Jeeves and the Impending Doom

by P.G. Wodehouse

The double-act of Bertie Wooster and his faithful, omniscient butler, Jeeves is the greatest comic pairing in literature. Millions of fans worldwide have laughed at the travails of bumbling Bertie and delighted at the felicitous solutions devised by Jeeves to extricate his master ‘from the soup’. Penguin first published Wodehouse in 1936, a year after Penguin was founded, and this volume offers two of the comic master’s
most-loved stories: Jeeves and the Impending Doom and Jeeves and the Song of Songs. In these two stories, Bertie Wooster finds himself on a losing streak and lands himself at the mercy of his aunts, Dahlia and Agatha, and only Jeeves is capable of extricating him from disaster.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Classics, Short Stories, Literature, British Literature

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2005

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

[Lisa H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is the first time I've read a book from this series but I have the whole series of the tv shows on dvd. Thus Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry 'voiced' the stories in my head.
:-)

[Spencer Fancutt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started 2018 on PG Wodehouse and going out on it, too. My all-time favourite comic writer and although I don't rate Jeeves as highly as Blandings, the eponymous tale of the two in this Pocket Penguin 70's contains the immortal, '(he) looked like he had been poured into his clothes and forgot to say 'When!''

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeeves is indubitably the master at getting Bertie Wooster out of a variety of scrapes and he does not let his charge down in the two stories in this Pemguin, issued in the series that celebrates Penguin's 70 years.

In the first story 'Jeeves and the Impending Doom', Jeeves helps Bertie rescue a Member of Parliament, Mr Filmer, stranded on a roof on an island by a strategy that involves snaring a rampaging swan and getting absolutely drenched.

But Bertie is grateful because his action passifies Aunt Agatha and saves Bertie from a fate that he feared was worse than death.

In 'Jeeves and the Song of Songs', the singing of Danny Boy causes all the trouble as Tuppy Glossop gets entangled with two ladies. He upsets the first by wooing the second but Bertie decides that the choice of lady is wrong for Tuppy.

Jeeves comes up with the solution and, in front of a vehement audience, Danny Boy seals Tuppy's fate and he ends up with the right lady.

Thank you, Jeeves!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

1.I read this book because it was recommended to me by my dad who said that it is very funny and and exciting.
2.my favorite character in this book was Jeeves who is one of the main characters and id the butler to Bertie Wooster who is a rich man that easily mucks up his own life.
3.I quote that i enjoyed from this book was ' But when it came to pitting his brains against Jeeves he was simply wasting his time'.I thought this Quote was funny because they were talking about a swan that had trapped them on top of a building and had out smarted them so they had to call in Jeeves to come and help out.
4.Once I had finished this book it made me think that some people are amazing and if one person puts his mind to it he can do anything he wants with a heap of practice.

[Kerry-Anne Gilowey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Wodehouse, in a short format. I took this little book on all my metro trips when I was in Paris - and probably gave away the fact that I wasn't a local by sniggering every thirty seconds.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially, kind of hard to see where the story was going, you managed to follow it, and, it ended. Kind of quirky and fun though.

[cypher · Rating 2 out of 5]

this small book contains only two very short stories, "Jeeves and the Impending Doom" and "Jeeves and the Song of Songs". i picked a very short one to get introduced to the series, and i don't regret it, since i can say i did not like very much. the language used is good and useful as an example of the era, and the wit of some of the lines used did not escape me, but it overall gave off a bit of an offensive vibe. the narration comes first person, from the perspective of the master of the estate, while the stories and title all hint at Jeeves, the butler. some remarks from the author are gross, in regards to women, other men, and even the butler, the named star of the stories, and, often, i wished the flavour of the humour would have had a different tone. not my cup of tea.

[Liam Binfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pocket penguin. Finished quickly

Two short Jeeves tales. Impending doom and Song of Songs.

I’d heard of Jeeves but never read it. It’s quite funny actually. Probably better in it’s time but I enjoyed it and it was nice to put actual characters to names I’d heard of, including the author.

Great turns of phrase such as ‘oojah-cum-spiff’. As in fine or tickety-boo. Everything will be oojah cum spiff

There were others I can’t remember.

Would read more of his work. Will be seeking a longer story.

James Taylor. Small. Posh. No longer about

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never laughed so much reading like I did 10 years ago with Jeeves and the Impending Doom. I have re-read the book again recently and it's like going back to that first joy.

I have read it in Spanish...I still struggle with P.G. Wodehouse in English...must be the vocabulary, or the amount of British shows I watched dubbed growing up.

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Bingo is back at it again and Jeeves has to best a swan 🦢

Read as part of the Letters Regarding Jeeves series on Substack, which includes all of the Jeeves literature by P. G. Wodehouse that is currently in public domain — the first 25 short stories, as well as the entirety of the novel ‘Right Ho, Jeeves’ — over the course of one year.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeeves and Wooster never fail to give laughs. Wodehouse makes perfect use of the language to craft the funniest stuff imaginable.

Jeeves rescues Bertie Wooster from an angry water fowl while also saving him from (gasp) gainful employment. Priceless.

[Faidz Zainal Abidin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Nofar Spalter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out loud hilarious. Wodehouse's effervescent writing is as good as ever, and this was a sliver of delight.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

[Vaishali · Rating 4 out of 5]

HAHAHAHA !!!
Just great... can’t add anything else to this review. Superb.
So, so, so dangerously close to five stars, it’s scary 🤣

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes my favorite Jeeves story, 'Jeeves and the Song of Songs.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was excellent. I will be seeking out more Wodehouse based on this little taster. I enjoyed each of the stories. Just loved it.

[Yalım Yılmaz]

Idk what to say. Don't read it?

[jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

could happily read these for the rest of my life. brilliant hand at comedy.

[Erica Smythe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, delightful and quirky read with plenty of "old-fashioned English" phrases included.

[Hikaoru · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was imagining Alfred the whole time giving deadpan answers.

I don't really find this humorous, maybe I'd like his other work. I said that because I think I have another wodehouse book on the shelf

[Ian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2005 Penguin celebrated its 70th birthday by publishing 70 titles as ‘Pocket Penguins’. Since Wodehouse had first been published by Penguin in 1936 and over the subsequent years over 60 volumes of his work had been published by them he was an obvious choice for inclusion and I was only surprised he wasn’t billed higher than the 63rd title in the series. So this slim volume contains two stories both taken from a 1930 collection ‘Very Good, Jeeves’ which was first published by Penguin in 1957.

In the title story Jeeves saves Bertie from gaining game full employment with Mr Filmer, the Cabinet Minister. Wodehouse’s description of Mr Filmer is priceless ‘The Right Hon. Was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say ‘When!’’.
In ‘Jeeves and the Song of Songs’ Jeeves extracts Bertie’s pal Tuppy Glossop from an unfortunate engagement to operatic singer Cora Bellinger as he has fallen in love with Bertie’s cousin Angela.

A perfect introduction for anyone not already familiar with Wodehouse’s greatest comic creations.

[Coenraad · Rating 5 out of 5]

When is Wodehouse's Jeeves stories not pitch perfect in terms of tone, turn of phrase and turn of events?! The two stories presented here are as perfect as any, except that they are so few!

Wodehouse teken Edwardiaanse Engeland met soveel trefsekerheid ten opsigte van sy karakters en hul avonture en spraak, dat hierdie twee trefsekere stories volmaak bevredig, maar ook teleurstel: daar is dan net twee!

[Barbara Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeeves and Wooster at, if not their best, then their shortest.

Wodehouse had a way of phrasing that makes practically anything funny. Thus, he could write about getting caught in the rain, treed by a swan, being interrupted while in the bath, or forced to sing for charity.

[Kellyanne Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in a geocache, and it's a bookcrossing.com book; it's meant to be read and released. My father used to watch Wooster and Jeeves, so I was already familiar with the characters. The book contains two short stories. It was a quick, amusing read.

[Mary Tuley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Jeeves!

[Gilly McGillicuddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I hadn't read this one yet, but apparently I had. Whups. I didn't mind though. There are few things more enjoyable on a rainy day than a cup of hot chocolate and a Wodehouse book.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of silly British humour(and I am), this book is for you. Great for an emergency book- long lines, putting fussy baby to sleep, etc.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

light bus reading. dry british humor :). smiles all around.

[Brian Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and so much fun to read!