such silly situations. I love it! The whole time I was reading this, I was thinking it should be adapted for the stage. It would be a great show.

Quotes:
"Apart from not allowing him to call his soul his own, she was an indulgent mother." (loc 62)

"In fact, he had rather been relying on Eustace to be the life and soul of the party. The man sitting on the bag before him could hardly have filled that role at a gathering of Russian novelists." (loc 255)

"What we call coincidences are merely the occasions when Fate gets stuck in a plot and has to invent the next situation in a hurry" (loc 1350)

I took off a star because there is a scene where the main character performs in blackface (in an imitation of an American actor who did the same, Frank Tinney), and one part where one of the older men says of the other that when he says something you can believe it because "he is a white man". LIKE WHAT. Obviously those parts would be left out of the play. I'm actually kind of torn on this. I honestly can't get enough of Wodehouse. But the casual racism, minimal as it is, bothers me. In another book, he uses the term "n***** minstrel". That is the ONLY remark like that in that book that I recall, but it just kind of drags me down. I know that he was a product of the times and his writing reflects that. I just wish he hadn't used those words/phrases/scenes.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely Wodehouse's humor, language, and characters.

I have had pleasure somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.

[I have been listening to an audiobook from LibriVox. It was a charming reading.]

[Mareli Thalwitzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect 5 star rating! WHY don't we get books like this anymore?? Or do we and I just miss them?? Please let me know! Wodehouse at his best.

I'm not good with audio books - that I realize every time I try. But I've listened to a number of Wodehouse readings (is that what you call it?) so far this year and I was hooked from the first word to the last. I can even quote from this book!! (Now that says a lot, because when reading you can just highlight the passage or take a photo of the page to review later. With audio books you have to listen and remember. Not such an easy task to master)

"She was like a celebrated chewing gum, the taste lingers." Same lady: " She didn't seize to look like a basilisk, but she seemed like a basilisk who had a good lunch"

This story is all about three men and a maid searching for a knight in shining Armour (which she happens to find. Literally)

"It's like the stories of knights who jump into lion dens after ladies' gloves. The resemblance did not strike him - It seems like a rather silly hobby and had to be rough on the lions too."

[Georgia Rudolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

While being quite hilarious, there was still a great stain on this novel: the main characters. I really did not like Sam and Billie, both of them were stupid without the redeeming “good natured-ness” of most Wodehouse characters. Eustace and Jane kind of made up for them though.

[Erika Pensaert · Rating 4 out of 5]

That marriage proposal 😄

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage Wodehouse. A beautiful red-haired girl in search of her Galahad. A hypochondriac American in search of a peaceful summer of health and relaxation. And 3 young men in search of the redhead. Only one of the men is right for Billie, the redhead, but she doesn't know it, the others have their persuasive points, and the Atlantic crossing takes 9 days on the slow boat. Charming and easygoing, like a Tanqueray and tonic on a warm summer night.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totter between four and five stars. This was the *perfect* airplane book: put in the earbuds lean against the window and heave with silent laughter.

I am compelled to find the print version and re-read it with my eyes. There are too many delicious similes and metaphors that I have to experience again. And the verbs! PGW is a wonderful writer's companion.

Wodehouse's wacky humor isn't suited to a steady diet. But punctuated between the prosaic reads, it produced hiccupping guffaws.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent Librivox reading of an early Wodehouse, this time by Kara Shallenberg (kayray).

Amazing that a frolic written almost a century ago is as fresh and hilarious as ever. In fact, it's pleasant to inhabit this idyll of slow Atlantic crossings and English country houses lit only by oil-lamps and candles (such possibilities for farcical misapprehensions).

Five chuckles.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

How people managed before Wodehouse is a mystery. Life must have been grim.

The Girl on the Boat is classic Wodehouse: engagements entered into and severed all over the place, cockamamie schemes to renew the affections of the girl; escapades at a country house; wealthy and irascible American tycoons . In brief, light fun with brilliant & hilarious episodes.

[Erika Pensaert · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+ ✨

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not Wodehouse’s finest, but by goodness, he’s so funny, and so brilliantly plotted, that even when his characters aren’t perfectly sympathetic, it’s still a joy to read him.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another perfectly smashing Wodehouse novel!

[Addy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another side-splitting masterpiece from the undisputed and timeless king of Comedy - PG Wodehouse. The most difficult and the treasured attribute that an author or a movie director can possess according to me, is the ability to make others not just smile, but laugh their hearts out. And while some sprinkle their works with bits of humour here and there , PG Wodehouse just stuffs your mouth with a gas mask, releases the laughing gas and then forgets to switch it off. Each and every page, paragraph and line of this novel will make you laugh more than 3-4 hours(roughly the time required to finish this novel) of watching a comedy show/movie.
The plot is so so ludicrous and features characters whose personalities incite pity, sympathy, loathe, awe and most importantly non stop laughter all the time. You have a girl named Billie who gets engaged (and subsequently broken) to so many people within a matter of days that her father starts keeping count and shouts "FIVE", when he gets it right for once. She also has a pekinese dog, who in her words "has only bitten 3 people today, not including the waiters of course". And then there's another dog, a most lovable Bulldog named Smith who makes a late entry but gets a role with such depth that most bollywood actors would be proud of. Then, there are two cousins, named Eustace and Sam who are besotted with the same red haired girl (Billie) and they all are aboard the same ship. And then there's a parrot faced guy called Bream Mortimer who's accompanying who else, but Billie. Jane Hubbard, a big game hunter, who claims to have fought off an alligator by blinding him in the eye using her nail cutter is also thrown in the picture. Oh and then there's the older lot, the fathers of Billie and Sam and Eustace's mother. And they all eventually end up in England at Mrs Hignett's country house and a riot ensues.
Definitely a 5/5.

[david · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you find a brand of sneakers or shoes that always fit you correctly, you tend to come back to the company that manufactures them. Sometimes, in a museum, you are drawn to a particular artist more than others, even though most must be very qualified. In music, you may still love the Beatles as much today, as when you were listening to them in decades past. Ahem, Mr. Wodehouse, for whatever reason, has become my personal jester (as if I were a king). I have now read several of his books and I personally thank the stars that there remain several more to read. He is quite literate, beyond erudite, retains a sensitive ear for the spectrum of human chaos, and is consummately F...ing Funny. On each and every page... If reading does nothing other than suppress the malaise of the world while we are engaged in it, then at the apotheosis of that diversionary domain, in his genre, PGW is the best medicine available. Amen.

[Shannon (That's So Poe) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ridiculous situations as always with Wodehouse. Lots of amusing side characters, but the main characters were pretty annoying. Also quite outdated at times.

[Richard Hannay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old P.G. almost never disappoints. This is a very funny book, full of vim and joie de vivre. Perfect for autumn.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1922, this Wodehouse unfortunately has the clunker scene of one character deciding to do a blackface routine during a talent show. The character gets stage fright and runs off so thankfully the reader is not subjected to a long dated scene about how funny blackface is. Still, it took me out of the mood for a while. Reminded me that I'm reading an old book and that life for many back then was awful. Not the vibe I am looking for an a slapstick comedy book.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? So yeah, barring that scene the book was standard funny Wodehouse. Lots of crossed signals and uptight aunts and dogs and general silliness.

I'm always a sucker for the author breaking the fourth wall and discussing the writing of the book. Wodehouse is a master at this.

A story, if it is to grip the reader, should, I am aware, go always forward. It should march. It should leap from crag to crag like the chamois of the Alps.If there is one thing I hate, it is a novel which gets you interested in the hero in chapter one and then cuts back in chapter two to tell you all about his grandfather. Nevertheless, at this point we must go back a space. We must return to the moment when, having deposited her Pekinese dog in her state-room, the girl with the red hair came out again on deck.

A man in Mr. Bennett's position experiences strange emotions, and many of them. In fact, there are scores of writers, who, reckless of the cost of white paper, would devote two chapters at this point to an analysis of the unfortunate man's reflections and be glad of the chance. It is sufficient, however, merely to set on record that there was no stint. Whatever are the emotions of a man in such a position, Mr. Bennett had them. He had them all, one after another, some of them twice.

As I read over the last few chapters of this narrative, I see that I have been giving the reader rather too jumpy a time. To almost a painful degree I have excited his pity and terror; and, though that is what Aristotle says one ought to do, I feel that a little respite would not be out of order. The reader can stand having his emotions tortured up to a certain point; after that he wants to take it easy for a bit. It is with pleasure, therefore, that I turn now to depict a quiet, peaceful scene in domestic life. It won't last long - three minutes, perhaps, by a good stop-watch - but that is not my fault. My task is to record facts as they happened

Some of the many funny bits:

"I did my best," said Sam sullenly.
"That is the awful thought."

Eustace Hignett looked up brightly, even beamingly. His eyes were bright. His face wore that beastly self-satisfied smirk which you see in pictures advertising certain makes of fine-mesh underwear. If Eustace Hignett had been a full-page drawing in a magazine with "My dear fellow, I always wear Sigsbee's Super-fine Featherweight!" printed underneath him, he could not have looked more pleased with himself.

At the sight of Sam he beamed. He was not a particularly successful beamer, being hampered by a cast in one eye which gave him a truculent and sinister look; but those who knew him knew that he had a heart of gold and were not intimidated by his repellent face

Your poor mother wanted to call you Hyacinth, Sam. You may not know it, but in the 'nineties when you were born, children were frequently christened Hyacinth. Well, I saved you from that."

"Father, I can never marry. My heart is dead."
"Your what?"
"My heart."
"Don't be a fool. There's nothing wrong with your heart. All our family have had hearts like steam-engines. Probably you have been feeling a sort of burning. Knock off cigars and that will soon stop."

What we call coincidences are merely the occasions when Fate gets stuck in a plot and has to invent the next situation in a hurry

Mr. Bennett felt, as every layman feels when arguing with a lawyer, as if he were in the coils of a python

Mr. Bennett began to forget his remorse in a sense of injury. He felt like a man with a good story to tell who can get nobody to listen to him.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Wodehouse is good thing.

Take a break from all that ails you, world events, politics, you name it.
It’s silly, fun, clever and usually fairly predictable, which can be a good thing if you don’t feel like thinking too hard.

This one is about romance, actually several romances.
From New York, while over the pond and in England.

And so very Wodehouse:

If there is one thing I hate, it is a novel which gets you interested in the hero in chapter one and then cuts back in chapter two to tell you all about his grandfather. Nevertheless, at this point we must go back a space…

Sam had been feeling a good deal of a fellow already, but at the sight of her welcoming smile his self-esteem almost caused him to explode. What magic there is in a girl’s smile! It is the raisin which, dropped in the yeast of male complacency, induces fermentation.

It was, as he had said, a glorious morning. The sample he had had through the porthole had not prepared him for the magic of it. The ship swam in a vast bowl of the purest blue on an azure carpet flecked with silver. It was a morning which shouted to him to chuck his chest out and be romantic.

He threaded his way through a maze of boats, ropes, and curious-shaped steel structures which the architect of the ship seemed to have tackled on at the last moment in a spirit of sheer exuberance.

…”have you ever been in love?”
“Not since I was eleven,” she said in her deep musical voice. “He was my music-master. He was forty-seven and completely bald, but there was an appealing weakness in him which won my heart. He was afraid of cats, I remember.”

“…You see…you see, I’m in love myself.”
“I had an idea you were,” said her friend, looking at her critically. “You’ve been refusing your oats the last few days, and that’s a sure sign. Is he that fellow that’s always around with you and who looks like a parrot?”

A sailor crossed the deck, a dim figure in the shadows, went over to a sort of raised summerhouse with a brass thingummy in it, fooled about for a moment, and went away again. Sailors earn their money easily.

…he recalled some lines of poetry which he had had to write out a hundred times on one occasion at school as a punishment for having introduced a white mouse into chapel.
“Oh, woman, in our hours of ease,
Un-something, something, something, please.
When tiddly-umpty umpty brow,
A something something something thou!”
He had forgotten the exact words…

…His wan look had disappeared. His eyes were bright. His face wore that beastly self-satisfied smirk which you see in pictures advertising certain makes of fine-mesh underwear.

…” I will ask you to picture me seated after some difficulty in a carriage in the New York Subway. I got into conversation with a girl with an elephant gun.”
“She was my soul-mate,”…” I didn’t know it at the time, but she was. She had grave brown eyes, a wonderful personality, and this elephant gun.”
“Did she shoot you with it?”
“Shoot me? What do you mean? Why, no!”
“The girl must have been a fool!”…”The chance of a lifetime and she missed it. Where are my pajamas?”

And lastly:

…The last few minutes of waiting in a cupboard are always the hardest…

[Yibbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah… Lying. Yes, that’s the way to any girl’s heart. Surely nothing can go wrong. A few lies and it will surely be smooth sailing to the altar. Ah, but that’s not how it works in Wodehouse land, or in the good old USA for that matter. Might not those titanic whoppers open our hero up to the risk of some slight embarrassment? Well obviously, his poor life is dictated by the master of the ridiculous situation; he’s in for it, and anyone in the near vicinity.
Unfortunately for him, the heroine can’t stand the slightest hint of ridiculousness. She is the definition of a romantic Victorian maiden longing for a white knight. And she gets one, or at least… Oh! I can’t say that - it would give too much away. I’ll let just have to let you discover what I’m desperately longing to share for yourself.
There were several curse words sprinkled through this book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The people in this story were such strong caricatures that it was hard for me to find any of them very likable. It was entertaining, but hard to actually root for any of them. That said, Wodehouse’s narrative style is superb. It’s highly engaging and entertaining- sarcastic to just the right degree. I absolutely love it and am only sad that I’ve just now discovered his writing! I’m looking forward to reading lots more of his work!

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Girl on the Boat is a typical Wodehouse comedic standalone from 1922, before he ventured deep into the Jeeves and Blandings canons that have IMO been his best work. But some of these lesser Wodehouse novels can turn out to be hidden gems. I thought the 1919 stand-alone A Damsel in Distress to be of surprisingly high quality and I rated it 5 stars. So I was open to this tale.
The story starts off in the New York rented flat of British author Mrs. Horace Hignett where we are introduced to that dowager who dominates her son, the shy poetical Eustace Hignett. Eustace is engaged to the lively and red-haired Wilhemina “Billie” Bennett, who will be traveling to England with her father, who has been unsuccessfully seeking Mrs. Higness to let him rent the Hignett family estate for his stay in England.
An earlier title for the story tells the basic plot more succinctly: Three Men and a Maid. Billie Bennett is the maid and the three men are Eustace, his suave cousin Sam Marlowe, who falls for Billie at first sight and Bream Mortimer, who as a long-time Bennett family friend as long pined for Billie.
After New York, the story continues onto an ocean liner headed to England where all four titled characters are aboard. Also on board is Billie’s friend, the adventurer Jane Hubbard, who also plays a part in the romantic hijinks that start on board and then continues onto British soil at the Hignett family estate, which, in his mother’s absence and knowledge, Eustace has rented to the Bennetts. Somehow, all the parties end up staying at the Hignett estate.
All three of the story’s settings are fairly familiar ones for Wodehouse, who himself was comfortable in England, America and travelling between. And while most of the plotting moved smoothly with the typically witty and sharp Wodehouse dialogue, I thought the humor was at a moderate rather than high level. While I smiled often, nothing in the plot or dialogue impressed me as being especially funny, imaginative or insightful.
But despite its more moderate entertainment value, it was still entertaining enough for me to rate it as 3.7 stars. Thus this is still a 4-star Wodehouse novel, as 3.7 rounds up to 4 stars.

[Leela · Rating 5 out of 5]

What are holidays without (re)reading a few P.G. Wodehouses?

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and witty! Wodehouse does it again. This is a wonderful stand alone story that is sure to engage and lift the spirits.

[Bethany Naykalyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many amazing quotable lines. Wodehouse has a way with words that just makes me laugh and laugh. A truly funny story!

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe it was the new historicist, Steve Brownblot, who argued Wodehouse was part of a transatlantic cultural trade symbolized by the ocean liner.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to this book after Uneasy Money , in which the hero and heroine were both instantly likeable people, so it was a disappointment to me that this book's heroine was instantly dislikeable and the hero quickly became so.

For me, real-life attraction requires that I know and like someone, and so when I read a romance I want the people involved to be people I want to cheer for. If they're not, I won't care about whether they succeed in getting together or not; I may actively hope they don't, or reflect that at least the miserable life they'll live together is well deserved. So it was with The Girl on the Boat.

When we meet the girl of the title, whose name is Billie, it's immediately established that she has a nasty, undisciplined little dog who bites people, and who she has named Pinky-Boodles. This put me off her at once; her prettiness and red hair meant nothing in the face of these facts. As the book goes on, she gets engaged six times in a three-week period to three different men (she alternates between two of them for a while); her father, hearing about the first three of these occasions, accurately remarks that she shouldn't be allowed to run around loose.

Meanwhile, the apparent hero, Sam - we assume he's the hero because we largely get his viewpoint - is a man who the author openly admits is without a conscience, who practices deception and manipulation at every turn in order to gain his goals (which at least fits him well for his prospective career as a lawyer). It would be cruel and heartless to say that the two of them deserve each other, but I'm still tempted to do so.

The minor characters, to me, were much more interesting. The ugly but good-hearted law clerk Jno. Green, a kind of anti-Uriah Heep; the African hunter Jane Holloway, who wants nothing more than a gentle, fragile husband to look after; Mr Bennett, the hypochondriac American businessman with a love of natural beauty; his manservant, who reads very like Jeeves, down to his style of speaking and his offering of solutions (though he lacks Jeeves' competence in scheming); all of these, to me, had much more potential than the superficial and unpleasant main characters.

This book was originally published in 1920, by which time Wodehouse had begun to write Jeeves and Wooster stories. What he eventually realized, I think, is that when you write a romance, bringing it to a successful conclusion means having to start afresh in the next book with a new couple; but writing an anti-romance, in which the goal is to end up not engaged, is something you can keep going indefinitely with the same central character. Honestly, this romance would have been better as an anti-romance; it ends up feeling like the author is shoving the couple together despite the fact that they are a poor fit for each other or, indeed, anyone else. Not that Wodehouse would be the last author to do that; plenty of authors are still doing it today, more than a century later.