Un pellicano a Blandings

Blandings Castle #11

by P.G. Wodehouse, Caterina Longanesi (Translator)

Una lunga giornata d'estate volge ormai al termine al castello di Blandings, e Lord Ermsworth si appresta a godersi in santa pace la sospirata cena; ma da lì a pochi minuti quella tranquillità viene travolta da una serie di arrivi tanto inaspettati quanto portatori di guai e complicazioni. Per prima si presenta Lady Costance, l'autoritaria sorella, in compagnia di un'amica americana; seguono il prepotente duca di Dunstable, e un numero imprecisato di altri ospiti. Di fronte a un ciclone di simili proporzioni Lord Ermsworth sarebbe destinato a soccombere, ma in suo aiuto giungerà un omino vivace con una dissipata gioventù alle spalle trascorsa tra i tavoli del Pelican Club: è Galahad Threepwood, fratello del conte.

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

226 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 1969

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

[Jason Koivu · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Pelican at Blandings, the 11th book in the Blandings Castle series, was a big disappointment for me. I always expect P.G. Wodehouse to buck me up with his humor, but this one lacked the funny.

It's typically Wodehousian in its convoluted plot, but the writing feels dull. I have a tendency to blame the author's mounting years, after all he was about 88 when he wrote this, however he did go on to write another half dozen or so novels, and the one or two I've read were much better than this.

No, the problem is that this feels more like one of his early works where romance tended to trump comedy. The plot is fine, but the comedic edge is missing. There's too much exposition all together, but also redundant explanations, especially in the dialogue, which in other books Wodehouse was smart to gloss over. Sure it's important to keep your readers abreast of the action, but at some point you need to be aware not to beat them over the head with it.

Ah well, I still have about 30 or 40 more Wodehouses to read. I'm sure there are some good ones left!

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pelican at Blandings (1969) is another latter day gem from P.G. Wodehouse.

I always enjoy the Blandings Castle books and A Pelican at Blandings is another winner. Many familiar characters return including the Earl, his stern sister Lady Constance, his brother Galahad "Gally" Threepwood, and the irascible Alaric Pendlebury-Davenport aka the Duke of Dunstable. All combine with the usual array of love-lorn lovers, American millionaires, con men, imposters, and - of course - the inimitable Beach the butler. As usual, magic ensues.

There's one memorable sequence which had me guffawing for minutes. The Earl of Emsworth is locked out of Blandings in the small hours and has to enter, via the window of the garden suite, and so disturbs an unimpressed Alaric, Duke of Dunstable. Minutes later the Duke of Emsworth becomes convinced a painting has been stolen. After consultation with a mischievous Gally, they wake up Alaric for a second time. I was convulsed with laughter.

A Pelican at Blandings was the last full length novel in the Blandings series to be fully completed by P.G. Wodehouse. He finished the series on a real high.

4/5




A Pelican at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost put my rating as three stars but then I realised that I did actually enjoy this book a great deal and the only way I could criticise it is in comparison with Wodehouse's earlier books. Therefore, although this review will sound critical, it's sort of like pointing out that Mont Blanc is rather short in comparison with Everest. It's still a damn big mountain and this is still a damn fine book.

PG was, I think, in his eighties when he wrote this, and his writing, while still sprightly, has lost a little of the sparkle and energy of his prime years. The cast of characters, instead of being moved about in an intricately choreographed dance around one another, sometimes seem to emerge from a haze for a moment only to disappear again. The situations at times seem a little formulaic (a regular Wodehouse reader could settle into the plot as into a comfortable old armchair), the resolutions of the various tangles occasionally seem rather abrupt. The dialogue still fizzes, though, particularly when one of the dias who is logueing is Galahad Threepwood.

If you're only going to read one Wodehouse novel, my advice to you would be to pick one of the earlier ones, but quite frankly, if you're the sort of person who would only read one Wodehouse novel then I don't think we'd get along anyway.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even at the age of 88 P.G Wodehouse delivers. Some old character favorites and I thought a good plot with a few sub plots thrown in at Blanding castle. Galahad the black sheep of the family to the rescue, Connie her dour best with a few Americans thrown into the mix. Dunstable a complete ass and Clarence his bumbling best with all thoughts on Empress and her diet.

Granted a bit weak in places but still funny with the slippery staircase and Galahad’s Pelican club stories.

[Pauline Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review - A Pelican at Blandings by PG Wodehouse.
.
Shropshire, England
Blandings is a castle, or rather, a name of a castle, belonging to The Duke of Dunstable. With 52 bedrooms, The Duke had a habit of inviting people over to stay (nice old chap with hearing loss) Lady Constance, Linda Gilpin, Halliday and Trout, were some of the guests mentioned. Now Trout was invited under false pretences.... this was to do with a painting. The Duke has the original but is wanting to sell it to Trout for a high price, but, Trout is not the only one that wants the painting, John and Joe are cooking up a conspiracy on how to switch the painting for a dud.
.
Beach, Fruity Biffen, G.G. Clutterbuck, Trout. The author uses these unusual yet hilarious names, furthermore, when you actually see these names written into the story it is even funnier. PG Wodehouse has a special way with words that put the most miserable person in such a humorous mood, eg - "If you really want to know, I'm looking for the reptile Trout". The mishaps and funnies reminded me a bit like Faulty Towers with a twist of a mystery to resolve.
.
I will definately be reading more of PG Wodehouse and this book comes highly recommended by me, so, if you like dry humour, words and sentences that are authentic and amusing, humorous stories with a mystery, then this one is for you.

[Laurel Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hoot! Wodehouse, the consummate juggler, throws his zany balls into the air, makes them do acrobatics, and then catches them all in a grand finale. The man should write musical comedies.

"Those comfortably padded lunatic asylums which are known, euphemistically, as the stately homes of England."
~Virginia Woolf.

[☆LaurA☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho lasciato la mia comfort zone per presenziare al castello di Blandings.
E Ora me ne starò qui seduta, col bicchiere di vino in mano, a pensare a tutto quello che è successo.
Già, perché solo con otto ore di sonno un maiale può mantenere la linea e conservare un incarnato da scolaretta.
Divertente come Mr. Bean, se ti piace mr. Bean

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book about Blandings Castle where the main protagonist, Galahad Threepwood, is a visitor to the castle. Indeed, he is the Pelican of the title as he was a member of The Pelican Club.

The main antagonist is an unpleasant, bossy person called Alaric, Duke of Dunstable who invites himself to the castle so he can sell a picture of a reclining nude to an American called Wilbur Trout, who when he looks at the picture is reminded of his third wife.

Lord Emsworth's sister Connie is also visiting and has met a wealthy American heiress on her transatlantic crossing called Vanessa Polk, whom she invites to the castle. Alaric hears of the heiress and is determined to marry her. Vanessa was briefly engaged to Wilbur.

Galahad has a godson called Johnny who wants to marry Linda, a ward-of-court of Alaric, who won't give permission for the marriage.

The painting bought by Alaric turns out to be a fake. A certain character wants to swap the painting and another to steal it. Even though he's a lawyer by profession, Johnny is invited to the castle to assess the mental well-being of Lord Emsworth, who is only ever concerned about the state of the Empress of Blandings, his beloved pig who refuses a potato and so sends his Lordship into a mental tailspin.

How does this all end? Well that would be telling.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nigel Lambert does a very good job narrating this Blandings Castle entry. Plus it has a lot of Galahad :)

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 2 out of 5]

"One of the lessons life teaches us is never to look for instant bonhomie from someone we have rammed in the small of the back and bumped down two flights of stairs. That sort of thing does something to a man. I noticed when I was talking to him that the iron seemed to have entered into his soul quite a bit." (196)

Alas, after finishing the Jeeves and Wooster series, I have now also finished the Blandings Castle series. A Pelican at Blandings wasn't among the best, but it was entertaining enough. Thankfully, Wodehouse wrote plenty of other stuff—which I will now be systematically hunting down.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blessings castle is infested with imposter again, and this time they weren't all brought there by Galahad.

[K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Near the end of the lovely Blandings series. Five stars for enchantment and delight. I think I may have mentioned this in other Blandings reviews, but this series is 11 books of the same plot just told another way. The genius is that Wodehouse CAN tell it a different way and does so with freshness and fun.

--
Gally: "Do you mean Dunstable?"

Lady Constance started irritably, like the Statue of Liberty stung by a mosquito which had wandered over from the Jersey marshes. She spoke with the petulance that always came into her manner sooner or later when she conversed with her brother Galahad.

"Why do you persist in calling him that? You've known him for years. Why not Alaric?"

"Never mind what I call him. If you knew some of the things I'd like to call him you would be astounded at my moderation. Are you telling me that that human walrus has fallen in love at first sight with Vanessa Polk?"

"Alaric is not a human walrus!"

"You criticize my use of the word human?" (48)

--
It is not too much to say that at this point in his progress Lord Emsworth was feeling calm, confident and carefree; but a wise friend, one who had read his Thomas Hardy and learned from that pessimistic author's works how often and how easily human enterprises are ruined by some unforeseen Act of God, would have warned him against any premature complacency. One never knew, he would have pointed out, around what corner Fate might not be waiting with the stocking full of sand. 'Watch your step, Emsworth,' he would have said.

This, however, owing to the darkness which prevailed, Lord Emsworth was unable to do, and there was nothing to tell him that a considerable Act of God was lurking outside Lady Constance's door, all ready for his coming. His first intimation that it was there occurred when he put a foot on it and the world seemed to come to and end not with a whimper but with a bang.

It is to be doubted whether even Sir Pharamond in such circumstances would have been able to preserve his equanimity intact, tough guy though he was admitted to be by his fellow Crusaders. The shock paralyzed his descendant. Lord Emsworth stood gulping, gripped by an unpleasant feeling that his spine had come out through the top of his head. He was not a particularly superstitious man, but he had begun to think that night prowling was unlucky for him.

Mingled with his dismay was bewilderment. He recalled his brother Galahad had urged him not to allow the upsetting of tables in the small hours to become a habit, but this thing with which he had collided was not a table. It was too dark for him to make a definite pronouncement, but it seemed to be a tray containing glass and china, and he could think of no reason why the corridor should be paved with trays.

The explanation was one of those absurdly simple explanations. Lady Constance sometimes found a difficulty in dropping off to sleep, and her doctor....had recommended...a plate of fruit and a glass of milk, to be taken last thing at night... . There consumed, it was her practice to put the tray outside her door, ready for the housemaid to remove in the morning, and ready, also, as has been shown, for her brother Clarence to step into with a forceful bedroom slipper. Thomas Hardy would have seen in the whole affair one more of life's little ironies and on having it drawn to his attention would have got twenty thousand words of a novel out of it.
--

I love the snide Hardy comments :)

[Luffy Sempai · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whether Shropshire is fictional or purely not, I'm not going there ever again - figuratively. The goalposts have moved. I think Wodehouse will be one of the first big names that no one remembers in the coming centuries. Summer Lightning was good - not great. Pigs have Wings was nice to read. What passed for entertaining literature no longer cuts the mustard nowadays. The worrying thing is that something else should and must occupy the vacuum left behind by authors like Wodehouse, Doyle, and their generation. I'm getting so desperate that i'm contemplating giving Stephanie Meyer a try. And I'm not envisaging reading The Host. Anyway I wanted to spell it out. This is not funny.

[Lizz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

I’m obsessed with Blandings Castle and Lord Emsworth. (And of course I adore the Empress). This story had both of these, but not enough of the second. There was a fun side story about Emsworth worrying over the Empress rejecting a potato. I demand more!

The focus was on two love affairs which weren’t all that interesting. Galahad shows up and helps. Things are a slight bit zany. These escapades fall short of the usual wit and whimsy and uh... zaniness of Wodehouse’s other Blandings stories. I still liked it well enough.

[Poonam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started mid-reading review, which is out of tradition for me. I add books on Goodreads mostly AFTER I finish reading them. But, was compelled to share some of Wodehouse's amusing sentences.

"It appears that there is harmless innocent American of the name of Wilbur Trout whose only fault is that he marries rather too often, which is the sort of thing that might happen to anyone."

"Thomas Hardy would have seen in the whole affair one more of life's little ironies and on having it drawn to its attention would have got twenty thousand words of a novel out of it."

"Like a serpent, although perhaps not altogether like a serpent, for serpents do draw the line somewhere, her brother Galahad had introduced another impostor into the castle."

"Once, when they were children, Galahad had fallen into deep pond in the kitchen garden, and just as he was about to sink for the third time one of the gardeners had come along and pulled him out. She was brooding now on thoughtless folly of that misguided gardener. Half the trouble in the world, she was thinking, was caused by people not letting well alone."

"One of the lesson life teaches us is never to look for instant bonhomie from someone we have rammed in the small of the back and bumped down two flight of stairs. That sort of thing does something to a man."

"Except in the matter of marrying blondes he was not an adventurous man, and contemplation of the shape of things to come, as sketched out by Vanessa, had had the worst effect on his nervous system."

"Not too many brains, either, which was an added attraction, for she mistrusted clever men."

"Wilbur's room was the one in which, according to legend, an Emsworth of the fifteenth century had dismembered his wife with a battle axe, as husbands in those days were so apt to do when strain of married life became too much for them."

"As Lady Constance seated herself at the desk and took pen in hand, the Duke's emotions were mixed. A proud man, he resented having his love letters written for him, but on the other hand he could not but feel that in the present crisis a ghost writer would come in uncommonly handy, for he had to admit that, left to his devices, he would not even know how to start the thing, let alone fill the four sheets which could be looked on as the irreducible minimum. He was a great writer of letters to the Times, the Government could not move a step without hearing from him, but this one called for gifts of which he knew himself to be deficient. It was, accordingly, with approval that he watched his collaborator's pen racing over the paper, and when she had finished, he took the manuscript from her with pleasurable anticipation of a treat in store.
It was a pity, therefore, that perusal of it should have brought out all the destructive critic in him. He scanned the document with dismay, and delivered his verdict with asperity. He might have been one of those Scotch reviewers Byron disliked so much.
"This', he said, his eyes popping as they had rarely popped before, 'is the most god-awful slush I ever read!"
If Lady Constance was piqued, she didn't show it. She may have raised an eyebrow, but scarcely so that it could be noticed. Like all authors, she knew her output was above criticism."

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is remarkable that Wodehouse was 87 or 88 when this book was published, and that there were still several more to come! One notes no reduction in the quality of his writing or humor at this point in his career. I read on Wikipedia that the author had to work long and hard on his plots, which is a little ironic, since the plot (of this one anyway) is nothing special. It seemed to me that the story was primarily an excuse to create some funny characters who interact with one another in silly ways. That does not mean however that the writing is dull or pedestrian. Wodehouse is quite good at crafting sparkling prose, and he does so here, even when he is writing about an English earl who has fallen down in his beloved pig's sty, and is trying to sneak back into his house, because the door was locked by a man who snuck out for some reason, and meanwhile someone else is trying to switch a portrait that is hanging in the gallery with a fake, and so on . . .

I listened to an audiobook of this, which was read by Nigel Lamber, who does a wonderful job with the English voices but does struggle a little with the voice of an American woman. My favorite character was the irascible duke, and Lambert reads his part wonderfully. He creates a splendid variety of voices for a solo reading, giving different voices to all of the characters. Bravo!

[Ian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather than be a visiting wild fowl the titular Pelican is Galahad Threepwood, brother of Lord Emsworth, on hand at Blandings to make sure the course of true love runs smooth and that a forged painting is replaced by the original without the owner becoming aware of its origin. The painting in question is a reclining nude which explains the American title of this Blandings farce ‘No Nudes is Good Nudes’. As ever a Blanding’s romp wouldn’t be complete without a number of imposters and in this case Galahads godson Johnny Halliday is impersonating Roddy Glossop’s assistant whilst Howard Chesney is hiding his light of being a crook under a bushel and Miss Polk’s father is not the man quoted as Mr Polk in ‘Who’s Who’.

Written when he was 87 Wodehouse had put his best writing behind him but re-visiting old friends at his Eden of Blandings has brought out the best in him and this can stand up with the Blandings stories written in his greatest period. The outcome won’t surprise anyone and the plot mechanics have been used by Wodehouse throughout his career but somehow seem fresh here. The last completed Blandings story is still a great addition to the saga and should be enjoyed by anyone wanting to dip into Wodehouse’s utopia.

[Glee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. I have never before read anything by Wodehouse. Found this on audiotape while making a basement cleaning attempt recently and thought, Why Not? Have no idea how it got into my basement, but I have made similar improbable "finds" in the past - who knows what treasures you will find in boxes that haven't been opened in 20 or 30 years?

Wonderful snide/snark/silliness. Sort of a mashup of Downton Abbey and the Marx Brothers. Ridiculously convoluted plot, but only reason for plot was to advance conversations between addlepated upper class Brits and other assorted twits, imposters, thieves, as well as star-crossed lovers. Some characters are many of the above. A few Americans thrown into the mix, and of course, the butler (not Jeeves), who is the only one with any sense. Or at least doesn't make a fool of himself.

Just a whimsical delight. I've found a trove of them at the library, so I will be listening to more of these.

[Magill · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Wodehouse's later books does not have the sparkle of earlier works, but still mildly enjoyable. I admit that the plot has not stayed with me after a mere day or so but it is of a pleasant sort - dotty Emsworth, bossy Connie, young lovers with an impediment to their betrothal, someone or two under false pretenses, a theft being required. And an appearance by the Empress. And Gally to the rescue.

I suppose there is a certain comfort to the predictability, the Alexander McCall Smith of his day for sheer volume and slightness of plot, but wittier and sillier and with a certain nostalgic charm for days that never were.

[Ishan · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I don't think i can go as far as that,' he said,'but he certainly ought to see a psychiatrist.'
'A what?'
'One of those fellows who ask you questions about your childhood and gradually dig up the reason why you go about shouting "Fire" in crowded theaters. They find it's because somebody took away your all day sucker when you were six.'


It's always fun to come back to P.G. Wodehouse's works after a while. Read this on a two day long journey in train while getting the looks of fellow passengers as i was shrieking the whole time with laughter.

[Kate Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love P. G. Wodehouse! This was the perfect book to listen to on a roadtrip. Mishaps, light mayhem and a prized pig - what could be wrong with that?! The reader was perfect (Jarvis...). If you are looking for something lighthearted, this one is just right - like that tasty cookie after a good meal.

[ValeReads Kyriosity · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Audible subscription ends in a couple of weeks, so I've decided to binge all the Blandings books included with my current membership. And mayyyyyyybe finish a couple of more serious ones I'd already started.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Lord Emsworth and Uncle Galahad produce the laughs.

[Renee M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galahad. Dunstable. Connie. Clarence. Stolen Art. Counterfeit Art. Yellow Pajamas. Assumed Identities. False Pretenses. Mix.
Another brilliant delightful recipe at Blandings Castle. These never fail to lighten my mood. :D

[Luke Lyman]

there's a sweet spot in every wodehouse novel, maybe 30 or so pages in, when the effect of the writing begins to perfectly approximate what it feels like to be at a really, really good party -- it's euphoric

[Chrystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars. I felt like Wodehouse let some great opportunities slip away here; the imposter psychiatrist pretending to be Sir Roderick Glossop's junior partner could have produced comedy gold in the story, but instead all he ends up doing is being pushed down the stairs, when I was imagining hilarious scenes where he could have been analyzing the potty Earl. Additionally, he could have developed the forged painting and the plot to steal said painting. This was disappointing. Nevertheless, I don't ever get tired of people's fat heads being referred to as Spanish onions or giant pumpkins.

[Tom Godfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining and funny, but the Blandings series doesn’t seem as entertaining and funny to me as the Jeeves and Wooster series is.

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pelican at Blandings is the 11th entry in the Blandings Castle series and was of unsurprisingly high quality for one written in 1969, so late in P.G.’s career. I say it is unsurprising because while I was surprised by the high quality of Service With a Smile, the 9th entry from 1962, and of 1965’s 10th entry, Galahad at Blandings, I stopped being surprised by the time I re-read this one. Mr. Wodehouse hit a groove in the 1960s by somehow providing a spark to his rehash of plots and character types in the Blandings series.

Why was this good? In my review of Service With a Smile, I said that the dotty Lord Emsworth “is a character often in need of another smarter fellow to play lead in the exercises. Sometimes it’s his brother Galahad. This time, that role is filled by Lord Ickenham.” In this novel, for the second straight time, the ball is back in Galahad’s hands. I find that the addition of Uncle Fred or Gally brings the reader into the story better by providing the reader with a master of ceremonies/ringleader that the reader can both identify with and watch direct the other characters’ activities. In this story, Galahad again delivers a marvelous performance in the role.

This was the typically witty and humorous Blandings romp with numerous romances, along with the mandatory imposter and the frustratingly overbearing Duke of Dunstable. This story has a simpler plot and character than the previous volume which made the book a more comfortable read read but a shade less fun.

While I enjoyed all three of these late period 1960s Blandings books, I would cite Service With a Smile as my favorite of the three, probably because it felt fresher and had the delightful Lord Ickenham. However, this 11th entry, the last completed Blandings novel, is another better than 4-star writing performance by the remarkable 87-year-old Wodehouse. A delight.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dressed like a tramp and tucking into an extra jammy Rolly-Polly Pudding in the solitude of his library, the ninth Earl of Emsworth was enjoying one of those salad days only possible with the complete absence of dukes and sisters at Blandings Castle.

It can't last. Not having bothered to open the letter informing him of her intention to holiday away from New York and spend her summer at Blandings, Clarence isn't prepared for the arrival of the most Fuhrer-like of all his sisters, Lady Constance.

Then, as if to prove the old adage that it never rains until it pores down all over your salad, who should call to signal his intention of a corresponding visit but that irascible bully attached behind a walrus mustache, the detested Duke of Dunstable?

Showing unusual presence of mind for one so enfeebled, the shell-shocked earl turns immediately for help to his brother Galahad, a fearless raconteur of the now defunct Pelican Club, a man who laughs at dukes and cocks his snoop at sisters!

Blandings is a byword for a good time, you can't fail with any book in the series. That said I think that the plot resolution was a little too handily contrived in this one. I was also disappointed that Wodehouse offered up the piquant promise of the indelicate Dunstable barreling his way through some love scenes, only to renege on the deal.

Paintings are still pilfered, the poor earl finds himself beset by both invisible cats and fat-headed bats, while impostors are to be found at every turn. As Galahad reassures one such who has just been unmasked,

"And why shouldn't you be? Practically everybody else who comes here is."

[Rajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Wodehouse is pure bliss. His writing style seems simple but it is not. Wodehouse is a genius and he painstakingly creates humor out of ordinary everyday situations. It is not slap stick, satire or comic. It is pure unadulterated humor. Reading Wodehouse is the best stress buster and anti-depressant. He doesn’t claim to very highly literary writing prowess. In his own words “I believe there are two ways of writing novels. One is making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going deep down into life and not caring a damn...”.

Wodehouse believed that one of the factors that made his stories humorous was his view of life, and he stated that "If you take life fairly easily, then you take a humorous view of things. It's probably because you were born that way."

"For a humorous novel you've got to have a scenario, and you've got to test it so that you know where the comedy comes in, where the situations come in … splitting it up into scenes (you can make a scene of almost anything) and have as little stuff in between as possible."

Bandings castle and its characters is one the best of his creations. I think there will not be a single person who can not like Wodehouse.