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Wake Up, Sir!
From the creator of the HBO series Bored to Death , the story of a young alcoholic writer and his personal valet, a hilarious homage to the Bertie and Jeeves novels of P.G. Wodehouse.
Alan Blair, the hero of Wake Up, Sir! , is a young, loony writer with numerous problems of the mental, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and physical variety. He's very good at problems. But luckily for Alan, he has a personal valet named Jeeves, who does his best to sort things out for his troubled master. And Alan does find trouble wherever he goes. He embarks on a perilous and bizarre road journey, his destination being an artists colony in Saratoga Springs. There Alan encounters a gorgeous femme fatale who is in possession of the most spectacular nose in the history of noses. Such a nose can only lead to a wild disaster for someone like Alan, and Jeeves tries to help him, but...well, read the book and find out!
Alan Blair, the hero of Wake Up, Sir! , is a young, loony writer with numerous problems of the mental, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and physical variety. He's very good at problems. But luckily for Alan, he has a personal valet named Jeeves, who does his best to sort things out for his troubled master. And Alan does find trouble wherever he goes. He embarks on a perilous and bizarre road journey, his destination being an artists colony in Saratoga Springs. There Alan encounters a gorgeous femme fatale who is in possession of the most spectacular nose in the history of noses. Such a nose can only lead to a wild disaster for someone like Alan, and Jeeves tries to help him, but...well, read the book and find out!
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2004
About the author
Jonathan Ames
42 books807 followersJonathan Ames is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs, and is the creator of two television series, Bored to Death (HBO) and Blunt Talk (STARZ). In the late '90s and early 2000s, he was a columnist for the New York Press for several years, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. He also has a long-time interest in boxing, appearing occasionally in the ring as "The Herring Wonder".
Two of his novels have been adapted into films: The Extra Man in 2010, and You Were Never Really Here in 2017. Ames was a co-screenwriter of the former and an executive producer of the latter.
Two of his novels have been adapted into films: The Extra Man in 2010, and You Were Never Really Here in 2017. Ames was a co-screenwriter of the former and an executive producer of the latter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 425 reviews
August 7, 2015
This is the third Jonathan Ames book I've read this year (the others being 'The Extra Man' and 'What's Not To Love') and reading them in such close succession was probably a mistake. The reason it was probably a mistake is because there is an incredible amount of similar (and even virtually identical) material in all three books. Reading them so close to one another is a rather repetitive experience.
It's a shame, really, as reading just one of them is a delight... any one of them, really. They are all genuinely laugh out loud funny and 'Wake Up, Sir' is particularly clever in places and a great pastiche of Wodehouse to boot. If I hadn't read the other two Ames books so recently (or at all) this would easily have been a four star review, instead of just about scraping a three.
I'm sure I'll read Ames again, as he's very witty and writes well... but probably not for a while.
It's a shame, really, as reading just one of them is a delight... any one of them, really. They are all genuinely laugh out loud funny and 'Wake Up, Sir' is particularly clever in places and a great pastiche of Wodehouse to boot. If I hadn't read the other two Ames books so recently (or at all) this would easily have been a four star review, instead of just about scraping a three.
I'm sure I'll read Ames again, as he's very witty and writes well... but probably not for a while.
January 9, 2009
Corn on the macabre
December 2, 2016
Strange, weird, funny, sad, black, dark, hilarious. These are some of the words I would use to describe this book. It's unlike anything else I have ever read. It's like an original parody, so so peculiar, but I really enjoyed it, and although it's been compared to Jeeves and Wooster there is a lot more to it than that. I would say taking an in depth look into Wooster's psyche with some rather bleak, poignant and side splitting moments would be more like it. Well worth a read. I can't stop thinking about it.
May 3, 2008
I saw Jonathan Ames do a reading about a year ago at the KGB Bar and left with the urge to find his short story collection and gobble it up. He's witty and sex-obsessesed in a nervous sort of way, yet somehow manages to come off as more F. Scott Fitzgerald than Woody Allen. His essay, "American Gothic," about interviewing Goths at a music festival was particularly wonderful, and I used it in one of my classes this past semester. To make a long story short, I recently began watching reruns of the British show, Jeeves & Wooster, based on the books of PG Wodehouse and starring Hugh Laurie (House MD) as the blundering Wooster. Seeing Hugh speaking in his real accent is worth the watch. At any rate, watching the show reminded me that I'd been meaning to buy Wake Up, Sir! to continue my Ames education.
The premise of the novel is that Alan Blair, a lovable alcoholic writer, is trying without much luck to finish his novel, The Walker, about his former roommate - whom he misses terribly. To fill the void, and to assist in keeping him on the straight and narrow, Blair hires a valet with some money he won in a legal settlement. Jeeves does his best to keep Blair out of trouble, but with limited success. The novel is, oddly, sort of a road-novel at first - as Blair decides to go to Sharon Springs, Hasidic haven in the Catskills for some rest and relaxation. Despite his best efforts, things fall into disaster in less than 24 hours. Fortunately, he has meanwhile landed a spot at an artist's colony in Saratoga Springs where he can return to work on his novel. He arrives with two black eyes and a broken nose as a result of his Sharon Springs fiasco. However his fellow artists-in-residence are equally odd, so he fits right in. As a matter of fact, for a good while he's not sure if he's accidentally stumbled into an insane asylum, rather than an artist's colony.
The book is hysterically funny, full of Jeeves's wry observations and Blair's genuine good-will that is all but doomed to failure. He observes early on, "How terrible to be an alcoholic. You just want to quietly soothe and maybe poison yourself, but you end up poisoning all those around you as well, like trying to commit suicide with a gas oven and unwittingly murdering your neighbors." Much of the novel has this sort of sensitivity to it and it keeps you hooked on the madcap adventures of Jeeves and Blair. In particular, I liked the sections where Blair is actually working on his book, and talking about his process, probably because I'm also deep in the middle of a writing project at the moment. Unfortunately the madness goes overboard as the novel nears its end. Jeeves is less and less present as the other artists become more involved in the story and Blair meets a woman with a beautiful, large nose. Finally the novel ends with a flight from the colony and no word on whether or not the novel will ever be finished or if Blair's demons will be exorcised someday.
For all that, I could not put the book down, even as the final chapters began to disappoint. And, in further testament to my faith in Mr. Ames, I have already gone out and bought The Extra Man - Ames's book about a former NYC roommate that he misses terribly, who walks dogs for elderly high society ladies - which yes, coincidentally seems to be the same plot as the book Blair is trying to write in Wake Up, Sir. I'm hoping it is every bit as funny and holds up entirely as well. I guess there's only one way to find out.
The premise of the novel is that Alan Blair, a lovable alcoholic writer, is trying without much luck to finish his novel, The Walker, about his former roommate - whom he misses terribly. To fill the void, and to assist in keeping him on the straight and narrow, Blair hires a valet with some money he won in a legal settlement. Jeeves does his best to keep Blair out of trouble, but with limited success. The novel is, oddly, sort of a road-novel at first - as Blair decides to go to Sharon Springs, Hasidic haven in the Catskills for some rest and relaxation. Despite his best efforts, things fall into disaster in less than 24 hours. Fortunately, he has meanwhile landed a spot at an artist's colony in Saratoga Springs where he can return to work on his novel. He arrives with two black eyes and a broken nose as a result of his Sharon Springs fiasco. However his fellow artists-in-residence are equally odd, so he fits right in. As a matter of fact, for a good while he's not sure if he's accidentally stumbled into an insane asylum, rather than an artist's colony.
The book is hysterically funny, full of Jeeves's wry observations and Blair's genuine good-will that is all but doomed to failure. He observes early on, "How terrible to be an alcoholic. You just want to quietly soothe and maybe poison yourself, but you end up poisoning all those around you as well, like trying to commit suicide with a gas oven and unwittingly murdering your neighbors." Much of the novel has this sort of sensitivity to it and it keeps you hooked on the madcap adventures of Jeeves and Blair. In particular, I liked the sections where Blair is actually working on his book, and talking about his process, probably because I'm also deep in the middle of a writing project at the moment. Unfortunately the madness goes overboard as the novel nears its end. Jeeves is less and less present as the other artists become more involved in the story and Blair meets a woman with a beautiful, large nose. Finally the novel ends with a flight from the colony and no word on whether or not the novel will ever be finished or if Blair's demons will be exorcised someday.
For all that, I could not put the book down, even as the final chapters began to disappoint. And, in further testament to my faith in Mr. Ames, I have already gone out and bought The Extra Man - Ames's book about a former NYC roommate that he misses terribly, who walks dogs for elderly high society ladies - which yes, coincidentally seems to be the same plot as the book Blair is trying to write in Wake Up, Sir. I'm hoping it is every bit as funny and holds up entirely as well. I guess there's only one way to find out.
November 5, 2007
I think Ames maybe my most favorite living writer at the moment - well along with Dennis Cooper - and you can't compare both authors so forget that route.
But nevertheless Ames has a love for PG Wodehouse or Gentlemen British literature - and when you mixed that up with a slight Woody Allen New Jersey/Manhattan mixture it's makes a great cocktail.
In a nutshell it is about a struggling author with a drink problem who goes to a writer's retreat and one gets the feeling this is his last chance. But alas he also has a British butler with him at all times - especially when he gets himself in trouble. How does he pay for th is butler? Does the butler even exist? So many questions, and yet I don't care, because his writing is so winning and hysterical.
But nevertheless Ames has a love for PG Wodehouse or Gentlemen British literature - and when you mixed that up with a slight Woody Allen New Jersey/Manhattan mixture it's makes a great cocktail.
In a nutshell it is about a struggling author with a drink problem who goes to a writer's retreat and one gets the feeling this is his last chance. But alas he also has a British butler with him at all times - especially when he gets himself in trouble. How does he pay for th is butler? Does the butler even exist? So many questions, and yet I don't care, because his writing is so winning and hysterical.
March 20, 2012
Jonathan Ames is a total fucking treasure. I liked this even more than THE EXTRA MAN, which is saying something, as I loved that. In this book he channels both the surface of PG Wodehouse and the undercurrent as well, the melancholy beneath the amusing compounding scrapes the hero is always getting into, to be saved ultimately and always by Jeeves, who in Ames might or might not be real, and whose incarnation in WAKE UP, SIR! makes you look back at the Wodehouse books and wonder if he was imaginary or real in those. You could say that Jeeves is a projection of Alan's (or Bertie's) bottomless loneliness, or you could just say the hell with it and laugh a lot; I fell somewhere in between. I think the trait most fully shared by the Ames and Wodehouse heroes is a certain innocence and fear of intimacy; Ames is braver than Wodehouse, though, and while he might not have yet equalled the Master's astonishing output we can only hope that he will. He'll have to write fast; he doesn't have to worry about writing beautifully.
Read
March 3, 20234sure some smirkworthy set pieces (you can def hear the curb theme playing in multiple places) but also a few too many undigested stand-up bits -- chunks of narration or dialogue in a "didja ever notice" vein that don't flow but which i imagine ames had on index cards & figured too good not to use somewhere. idea of a butler as the ultimate enabler for an addict is an interesting one (& raises some uncomfortable q's re batman's alfred...)
November 11, 2010
This was my first Jonathan Ames novel. My expectations where high as I had thoroughly enjoyed his short story and journalism collection. Throughout the book there are hysterical dialogues and interplays between the main character Alain, and the people be it his rich Aunt and Uncle, his Butler Jeeves, and the people that he encounters along the way to the Writer's Colony. Incidentally Jonathon Ames was the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship award. The first quarter of the book was very tight and funny writing. The middle section drags and then the end is very rushed. There's probably a good laugh per page in this book, but it lacks substance and there's no character growth throughout the whole novel. Instead you're entertained by Alain's insecurities: as a writer, person, religion, and his sexuality. Other repetitive themes are his alcoholism, literary awareness, New Yorkisms, melancholy, Jeeves ambivalence to Alain's character.
April 12, 2017
Being a big Wodehouse fan, I was intrigued by the book's premise but also wary. The first thing to say is that, although obviously intended as a homage to Wodehouse, the use of the relationship between the ditzy alcoholic Jewish writer and his valet who just happens to be called Jeeves (although he also acts and speaks like the original) is somewhat superfluous to the rest of the novel. Jeeves plays little or no part in the plot other than being a sounding-board for the haphazardly quirky ideas spouted at great length by the hero. The book could easily have done without him.
There are some very funny set pieces in the novel (especially the fight outside the bar) but sustaining comic writing across a whole novel is difficult and this one starts to wear thin well before the end.
There are some very funny set pieces in the novel (especially the fight outside the bar) but sustaining comic writing across a whole novel is difficult and this one starts to wear thin well before the end.
December 11, 2008
When I started reading I was prepared to be extremely disappointed. A sheer rip-off of the Jeeves novels. It got better, but I wasn't entirely impressed. There were humorous moments but nothing that would make me want to read anything of Mr. Ames' again.
Mr. Ames does have fun with the main character going off on tangents but it can be a blessing or a curse depending on the subject's appeal to the reader. The most memorable and fun scene is where three drunk and high characters decide they are on a space mission and called each other Captain, Sergeant, and Science Officer.
Mr. Ames does have fun with the main character going off on tangents but it can be a blessing or a curse depending on the subject's appeal to the reader. The most memorable and fun scene is where three drunk and high characters decide they are on a space mission and called each other Captain, Sergeant, and Science Officer.
April 3, 2011
I've never been so entertained by reading a book in which almost nothing happens.
December 27, 2012
I expected more hilarity. Maybe I just didn't get it! I'll try another Ames at a later date, perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind this go. I didn't hate it, there were a few points in which I chuckled, but overall it didn't live up to my expectations.
July 15, 2024
I know absolutely nothing about Jonathan Ames. Picked up this book solely because the cover made me laugh and the back of the book premise seemed so richly comedic that I didn’t think it was likely to disappoint. Vast stretches are more amusing than laughter inducing, but it’s never boring and only once or twice is it really off the mark. I think I was mostly surprised by how relatively seriously the narrative is treated overall, the protagonist is a neurotic wreck and the plot unfolds with typical comedic logic, but there’s an straightforward earnestness about it that made me strangely invested. The Jeeves conversations are the best part in terms of narrative and humor, never really growing old despite never really evolving at all, a rare thing for a bit like this. Reading them I was struck with weird past premonitions of the current age, where every unemployed creative person I know seems to have their own therapist.
February 3, 2011
I mean, I really don't think I even need to read any more Jonathan Ames novels because there is so much overlap between them and the show I love, Bored to Death. This one is kind of a wild ride between Ames fleeing family then a crazy fight, then a disaster at an artist colony. I don't know how much of it is fact but Ames writes as if every single word were a page from his every accumulating diary that he's revealing for the sake of your own pleasure. In some ways, though it's way more personal, it's enjoyable in the same was as Jack Kerouac's On the Road...meaning, though it's more modern, it's certainly an adventure the reader is taken on for a ride.
The main protagonist is somewhat hopeless with his personal butler and his free falling dipsomaniac ways but there's a fondness there that I couldn't help but feel rather strongly.
I think you'll get a better idea about what this book is like from the following quotes..and then you'll know if you can love it, too.
pg. 87, "...this made sense the fellow I'd tangled with had struck me with his right-hand toaster, which had sent my nose, like an English sentence, from the left to the right."
pg. 108-109 "I felt me sanity returning instantaneously, as if it had only been a case of temporary insanity, which is very useful for committing murder but not so useful in other situations...thank God I wasn't at an asylum! Someone with a PHD in art history could only be running an art house, not a nuthouse! ...I could be having delirium without the tremens."
pg 133, "I'm going to sally forth now. Do you think Sally Forth would be a good stage name for an actress?
"Quite winning, sir"
"I agree. If I ever meet an actress with a terrible name, I;ll suggest Sally Forth. Or any woman with a terrible name. Doesn't have to be an actress..."
pg. 169 "Oh Jeeves," I said. I was in bed. It was morning. My brain was a blister and my moth was an old leather wallet without any money."
pg. 171 "Time has no effect on me!" Sober I would have never damaged an old clock or made such a vainglorious pronouncement.
pg. 179, "As far as I know, his nose had no name, but it was certainly elegant, a kind of Dorian Gray nose, much younger than the rest of his face, and almost a twin in shape and expression to Peter O'Toole's nose in Lawrence of Arabia, which may be the greatest male nose in the history of cinema.
pg. 197 "It could be a female but most sociopaths are male. Females take out their troubles on themselves, for the most part."
pg 214, "At some point in time in America, trees have made something of a comeback, while of course suffering great losses elsewhere. But why no one comments on all the trees we have running around is something of a mystery to me. Seems like it's at least one delusional positive we could hold on to, while everything else goes up in flames."
pg 224, "Rather than say anything, I stood up and put my foot in the water, testing it. Testing the water, that is, not my foot. Though maybe it was my foot I was testing-whether it could tolerate the water's temperature. Oh God, I don't know what's more difficult, life or the English language."
pg. 280-281 "We do not have the capacity to recall each instant of our lives, so experience becomes compacted, summed up, dismissed. An affair is reduced to a sentence: 'We were together three years.' This makes the life lived seem rather short...The whole thing is a conundrum, sir. It takes us sixty, seventy, eighty years to live a life, and it appears to go by so quickly, and yet we also know hoe long it took to get where we are..I think of the world of cinema. A two hour film is the result of hundreds of hours of shot footage. The same thing with life. It can all be remembered and reviewed quite quickly, but it took millions of moments to create it."
pg. 283, "I'm awfully splenetic today. I'm suffering from humors but it's not very funny."
pg 285 "I just wanted to say that I think the word I is the saddest word in the English language."
The main protagonist is somewhat hopeless with his personal butler and his free falling dipsomaniac ways but there's a fondness there that I couldn't help but feel rather strongly.
I think you'll get a better idea about what this book is like from the following quotes..and then you'll know if you can love it, too.
pg. 87, "...this made sense the fellow I'd tangled with had struck me with his right-hand toaster, which had sent my nose, like an English sentence, from the left to the right."
pg. 108-109 "I felt me sanity returning instantaneously, as if it had only been a case of temporary insanity, which is very useful for committing murder but not so useful in other situations...thank God I wasn't at an asylum! Someone with a PHD in art history could only be running an art house, not a nuthouse! ...I could be having delirium without the tremens."
pg 133, "I'm going to sally forth now. Do you think Sally Forth would be a good stage name for an actress?
"Quite winning, sir"
"I agree. If I ever meet an actress with a terrible name, I;ll suggest Sally Forth. Or any woman with a terrible name. Doesn't have to be an actress..."
pg. 169 "Oh Jeeves," I said. I was in bed. It was morning. My brain was a blister and my moth was an old leather wallet without any money."
pg. 171 "Time has no effect on me!" Sober I would have never damaged an old clock or made such a vainglorious pronouncement.
pg. 179, "As far as I know, his nose had no name, but it was certainly elegant, a kind of Dorian Gray nose, much younger than the rest of his face, and almost a twin in shape and expression to Peter O'Toole's nose in Lawrence of Arabia, which may be the greatest male nose in the history of cinema.
pg. 197 "It could be a female but most sociopaths are male. Females take out their troubles on themselves, for the most part."
pg 214, "At some point in time in America, trees have made something of a comeback, while of course suffering great losses elsewhere. But why no one comments on all the trees we have running around is something of a mystery to me. Seems like it's at least one delusional positive we could hold on to, while everything else goes up in flames."
pg 224, "Rather than say anything, I stood up and put my foot in the water, testing it. Testing the water, that is, not my foot. Though maybe it was my foot I was testing-whether it could tolerate the water's temperature. Oh God, I don't know what's more difficult, life or the English language."
pg. 280-281 "We do not have the capacity to recall each instant of our lives, so experience becomes compacted, summed up, dismissed. An affair is reduced to a sentence: 'We were together three years.' This makes the life lived seem rather short...The whole thing is a conundrum, sir. It takes us sixty, seventy, eighty years to live a life, and it appears to go by so quickly, and yet we also know hoe long it took to get where we are..I think of the world of cinema. A two hour film is the result of hundreds of hours of shot footage. The same thing with life. It can all be remembered and reviewed quite quickly, but it took millions of moments to create it."
pg. 283, "I'm awfully splenetic today. I'm suffering from humors but it's not very funny."
pg 285 "I just wanted to say that I think the word I is the saddest word in the English language."
February 26, 2016
A youngish man child with an alcohol problem and a knack for poor decisions sets of on a road trip with his valet, in an attempt to address his writers block. Of course the valet is called Jeeves. I loved the idea for the book, and the author fully exploits the absurdity of updating Wodehouse into the modern age, and in doing so highlights an almost sinister insanity in the original Wooster.
The problem for much of the book is that it casts you into an uncanny valley where the similarity to the original in this Wodehouse pastiche is enough to cause revulsion, not to mention feel a little blasphemous. The book as illustrated below is very polar express and not incredible so or indeed Mr Mori for whom to be honest I feel very little.
As I read on though I began to enjoy the humour, and the characters more and more with the obligatory mansion caper and the darkness of the end leaving more of a mark than I would have first thought.
The problem for much of the book is that it casts you into an uncanny valley where the similarity to the original in this Wodehouse pastiche is enough to cause revulsion, not to mention feel a little blasphemous. The book as illustrated below is very polar express and not incredible so or indeed Mr Mori for whom to be honest I feel very little.
As I read on though I began to enjoy the humour, and the characters more and more with the obligatory mansion caper and the darkness of the end leaving more of a mark than I would have first thought.
May 22, 2015
I was initially attracted to this book by the lovely new Pushkin Press edition and the fact it was written by Jonathan Ames - creator of the TV series "Bored to Death" and, just like that criminally underrated show, I was drawn in by the subtle humour and a pleasing amount of incisive and clever one-liners about sex, life, and big noses.
The main character, Alan Blair, is a wonderfully neurotic alcoholic writer who takes a trip to an artist's colony with his reliably terse manservant, Jeeves. The obvious comparisons with PG Wodehouse and Woody Allen here are deserved but Ames is too good a writer to fall into the trap of lazy imitation. I felt that the substance fuelled shenanigans were also reminiscent of a somewhat gentler version of Hunter S. Thompson's Raoul Duke. Overall "Wake Up, Sir!" is a thoroughly entertaining, thoughtful and amusing novel which would make for perfect Summer reading.
The main character, Alan Blair, is a wonderfully neurotic alcoholic writer who takes a trip to an artist's colony with his reliably terse manservant, Jeeves. The obvious comparisons with PG Wodehouse and Woody Allen here are deserved but Ames is too good a writer to fall into the trap of lazy imitation. I felt that the substance fuelled shenanigans were also reminiscent of a somewhat gentler version of Hunter S. Thompson's Raoul Duke. Overall "Wake Up, Sir!" is a thoroughly entertaining, thoughtful and amusing novel which would make for perfect Summer reading.
August 26, 2007
It triggers a vertigo, not of space but of time, to realize that it has been a little over almost exactly twenty years since last I read this classic of the early-aughts.
If I recall correctly, this was published around the same time Ames had an essay in The Believer about the soothing cool towel upon the fevered brow that is the experience of reading Wodehouse when one is in need of reprieve from the deplorably draughty and daily grab-bag of depression inducing drab. The essay was very convincing - and I'm to this day grateful for the Wodehouse revival of the early-aughts.
Thing that catches my eye on the paperback blurbage is, the novel is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as "Wodehouse novel for the recovery era" - is that what we were calling those first few years after 9/11? The recovery era?
If I recall correctly, this was published around the same time Ames had an essay in The Believer about the soothing cool towel upon the fevered brow that is the experience of reading Wodehouse when one is in need of reprieve from the deplorably draughty and daily grab-bag of depression inducing drab. The essay was very convincing - and I'm to this day grateful for the Wodehouse revival of the early-aughts.
Thing that catches my eye on the paperback blurbage is, the novel is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as "Wodehouse novel for the recovery era" - is that what we were calling those first few years after 9/11? The recovery era?
August 29, 2021
Wake Up, Sir tells the story, narrated in first person, of a week in the life of Charlie Blair, a functioning alcoholic, and his valet (whom he was able to hire thanks to a large legal settlement). That the valet’s name is Jeeves is a bit over the top, but doesn’t get in the way of a good story, full of good characters and funny episodes. Ames balances the sad reality of alcoholism with episodes that feel almost scripted for a TV situation comedy. This summer, I have been alternating between reading extremes: ponderous stuff on the Kindle and mindless, action thrillers on Audible. Wake Up, Sir had been sitting on my paperback shelf for years, and it provided a great middle ground: easy to read, funny, but always with an edge that asked, “what are you really laughing at here.” But that kind of edgy humor is just what gets me thinking about myself and the people around me.
August 8, 2017
Starts at one place, in one way and ends up somewhere else entirely, in a similar but warped way. Jonathan Ames is an understated genius who makes his neuroses hilarious and weirdness fun. Wake Up has an overall lightness to it, but also contains moments of strange profundity and even most of its humor is cerebral. Ames finds a way to engage you and probe your own weirdness and often provide a sense of relief that his protagonist's weirdness is not your own.
July 1, 2015
while this book wasn't bad, I don't really need to read another book by a boy about a boy having boy problems, you know?
August 21, 2016
Took a while to get into, but eventually picked up and became funny and at times insightful. Over 300 pages to get to the line "corn on the macabre," but what a delicious line. Good overall read.
June 16, 2017
The best time I ever had reading a book. Laughed hard and often. I will be reading more of Ames in the future.
January 11, 2021
The story of Alan Blair, a 30-year-old writer with an unhealthy penchant for booze, who after receiving a settlement from an accident, hires a valet named Jeeves, moves out of his aunt and uncle's house when they tire of him being a tosspot, and endeavors to finally finish his second novel, several unsuccessful years in the making. The back cover of the book I read contains quoted reviews from 7 critics that all simply state, "hilarious!" This probably should have been a warning sign. For me, what started out as a rather light and entertaining throwback tribute to P.G. Wodehouse and his beloved Jeeves seemed to quickly morph into a dark and despairing Augustan Burroughs-style memoir where Ames’ humor about the illness of alcoholism came across as sophomoric and irresponsibly glorifying. Since it was the idea of rejuvenating the Jeeves character that initially drew me to the book, this twist in the story along with the fact Jeeves was rarely present gave me some disappointment. (Although, in hindsight, Ames’ intent may have been for Jeeves to be just a mere phantom given Blair's love of the classics in combination with his history of blackouts...sooooo, maybe it’s Jeeves meets Fight Club as written by Burroughs?) Overall, the story was amusing enough and Alan Blair did partially win me over with his humility and screwball antics despite his need to join AA.
May 22, 2022
This homage to PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster lexicon should probably not be read by true fans of said J & W. It bears but faint resemblance.
True, it comes replete with a valet named Jeeves, his incompetent first-person narrator/employer, and in the last 2o pages, a similar plot that resolves as Jeeves stands idly by, a mere bystander. This is at least consistent; he does little throughout the book other than make blase responses to his employer's inanities.
Why the author thought a humorous homage should include a main character who is a hopeless, depressed alcoholic who rambles on pointlessly repeatedly when he isn't self-psychoanalyzing about his failures and oddball sexuality is beyond me.
Further beyond me is the unexpectedly graphic sexual scene and the follow-up where the narrator tells Jeeves to go into the bathroom and inspect himself for pubic lice.
Yes, that was a spoiler- in more ways than one.
I assume Wodehouse would be spinning in his grave to think that his light-hearted breezy comedies would spawn something like this.
Read Wodehouse, not Ames.
True, it comes replete with a valet named Jeeves, his incompetent first-person narrator/employer, and in the last 2o pages, a similar plot that resolves as Jeeves stands idly by, a mere bystander. This is at least consistent; he does little throughout the book other than make blase responses to his employer's inanities.
Why the author thought a humorous homage should include a main character who is a hopeless, depressed alcoholic who rambles on pointlessly repeatedly when he isn't self-psychoanalyzing about his failures and oddball sexuality is beyond me.
Further beyond me is the unexpectedly graphic sexual scene and the follow-up where the narrator tells Jeeves to go into the bathroom and inspect himself for pubic lice.
Yes, that was a spoiler- in more ways than one.
I assume Wodehouse would be spinning in his grave to think that his light-hearted breezy comedies would spawn something like this.
Read Wodehouse, not Ames.
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July 14, 2022This book dragged a bit at the beginning for me but the ending had me roaring with laughter. The author is clearly well-read and demonstrates it throughout the book. At times, I felt confused by the authors commentary on aspects of society and considered whether this book has aged well. Overall, I thought it was a quick and quirky read.
June 9, 2018
Entertainingly wacky.
March 5, 2022
Hilarious, touching... brilliant writing.
June 21, 2024
What was that
October 1, 2024
high 3
i loved how gothic and melodramatic this felt without feeling cheesy. reminded me of classics tbh. i do need to stop reading books where the protagonist could be admitted tho
i loved how gothic and melodramatic this felt without feeling cheesy. reminded me of classics tbh. i do need to stop reading books where the protagonist could be admitted tho
July 23, 2024
Funny is a great description of this book. The beginning and end of this book are the highlights and make the book worth reading. Everything in the middle is just noise.
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