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Blandings Castle #4
Summer Lightning
Hugh Carmody loved Millicent, Lord Emsworth niece, but he was very good friends with Sue Brown - an attachment which Millicent, perhaps, could hardly be expected to enthuse over. Ronnie Fish loved Sue, and entertained feelings o unrestrained ferocity towards Pilbeam, a blister of the first water, who was pestering her with flowers. When Millicent and Ronnie heard that Hugo and Sue were having dinner on the quiet, there was trouble; and when Ronnie, descending upon Mario's, found not Hugo but the execrable Pilbeam, summer lightning flashed in truth. How Lord Emsworth's pig was stolen, how Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe was accused of the crime, how Mr Baxter fell out of windows and drove Lord Emsworth to the verge of desperation, and much more is all told in Mr Wodehouse's inimitable manner.
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First published July 1, 1929
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About the author
P.G. Wodehouse
1,700 books6,950 followersSir 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).
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).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 710 reviews
October 14, 2024
Kidnapping a pig a silly plot for a novel, ordinarily so but not if written by the brilliant , renowned comedic writer of innumerable stories, P.G. Wodehouse . Blandings Castle is the center of the ongoing mayhem and the 9th Earl Emsworth , 60, the clueless preparator and fond lover of his prize swine the Empress of Blandings, some dastardly fiend took the poor animal. Shock, unhinging the already this some say lord, a simple minded man, (be kind people) better description absent- minded, nothing else matters to him. Now the cast of odd characters. .. Lady Constance the bossy sister of the master of the castle and real ruler, Galahad the playboy younger brother whose scandalous memoirs causes much concern of his former friends and the driving narrative here. The younger set focuses on the romantic complications and breakups, then rejoining again, love, hate follow at appropriate time, place this in a nutshell the book's allure. Ronnie Fish the brash nephew with a secret entanglement with a chorus girl Sue, how unwise. Millicent the bold niece in the manor even worse a lowly servant her paramour, the new secretary Hugo Carmody, to the not quiet magnificent Earl...disgusting. Lady Constance conspires for the return of the former secretary Rupert Baxter, perpetually falling out of windows, or throwing flower pots at the castle, still very efficient unlike the present one. Others appear, to show silly situations in the proper best light, detective Percy Pilbeam sneaking around in hiding places, a bit of a jerk hired by the lord to find the Empress. Arch rival neighbor, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, has a pig , a big competitor to the stout Empress, don't you enjoy these names? This fellow can't believe why he is the prime suspect in this the quite puzzling, foolish maze, readers agree nevertheless complex
though humorous mystery, however just forget the many machinations as the funny scenes are the ultimate reason for fans coming back. There is charm also in the narrative it present an Englishness which no one but the author has the talent to reveal to the world , in an amusing way that maybe isn't accurate anymore but should be. This is a very good explanation for the continuous popularity of Mr. Wodehouse after a century and who knows if ever this changes, I myself thought.
though humorous mystery, however just forget the many machinations as the funny scenes are the ultimate reason for fans coming back. There is charm also in the narrative it present an Englishness which no one but the author has the talent to reveal to the world , in an amusing way that maybe isn't accurate anymore but should be. This is a very good explanation for the continuous popularity of Mr. Wodehouse after a century and who knows if ever this changes, I myself thought.
September 27, 2025
Perfect comfort read.
Someone said that Blandings Castle is just Jeeves and Wooster dressed in other names and places. Although I agree, I don't think it's a bad thing. It's just charming Wodehouse's style. The one that guarantees that whatever his book you pick, you'll enjoy it.
It has all author's notable features: cute characters, cosy English countryside, ridiculous situations and immaculate witty language.
Someone said that Blandings Castle is just Jeeves and Wooster dressed in other names and places. Although I agree, I don't think it's a bad thing. It's just charming Wodehouse's style. The one that guarantees that whatever his book you pick, you'll enjoy it.
It has all author's notable features: cute characters, cosy English countryside, ridiculous situations and immaculate witty language.
March 4, 2025
The Empress of Blandings has been pignapped!
What, what?
This has all the earmarks of a great Wodehouse story, and I love the inhabitants of Blanding Castle. Yes, even Lady Constance and Mr. Baxter.
With the ever-wobbly Lord Emsworth at the helm, this installment has everything you could want in a Wodehouse novel, including my favorite character, the effervescent Honourable Galahad Threepwood.
You can't go wrong with that one.
He's busy writing his reminiscences and every peer who ever had an interaction with him in their youth is shaking in their shoes at what "funny revelation" is about to be exposed to the public's prying eyes.
Oh, it's gonna be a bestseller.
Meanwhile, you have two sets of star-crossed lovers, desperately swimming upstream like salmon to mate. Will they make it?
Well, there's always the other option.
But this is a WODEHOUSE novel, silly. True love will always prevail.
A fun entry in the Blandings Castle series.
Audiobook review:
I won't be listening to any other Wodehouse books read by John C. Wells because his voice was incredibly annoying. A lot of the characters sounded like British muppets. I ended up speeding up the narration to be done with his nonsense.
TERRIBLE. WORST VOICES EVER. YOU'RE FIRED.
God, I'm hilarious.
What, what?
This has all the earmarks of a great Wodehouse story, and I love the inhabitants of Blanding Castle. Yes, even Lady Constance and Mr. Baxter.
With the ever-wobbly Lord Emsworth at the helm, this installment has everything you could want in a Wodehouse novel, including my favorite character, the effervescent Honourable Galahad Threepwood.
You can't go wrong with that one.
He's busy writing his reminiscences and every peer who ever had an interaction with him in their youth is shaking in their shoes at what "funny revelation" is about to be exposed to the public's prying eyes.
Oh, it's gonna be a bestseller.
Meanwhile, you have two sets of star-crossed lovers, desperately swimming upstream like salmon to mate. Will they make it?
Well, there's always the other option.
But this is a WODEHOUSE novel, silly. True love will always prevail.
A fun entry in the Blandings Castle series.
Audiobook review:
I won't be listening to any other Wodehouse books read by John C. Wells because his voice was incredibly annoying. A lot of the characters sounded like British muppets. I ended up speeding up the narration to be done with his nonsense.
TERRIBLE. WORST VOICES EVER. YOU'RE FIRED.
God, I'm hilarious.
June 8, 2024
This is Somerset Maugham drunk on champagne. Evelyn Waugh without pain. Ishiguro . . . happy. If The Remains of the Day only had a pig. Oh, how a pig can turn things around!
Summer Lightning has a pig called the Empress of Blandings. It also has a balcony. If you've read Graham Greene's short story "A Shocking Incident" you will know how that adds up. Pig + balcony = laughs. Greene's pig reminds us that life doesn't always go to plan. it can sometimes change scripts halfway through making us smile in spite of ourselves. Wodehouse does that, too, while sparing us the tragedy and keeping his pig comedic. Which is why I will read it again. With all the pleasure of reading books by Dr. Seuss.
I think I will try reading it backwards next time. I would stand on my head if I could. Silly is as silly does. This is silliness to love.
Summer Lightning has a pig called the Empress of Blandings. It also has a balcony. If you've read Graham Greene's short story "A Shocking Incident" you will know how that adds up. Pig + balcony = laughs. Greene's pig reminds us that life doesn't always go to plan. it can sometimes change scripts halfway through making us smile in spite of ourselves. Wodehouse does that, too, while sparing us the tragedy and keeping his pig comedic. Which is why I will read it again. With all the pleasure of reading books by Dr. Seuss.
I think I will try reading it backwards next time. I would stand on my head if I could. Silly is as silly does. This is silliness to love.
September 24, 2025
After reading several entries in Wodehouse's Jeeves-Wooster series and a collection of Blandings Castle short stories, I had the passing thought that maybe Wodehouse rarely (if ever) had a bad day in his personal life. It wasn't until I then explored a bit that I came to discover (of course) that that was hardly the case.
For one thing, I learned that, for Wodehouse, writing was apparently a means of escape from the reality of life. For another, there was that awful period with the Nazis (as depicted in the BBC film, 'Wodehouse in Exile'). While he was their prisoner, Wodehouse was duped by the Nazis into giving a series of broadcasts (heard in the US - to thwart involvement in the war - but not the UK) which (though innocuous) were interpreted in his country as treasonous. (The UK ultimately forgave him privately but not publicly; it's a distressing story.)
So far, most of what I've read by the author was published pre-WWII. (Significantly, perhaps, one of my favorites of his is the post-war 'Joy in the Morning'.) But it seems his tone never wavered. He saw himself as (according to the BBC film) "a musical comedy man". Although his wit was on a level with Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde, he would never (like Coward) pen sentimental / patriotic wartime dramas; nor would something as dark as Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' pour out of him.
Wodehouse had a one-track goal: to amuse.
This Blandings Castle novel is among his finest creations. Although, as is typical, it hinges on a frivolous narrative mix (a duo of 'mismatched' lovers, the theft of a pig, and the impending doom of a tell-all book which could adversely affect a number of the novel's characters), it also seems to be something of a rarity for the author; it appears packed with more plot detail and more action than what's generally found in a Wodehouse novel.
There's a real deception in this kind of writing. It looks effortless or throwaway. It often feels slight. Yet construction of this caliber (the twisting / turning; the elements of surprise) takes genuine craft. It's deliciously labyrinthine.
At this point, I have occasionally encountered when Wodehouse seemed slightly on automatic pilot. But I think I've always been cognizant of the fact that he sets out to not disappoint. ~which, I suppose, is to say he's hard on himself. He aims high in order to satisfy.
With 'Summer Lightning', in particular, he succeeds admirably.
For one thing, I learned that, for Wodehouse, writing was apparently a means of escape from the reality of life. For another, there was that awful period with the Nazis (as depicted in the BBC film, 'Wodehouse in Exile'). While he was their prisoner, Wodehouse was duped by the Nazis into giving a series of broadcasts (heard in the US - to thwart involvement in the war - but not the UK) which (though innocuous) were interpreted in his country as treasonous. (The UK ultimately forgave him privately but not publicly; it's a distressing story.)
So far, most of what I've read by the author was published pre-WWII. (Significantly, perhaps, one of my favorites of his is the post-war 'Joy in the Morning'.) But it seems his tone never wavered. He saw himself as (according to the BBC film) "a musical comedy man". Although his wit was on a level with Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde, he would never (like Coward) pen sentimental / patriotic wartime dramas; nor would something as dark as Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' pour out of him.
Wodehouse had a one-track goal: to amuse.
This Blandings Castle novel is among his finest creations. Although, as is typical, it hinges on a frivolous narrative mix (a duo of 'mismatched' lovers, the theft of a pig, and the impending doom of a tell-all book which could adversely affect a number of the novel's characters), it also seems to be something of a rarity for the author; it appears packed with more plot detail and more action than what's generally found in a Wodehouse novel.
There's a real deception in this kind of writing. It looks effortless or throwaway. It often feels slight. Yet construction of this caliber (the twisting / turning; the elements of surprise) takes genuine craft. It's deliciously labyrinthine.
At this point, I have occasionally encountered when Wodehouse seemed slightly on automatic pilot. But I think I've always been cognizant of the fact that he sets out to not disappoint. ~which, I suppose, is to say he's hard on himself. He aims high in order to satisfy.
With 'Summer Lightning', in particular, he succeeds admirably.
April 5, 2019
Much Ado About Nothing & The Comedy of Errors á lá the inimitable P.G. Wodehouse with thwarted lovers, missing pigs, scandal-manuscripts-to-be-stolen, set in the lovely Blandings Castle as the background and all this in hysterically funny and captivating Wodehouse-prose.
January 16, 2022
Summer Lightning, or Pass the Pig Around. I was rescued from an immense reading slump--having abandoned Jane Austen, Ursula Le Guin and Angela Carter--by PG Wodehouse. What a darling! If there one thing this man knows how to do then it's to plot a story. The threads in this one became so numerous l that I became convinced, knowing that it is followed by a direct sequel, he'd never be able to wrap it up and would use the sequel for that purpose. But I was wrong, and he wraps it up beautifully. It's definitely time that I added the word coot to my vocabulary.
August 14, 2013
goodreads tells me i've now read seventeen wodehouse books, with sixteen of those being novels and short stories -- the other is a wonderful collection i can only highly recommend, called Wodehouse On Wodehouse that is part memoir of his time writing for musical theatre, and partly selected letters, and also part sort-of autobiography. so it should be obvious that i love a good wodehouse novel. but i'm coming to terms that i have certain favourites and that wodehouse has a cast of archetypes for his fiction, and depending on which set you read first, you might take on a preference. i definitely have: it's jeeves and wooster that i love best though there are individual stories with many of the characters, the drones, mr. mulliner, uncle fred in particular, that i also adore. i've thought about wodehouse characters, trying to slot them into the various archetypes he uses and trying to determine the overlap and traits, and from them, my own predilections.
wodehouse has a template and it's a mistake to focus on it: his comic archetypes and his classical structure serves its purpose as a springboard for wodehouse's pen, dripping with outrageously clever language, and dialogue, his remarkable facility with them might remind us again of that highly successful career in musical theatre, mostly writing the lyrics to guy bolton's book. they collaborated in a fruitful partnership of hits with composer jerome kern. above all, he has a truly genius comedic wit...and sometimes it hits one harder than others, in some books more so than others. wodehouse fans all have their favourites. and so, i must make it clear that while i'm invariably in wodehouse's corner, he's at a disadvantage here with me because i'm not with jeeves and wooster.
in this novel, summer lightning, we are at blandings castle, with clarence, lord emsworth who is a fine an old mad lord as one could ever wish for, pig-happy and free of all cares except those that are visited on him by his fussy family. his nephew, ronnie fish (son to his sister, julia) stirs up trouble by wanting to marry a showgirl. lord emsworth is largely unaware of this for the most part while they, and the rest of his satellites (his bossy sisters, his brother, a jeeves-like sage aptly named galahad who is writing infamous memoirs, his scheming secretaries (former and current), his butler, his daughter, the much maligned neighbour/slash pig competition competitor all conspire around him. shenanigans ensue, and they are funny but a little... long for me. and then to find the action continued in the follow-up summer lightning, which further extends the story of the romance of ronnie and his show girl sue, and also resolving the other major plotline revolving around the memoirs that galahad's been writing that -- dash it all -- might tarnish the reputations of several members of the british aristocracy who also serve as family friends and acquaintances. again. the same story in essentials. and in short, too long. i may have perhaps liked them better had i not read them back-to-back. but they do feel like one really, really long novel to me. and perhaps it's just not as absurd as i like my wodehouse. certainly, i know i seem contradictory: i *just* said one had to go with the structure but there's too much of it, and just not enough i find funny here or enough wodehouse flourish to make me forget.
and beyond that, i miss jeeve's ability to bring order to the chaos, and i miss bertie's ability to bungle it so jeeves has to do it all over again -- as they did in a similarly-themed (young lovers, scandalous memoirs) short story called "jeeves takes charge" that introduced the two characters, which i read, incidentally, on first delving into wodehouse books in earnest.. preference established. it's never out-and-out boring and a middling wodehouse is still better than many. this one just isn't a favourite.
wodehouse has a template and it's a mistake to focus on it: his comic archetypes and his classical structure serves its purpose as a springboard for wodehouse's pen, dripping with outrageously clever language, and dialogue, his remarkable facility with them might remind us again of that highly successful career in musical theatre, mostly writing the lyrics to guy bolton's book. they collaborated in a fruitful partnership of hits with composer jerome kern. above all, he has a truly genius comedic wit...and sometimes it hits one harder than others, in some books more so than others. wodehouse fans all have their favourites. and so, i must make it clear that while i'm invariably in wodehouse's corner, he's at a disadvantage here with me because i'm not with jeeves and wooster.
in this novel, summer lightning, we are at blandings castle, with clarence, lord emsworth who is a fine an old mad lord as one could ever wish for, pig-happy and free of all cares except those that are visited on him by his fussy family. his nephew, ronnie fish (son to his sister, julia) stirs up trouble by wanting to marry a showgirl. lord emsworth is largely unaware of this for the most part while they, and the rest of his satellites (his bossy sisters, his brother, a jeeves-like sage aptly named galahad who is writing infamous memoirs, his scheming secretaries (former and current), his butler, his daughter, the much maligned neighbour/slash pig competition competitor all conspire around him. shenanigans ensue, and they are funny but a little... long for me. and then to find the action continued in the follow-up summer lightning, which further extends the story of the romance of ronnie and his show girl sue, and also resolving the other major plotline revolving around the memoirs that galahad's been writing that -- dash it all -- might tarnish the reputations of several members of the british aristocracy who also serve as family friends and acquaintances. again. the same story in essentials. and in short, too long. i may have perhaps liked them better had i not read them back-to-back. but they do feel like one really, really long novel to me. and perhaps it's just not as absurd as i like my wodehouse. certainly, i know i seem contradictory: i *just* said one had to go with the structure but there's too much of it, and just not enough i find funny here or enough wodehouse flourish to make me forget.
and beyond that, i miss jeeve's ability to bring order to the chaos, and i miss bertie's ability to bungle it so jeeves has to do it all over again -- as they did in a similarly-themed (young lovers, scandalous memoirs) short story called "jeeves takes charge" that introduced the two characters, which i read, incidentally, on first delving into wodehouse books in earnest.. preference established. it's never out-and-out boring and a middling wodehouse is still better than many. this one just isn't a favourite.
October 13, 2019
I know that Wodehouse had a short and unsuccessful career in Hollywood but, while reading this novel, I found myself wondering what influence Wodehouse's books and characters might have had on the screenwriters of some of the 1930's screwball comedies.
October 8, 2022
AS THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY is being committed at sunny Blandings Castle
Its most precious occupant has been stolen
and the list of suspects is ever ongoing.
Trust P.G. Wodehouse to bring you sun and laughter into your life when you need it the most.
March 4, 2024
I am a huge P.G. Wodehouse fan and have read many of his books. His books are always enjoyable, some of them are perfection. Summer Lightning (1929) is in the latter category. This is peak Wodehouse and the moment when the Blandings series really hits its stride.
Readers fearing we might have seen the last of the Efficient Baxter can rest easy. He's back. Once again he features in my favourite scenes, many of which had me reduced to hearty laughter. When Wodehouse tickles the funny bone it's a delight.
There's so much to enjoy here, the witty wordplay, the fabulous characters, the comedic mishaps. This is a guaranteed pick me up, and totally legal. Dive in.
5/5
The Honourable Galahad Threepwood has decided to write his memoirs, and England's aristocrats are all diving for cover, not least Galahad's formidable sister Lady Constance Keeble who fears that her brother will ruin the family reputation with saucy stories of the 1890s. But Galahad's memoirs are not the only cause for concern. Yet again Lord Emsworth's prize pig has been stolen and, as usual, the castle seems to be buzzing with imposters all pretending to be one another. Love and natural justice triumph in the end, but not before Wodehouse has tangled and untangled a plot of Shakespearean complexity in a novel which might as well be subtitled The Price of the Papers.
Readers fearing we might have seen the last of the Efficient Baxter can rest easy. He's back. Once again he features in my favourite scenes, many of which had me reduced to hearty laughter. When Wodehouse tickles the funny bone it's a delight.
There's so much to enjoy here, the witty wordplay, the fabulous characters, the comedic mishaps. This is a guaranteed pick me up, and totally legal. Dive in.
5/5
The Honourable Galahad Threepwood has decided to write his memoirs, and England's aristocrats are all diving for cover, not least Galahad's formidable sister Lady Constance Keeble who fears that her brother will ruin the family reputation with saucy stories of the 1890s. But Galahad's memoirs are not the only cause for concern. Yet again Lord Emsworth's prize pig has been stolen and, as usual, the castle seems to be buzzing with imposters all pretending to be one another. Love and natural justice triumph in the end, but not before Wodehouse has tangled and untangled a plot of Shakespearean complexity in a novel which might as well be subtitled The Price of the Papers.
December 13, 2017
I'm only as reliable as Lord Emsworth when it comes to judging which among Wodehouses's numbers is his best, but I believe this one is right up there among his finest. As if Lord Emsworth, Hon Galahad and the efficient Baxter weren't enough material, there were atleast a dozen other weapons of mass amusement that were thrown in for good measure, on the whole building up enough ammunition to take eons of pent up stress to the cleaners.
May 4, 2022
In this installment of the Blandings Castle series, someone has kidnapped the Empress! The 9th Earl of Emsforth is beside himself, as he loves no one or nothing in life as much as his prized pig. Who could have done such a thing! Is it his conniving nephew, for whom the Earl controls the purse strings? His faithful butler, Beach, who has a gambling problem? His shifty neighbor, Lord Gegory Parsloe-Parsloe, whose own pig competes with the Empress for local glory? His bitter ex-secretary, the Efficient Baxter, out for revenge against the Earl? Or does it have something to do with the memoir his brother is writing, which will cause a tsunami of scandal among the titled class?
Everyone seems to have a motive but the real story is more complicated than the Earl can imagine, involving two sets of star-crossed lovers and a shady private investigator from London. It’s all silly and hilarious and I never wanted it to end.
I thought I couldn't love anything more than Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves stories; but I have to say the two Blandings Castle novels I've read so far (in the list I found online, this one was #2 but here on Goodreads it's listed as #4) are even more up my alley. Blandings is like Downton Abbey with wacky characters and much better plotting.
Everyone seems to have a motive but the real story is more complicated than the Earl can imagine, involving two sets of star-crossed lovers and a shady private investigator from London. It’s all silly and hilarious and I never wanted it to end.
I thought I couldn't love anything more than Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves stories; but I have to say the two Blandings Castle novels I've read so far (in the list I found online, this one was #2 but here on Goodreads it's listed as #4) are even more up my alley. Blandings is like Downton Abbey with wacky characters and much better plotting.
March 23, 2020
A joy to read and chortle along. The hapless jealous Ronnie in love with the delightful Sue Brown, the chorus girl with the heart of gold. Galahad Threepwood with his explosive reminiscences threatening Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe career in politics. Clarence with the love of his life the Empress. Throw in Pilbeam a detective with no scruples and Carmody and Millicent.
Combined we have a farce with hilarity. Beach the butler trying to do the right thing. Efficient Baxter not being efficient. The Empress is stolen several times to garner the goodwill of Lord Elmsworth. We have a castle full of imposters, deception around every corner as well as lovers misconstruing innocent activities. Sit back, read and laugh.
Combined we have a farce with hilarity. Beach the butler trying to do the right thing. Efficient Baxter not being efficient. The Empress is stolen several times to garner the goodwill of Lord Elmsworth. We have a castle full of imposters, deception around every corner as well as lovers misconstruing innocent activities. Sit back, read and laugh.
November 19, 2017
For less than the price of a cup of English tea:
Each book that PG writes, proffers hours and hours of delightful entertainment.
This accomplished and sophisticated writer always delivers.
Highbrow, erudite comedic writing is difficult to summit even once.
And yet, Mr. Wodehouse is a singular Sherpa in this vocation.
A tip of my ‘bowler’ to you, again, sir.
Each book that PG writes, proffers hours and hours of delightful entertainment.
This accomplished and sophisticated writer always delivers.
Highbrow, erudite comedic writing is difficult to summit even once.
And yet, Mr. Wodehouse is a singular Sherpa in this vocation.
A tip of my ‘bowler’ to you, again, sir.
October 9, 2021
I needed a diversion for a couple of days from the national tragedy that is unfolding before our eyes and figured some Wodehouse would help.
Sir Galahad Threepwood is writing his Reminiscences, much to the horror of his sister, Lady Constance Keeble. As she tells her “strangely sinister” sycophant Rupert Baxter, the former hated private secretary to her pig-obsessed brother Clarence, Lord Emsworth, she must get her hands on Gally’s manuscript because it “is full from beginning to end of libelous anecdotes, Mr. Baxter. About all our best friends. If it is published we shall not have a friend left. Galahad seems to have known everybody in England when they were young and foolish, and to remember everything particularly foolish and disgraceful that they ever did.”
Will Galahad’s nephew, the excessively jealous Ronnie Fish, be able to hide Sue Brown’s past as a laid off chorus girl and the fact that her mother was once the rage of London’s cabaret nightlife? Will Ronnie be able to convince Clarence to give him some of his trust fund to afford marriage? Will his best friend and partner in a recently failed London nightclub, Hugo Carmody, succeed in his new role as Clarence’s assistant and successfully woo Millicent Threepwood, Clarence’s niece, even as Constance strongly disapproves?
When Clarence’s prized pig the Empress of Blandings goes missing, his rival for the title of Shropshire’s Agricultural Show fattest pig competition, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, seems the most obvious suspect. Sir Gregory also fears the consequences that will come with the publication of Galahad’s book. He enlists the slimy private detective, Percy Pilbeam, who has an infatuation with Sue Brown, to steal it for him. Pilbeam will investigate the missing pig as a ruse to join the human menagerie clustered at Blandings Castle. In the meantime, the odious Baxter schemes to get his hands on the manuscript and get his job back, despite Clarence’s objections, through Lady Constance’s patronage. How will the tensions about love, a pig, a book, and the turmoil they create be solved?
For those uninitiated to P.G. Wodehouse’s universe, he may well be the greatest comedic writer in the English language. The prose of Summer Lightening is at its sharpest and the laughs never relent. Although there were a few books at the time of its publication with the same title, this one fulfills Wodehouse’s “modest hope that this story will be considered worthy of inclusion in the list of the Hundred Best Books Called Summer Lightening.” It certainly is.
With all the horrendous noise coming out of Washington these days, I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting Wodehouse a few more times this year. Escapism may never have been as therapeutic as it is now.
Sir Galahad Threepwood is writing his Reminiscences, much to the horror of his sister, Lady Constance Keeble. As she tells her “strangely sinister” sycophant Rupert Baxter, the former hated private secretary to her pig-obsessed brother Clarence, Lord Emsworth, she must get her hands on Gally’s manuscript because it “is full from beginning to end of libelous anecdotes, Mr. Baxter. About all our best friends. If it is published we shall not have a friend left. Galahad seems to have known everybody in England when they were young and foolish, and to remember everything particularly foolish and disgraceful that they ever did.”
Will Galahad’s nephew, the excessively jealous Ronnie Fish, be able to hide Sue Brown’s past as a laid off chorus girl and the fact that her mother was once the rage of London’s cabaret nightlife? Will Ronnie be able to convince Clarence to give him some of his trust fund to afford marriage? Will his best friend and partner in a recently failed London nightclub, Hugo Carmody, succeed in his new role as Clarence’s assistant and successfully woo Millicent Threepwood, Clarence’s niece, even as Constance strongly disapproves?
When Clarence’s prized pig the Empress of Blandings goes missing, his rival for the title of Shropshire’s Agricultural Show fattest pig competition, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, seems the most obvious suspect. Sir Gregory also fears the consequences that will come with the publication of Galahad’s book. He enlists the slimy private detective, Percy Pilbeam, who has an infatuation with Sue Brown, to steal it for him. Pilbeam will investigate the missing pig as a ruse to join the human menagerie clustered at Blandings Castle. In the meantime, the odious Baxter schemes to get his hands on the manuscript and get his job back, despite Clarence’s objections, through Lady Constance’s patronage. How will the tensions about love, a pig, a book, and the turmoil they create be solved?
For those uninitiated to P.G. Wodehouse’s universe, he may well be the greatest comedic writer in the English language. The prose of Summer Lightening is at its sharpest and the laughs never relent. Although there were a few books at the time of its publication with the same title, this one fulfills Wodehouse’s “modest hope that this story will be considered worthy of inclusion in the list of the Hundred Best Books Called Summer Lightening.” It certainly is.
With all the horrendous noise coming out of Washington these days, I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting Wodehouse a few more times this year. Escapism may never have been as therapeutic as it is now.
December 31, 2021
Wodehouse is always a good way to end the year! Good way to start the year as well! Come to think of it, Wodehouse is good for those middle bits, too.
Summer Lightning is another from the Blandings line. And of course anything from Blandings is the stuff to give the troops! Just about all the best characters are back for another zany episode. No surprise, the general crux is another of those love triangles or quadrangles, that were Wodehouse's specialty. The plot is twisty as per usual. The characters as always are daffy nutjobs.
I may prefer the Jeeves & Wooster stuff, because I like Bertie as the pov, however, Wodehouse's wit is solidly driving the narrative here and there are plenty of nuggets to waggle your funny bone!
Summer Lightning is another from the Blandings line. And of course anything from Blandings is the stuff to give the troops! Just about all the best characters are back for another zany episode. No surprise, the general crux is another of those love triangles or quadrangles, that were Wodehouse's specialty. The plot is twisty as per usual. The characters as always are daffy nutjobs.
I may prefer the Jeeves & Wooster stuff, because I like Bertie as the pov, however, Wodehouse's wit is solidly driving the narrative here and there are plenty of nuggets to waggle your funny bone!
August 5, 2016
Even more like A Midsummer Night's Dream fortified with extra McGuffins than all the other Wodehouses I've read so far. Would not be surprised if that was the intention here.
It seems my enjoyment of the Blandings stories is partly dependent on the characters of the [usually young] people staying at the house and causing havoc. Something Fresh remains my favourite of the novels so far because I liked Ashe and Joan so much - nor was anyone else notably objectionable. Ronald Overbury Fish, however, is an utter arse. (Given his name, I was rather tempted to use the other word, making a bad-taste pun that one is really not supposed to - but it would be rather out of keeping with Wodehouse, never mind potentially attract irate commenters for no worthwhile reason. Besides, in the peculiar unspoken gradations of meaning attached to swearwords, I'm not sure it quite suits him.) But yes, Ronnie Fish has no notable redeeming qualities, is lazy, violent, dishonest, unattractive, and above all has a serious jealousy problem that meant I was sincerely hoping he did not get married in the end. (I thought this was probably irredeemable in 1929, when Freud hadn't so much as arrived in London yet, and a world in which young men usually possessed of a crust of calm detachment from all human emotion, built up by years of Eton and Cambridge would even consider therapy was many decades away.) His ex-girlfriend travels hundreds of miles to his house, uninvited, after being dumped, whilst pretending to be someone else - which is really not on either, but otherwise she basically is a likeable and civilised individual, if deluded in wanting to marry this awful man, whose relatives have the decency to warn her. His cousin Millicent is worryingly jealous too, but I found her likeable otherwise (it was her reading Schopenhauer whilst broken-hearted that sealed it) and at least she displays no inclination to fly off the handle and punch people.
I am relieved to see that Ronnie does not appear in many other books. In the second half he was mostly off-screen which made the rest more enjoyable, with a return of the feelings of warmth and cosiness and good humour that are the point of these books. Still, I was increasingly dismayed by the misunderstanding and mistrust heaped on poor Baxter. (I suspect, that rather like my tendency to feel sorry for Basil Fawlty and hope he would win occasionally, one isn't supposed to feel this way...) Regardless, I do have some strange affection for the rest of the regulars, in whom attributes that would surely be trying in person somehow become loveable eccentricities on the page, and the idyllic setting is undoubtedly a character in itself. I would love a Blandings autumn or winter though; Wodehouse clearly loved his endless summers, but having got through several in succession, as a fan of the colder, darkening months (perhaps such people did not exist in draughty castles of the pre-central heating era) I am starting to find these summers like my equivalent of the Narnian winter...
It seems my enjoyment of the Blandings stories is partly dependent on the characters of the [usually young] people staying at the house and causing havoc. Something Fresh remains my favourite of the novels so far because I liked Ashe and Joan so much - nor was anyone else notably objectionable. Ronald Overbury Fish, however, is an utter arse. (Given his name, I was rather tempted to use the other word, making a bad-taste pun that one is really not supposed to - but it would be rather out of keeping with Wodehouse, never mind potentially attract irate commenters for no worthwhile reason. Besides, in the peculiar unspoken gradations of meaning attached to swearwords, I'm not sure it quite suits him.) But yes, Ronnie Fish has no notable redeeming qualities, is lazy, violent, dishonest, unattractive, and above all has a serious jealousy problem that meant I was sincerely hoping he did not get married in the end. (I thought this was probably irredeemable in 1929, when Freud hadn't so much as arrived in London yet, and a world in which young men usually possessed of a crust of calm detachment from all human emotion, built up by years of Eton and Cambridge would even consider therapy was many decades away.) His ex-girlfriend travels hundreds of miles to his house, uninvited, after being dumped, whilst pretending to be someone else - which is really not on either, but otherwise she basically is a likeable and civilised individual, if deluded in wanting to marry this awful man, whose relatives have the decency to warn her. His cousin Millicent is worryingly jealous too, but I found her likeable otherwise (it was her reading Schopenhauer whilst broken-hearted that sealed it) and at least she displays no inclination to fly off the handle and punch people.
I am relieved to see that Ronnie does not appear in many other books. In the second half he was mostly off-screen which made the rest more enjoyable, with a return of the feelings of warmth and cosiness and good humour that are the point of these books. Still, I was increasingly dismayed by the misunderstanding and mistrust heaped on poor Baxter. (I suspect, that rather like my tendency to feel sorry for Basil Fawlty and hope he would win occasionally, one isn't supposed to feel this way...) Regardless, I do have some strange affection for the rest of the regulars, in whom attributes that would surely be trying in person somehow become loveable eccentricities on the page, and the idyllic setting is undoubtedly a character in itself. I would love a Blandings autumn or winter though; Wodehouse clearly loved his endless summers, but having got through several in succession, as a fan of the colder, darkening months (perhaps such people did not exist in draughty castles of the pre-central heating era) I am starting to find these summers like my equivalent of the Narnian winter...
July 13, 2009
Summer Lightning is one of Wodehouse's Blandings Castle series, a series which is slowly replacing Jeeves & Wooster in my affections.
Most of the stories in the Blandings Castle series use the same plot devices: a broken engagement (or two), an imposter (or two), and the kidnapping of Lord Emsworth's pig, the Empress of Blandings. Summer Lightning is no different. Wodehouse gets a lot of mileage out of the old formula but it never fails.
Hugo Carmody and Ronnie Fish both end up on the outs with their ladies. Uncle Galahad is at Blandings writing his memoirs. Lady Constance wants the terribly efficient Baxter back as Emsworth's secretary. When the Empress turns up missing, Percy Pilbeam ends up on the case.
If you like Wodehouse, you'll love Summer Lightning. If you don't, get your act together. You probably spend most of your time beating up old women or something.
Most of the stories in the Blandings Castle series use the same plot devices: a broken engagement (or two), an imposter (or two), and the kidnapping of Lord Emsworth's pig, the Empress of Blandings. Summer Lightning is no different. Wodehouse gets a lot of mileage out of the old formula but it never fails.
Hugo Carmody and Ronnie Fish both end up on the outs with their ladies. Uncle Galahad is at Blandings writing his memoirs. Lady Constance wants the terribly efficient Baxter back as Emsworth's secretary. When the Empress turns up missing, Percy Pilbeam ends up on the case.
If you like Wodehouse, you'll love Summer Lightning. If you don't, get your act together. You probably spend most of your time beating up old women or something.
September 29, 2018
"The object of all good literature is to purge the soul of its petty troubles." (191)The essence of Wodehouse as described by the man himself.
June 29, 2012
Although I can see why I don’t usually partake of a steady diet of any genre much less author, there is something to be said for immersing oneself in a ‘serious study’ of comedy. For one thing it recognizes comedy as art and as such not to be viewed lightly, however much it entertains. For another, constant exposure to the medium has the effect of reducing one’s susceptibility to the comic influence through immunity thus allowing for greater objectivity in viewing what has facilitated our mirth.
These are both important for me. I like and need to laugh, but have never given much thought to why or what makes me do so.
When our daughters where growing up, we watched the Jeeves and Wooster series with them repeatedly. They were family favorites despite being formulaic and predicable, made even more so through repetitive viewings.
Reading the actual Wodehouse books now, I see they are even better than the film series. Several audio versions I have listened to recently enhance the experience due to expert readers.
In Summer Lightning, Wodehouse really sizzles. All his characters crackle with the energy of a summer electric storm and there are plenty of interesting personalities for collectors of that sort: dotty old Lord Elmsworth; devoted Sue Brown/sometimes of another alias; pimply Pilbeam; Reminiscences-writing Honorable Galahad Threepwood, or “Gally”; the Efficient Baxter; dying-for-a-dance Hugo Carmody and the infamous kidnapped Empress of Blandings—none other than a pig, to name a few.
Wodehouse disclaims writing about ‘real life’, preferring to poke fun at it—at us. I admit it—I can see myself in his stories. And really when you get right down to it, is there anything funnier than one’s own idiosyncrasies?
These are both important for me. I like and need to laugh, but have never given much thought to why or what makes me do so.
When our daughters where growing up, we watched the Jeeves and Wooster series with them repeatedly. They were family favorites despite being formulaic and predicable, made even more so through repetitive viewings.
Reading the actual Wodehouse books now, I see they are even better than the film series. Several audio versions I have listened to recently enhance the experience due to expert readers.
In Summer Lightning, Wodehouse really sizzles. All his characters crackle with the energy of a summer electric storm and there are plenty of interesting personalities for collectors of that sort: dotty old Lord Elmsworth; devoted Sue Brown/sometimes of another alias; pimply Pilbeam; Reminiscences-writing Honorable Galahad Threepwood, or “Gally”; the Efficient Baxter; dying-for-a-dance Hugo Carmody and the infamous kidnapped Empress of Blandings—none other than a pig, to name a few.
Wodehouse disclaims writing about ‘real life’, preferring to poke fun at it—at us. I admit it—I can see myself in his stories. And really when you get right down to it, is there anything funnier than one’s own idiosyncrasies?
April 6, 2023
“A certain critic -- for such men, I regret to say, do exist -- made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained "all the old Wodehouse characters under different names."
He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives, he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have out-generalled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.”
Just as Wodehouse promises there is the same set of people doing the same set of things like writing memoirs, stealing pigs or manuscripts or both, falling in and out of love, getting engaged and dis-engaged, masquerading as someone else, dominating aunts, efficient butlers..........It is all the same yet so different. The plot gets complicated and we can trust Wodehouse to put everything into order in the end.
I can never get tired of Wodehouse.
"This is peculiarly an age of young men starting out in business for themselves; of rare, unfettered spirits chafing at the bonds of employment and refusing to spend their lives working forty-eight weeks in the year for a salary."
This book was published 100 yrs ago. This quote is relevant even today. When Galahad keeps saying 'in the 90s', I suddenly realized he meant 1890s, not 1990s. 😇
Why don't Wodehouse books feel dated?
He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives, he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have out-generalled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.”
Just as Wodehouse promises there is the same set of people doing the same set of things like writing memoirs, stealing pigs or manuscripts or both, falling in and out of love, getting engaged and dis-engaged, masquerading as someone else, dominating aunts, efficient butlers..........It is all the same yet so different. The plot gets complicated and we can trust Wodehouse to put everything into order in the end.
I can never get tired of Wodehouse.
"This is peculiarly an age of young men starting out in business for themselves; of rare, unfettered spirits chafing at the bonds of employment and refusing to spend their lives working forty-eight weeks in the year for a salary."
This book was published 100 yrs ago. This quote is relevant even today. When Galahad keeps saying 'in the 90s', I suddenly realized he meant 1890s, not 1990s. 😇
Why don't Wodehouse books feel dated?
August 1, 2008
The third Blandings novel. Classic farce with twisting plots and wonderful similes. Gally writing his memoirs; Empress of Blandings stolen; the Efficient Baxter acting madly; Ronnie Fish and Sue Brown; Percy Pilbeam "investigating" various things; all the wrong people turning up in the wrong place at the wrong time, causing confusion. Great preface by PGW.
December 30, 2020
This is my first Wodehouse. How did I not read him sooner? What wonderful fun. I now need to find the rest of The Blandings Castle series.
September 13, 2022
The book prior to Heavy Weather.
Again, I adore these books about Blandings Castle as everyone is so thoroughly human and has faults.
In this book, pigs are stolen, moved, and then returned to their rightful owner. Galahad Threepwood Lord Emsworth's younger brother has almost completed his reminiscences. Young men hide under beds, fall off balconies, and ask girls they don't really love to marry them. The younger characters Ronnie Fish, Hugo Carmody, Pilbeam, Millicent, Sue Brown, and the Efficient Baxter all rub each other up the wrong way at various times, but I think the correct pairings are arrived at by the end of the book.
Superb and recommended as an outstanding example of a humourous book with clearly defined characters who all interact with each other so well.
Again, I adore these books about Blandings Castle as everyone is so thoroughly human and has faults.
In this book, pigs are stolen, moved, and then returned to their rightful owner. Galahad Threepwood Lord Emsworth's younger brother has almost completed his reminiscences. Young men hide under beds, fall off balconies, and ask girls they don't really love to marry them. The younger characters Ronnie Fish, Hugo Carmody, Pilbeam, Millicent, Sue Brown, and the Efficient Baxter all rub each other up the wrong way at various times, but I think the correct pairings are arrived at by the end of the book.
Superb and recommended as an outstanding example of a humourous book with clearly defined characters who all interact with each other so well.
May 20, 2022
Nothing to add to my review of Galahad at Blandings. Wodehouse was a maestro without parallel.
Among later writers, Kyril Bonfiglioli is notable, though his world is less idyllic than Wodehouse's. Tom Sharpe, of course, is a bit different from Wodehouse as well. These two were less consistent than Wodehouse.
All of them put together have done so much to improve health outcomes in the world...
Among later writers, Kyril Bonfiglioli is notable, though his world is less idyllic than Wodehouse's. Tom Sharpe, of course, is a bit different from Wodehouse as well. These two were less consistent than Wodehouse.
All of them put together have done so much to improve health outcomes in the world...
January 5, 2024
This is the first Wodehouse that I’ve read, I picked it up for the Close Reads Podcast. It opened so hysterically funny and I was enjoying the ride until it kind of petered out at the end. Due to the strength of the beginning, I will look for the Jeeves and Wooster books, but I wish that it had ended more amusingly
February 3, 2024
This was my first non-Jeeves and Wooster Wodehouse book. I did enjoy it but I'm not sure I will continue with the Blandings books.
September 26, 2019
2016 reread:
2.5 stars for this audiobook edition (review below); 4 stars for the book itself.
I was disappointed that I couldn't find a Jonathan Cecil narration of this second book in the Blandings series (GR includes the Psmith books in the Blandings series but I prefer the Fantastic Fiction" organization of Wodehouse's books). John Wells was truly terrible in his choice of voices for these characters, making Lord Emsworth sound like a petulant teenaged girl, his niece Millicent talk with a lisp, and other sundry affronts to my ear. If this had been my first experience with Blandings, I would never have read another... Luckily, after getting over my shock, I found that I could mostly ignore most of that and get lost in the wonderful silliness of a Wodehouse plot.
2.5 stars for this audiobook edition (review below); 4 stars for the book itself.
I was disappointed that I couldn't find a Jonathan Cecil narration of this second book in the Blandings series (GR includes the Psmith books in the Blandings series but I prefer the Fantastic Fiction" organization of Wodehouse's books). John Wells was truly terrible in his choice of voices for these characters, making Lord Emsworth sound like a petulant teenaged girl, his niece Millicent talk with a lisp, and other sundry affronts to my ear. If this had been my first experience with Blandings, I would never have read another... Luckily, after getting over my shock, I found that I could mostly ignore most of that and get lost in the wonderful silliness of a Wodehouse plot.
March 24, 2013
The Blandings Castle books are often overshadowed by the more popular Jeeves and Wooster series, but deserve a visit in their own right. As is true of most Wodehouse, the zaniest of machinations fail, then succeed, true love wins in the end, and the aristocracy bumble their way through life saved only by the wisdom from the service class. Very enjoyable characters and strong writing throughout. Very, very funny.
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