My Man Jeeves

By: P. G. Wodehouse

Narrated by: David Thorn

Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Wodehouse introduces us once again to the "wonder butler" Jeeves, who, as usual is able to solve any and all of Bertie Wooster's endless problems with ease and finesse. And he also introduces us to a character not dissimilar to Bertie . . . by name of Reggie. Such fun to follow Jeeves in the hijinks!

The stories include:

1. Leave it to Jeeves

2. Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest

3. Jeeves and the Hard Boiled Egg

4. Absent Treatment

5. Helping Freddie

6. Rallying Around Old George

7. Doing Clarence a Bit of Good

8. The Aunt and the Sluggard

P.G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, (1881–1975) was a British novelist, short story writer, journalist, playwright, poet and lyracist, immensly popular for his sense of humor and mastery of language.

Best known for his Jeeves series, Wodehouse created the most resourseful and competent servant in literature, the word "Jeeves" itself has become part of the vernacular. Wodehouse also had great success as a musical theater lyricist, making contributions to "Show Boat" and "Anything Goes".

Born in England to a noble family, Wodehouse's writings reflected his background, a truly humourous perspective on the upper class. During a stay in Manhattan, Wodehouse met his wife and settled in New York, with a brief adventure in Hollywood to write screenplays. Living into his nineties, Wodehouse enjoyed the fruits of his labor and acclaim worldwide, a happy, funny man.

Public Domain (P)2007 Alcazar AudioWorks

Performance was not my cup of tea

David Thorne gave an engaging expressive performance, yet I tired of the "rolling R's". It could be spot on for someone else, though.

Fun premise

Not suitable for long-term driving Entertainment - it is doze- able. The brogue is sometimes very thick and leaves one to wait for understanding with further reading.

Hysterical

This collection of short stories really stands the test of time. While some of the dialogue is so dated as to be nearly unintelligible to modern ears ("cut up rough"?), you always get the gist and much of the story stands the test of time quite well. In addition, the narration itself was incredible.

Classic Jeeves stories, good Reggie Peppers

Really, if you want to read all the Jeeves stories, you COULD give this one a miss. The Bertie Wooster tales included here are available elsewhere, so unless you are looking for the Reggie Pepper tales (a sort of pre-Bertie character), go on to book 2. The 4 Jeeves stories are great, classic stories. The Reggie stories are good, but not fantastic. David Thorn, for some strange reason, fills Bertie's speech with rolling Rs, which can be annoying. Someone should get Hugh Laurie or Stephen Fry to read these stories!

JEEVES TO THE RESCUE

Christopher Hitchens was a great fan of the Jeeves series written by P. G. Wodehouse, published between 1911 and 1974. Amazon shows there are 46 books written with Jeeves as a main character in the Wodehouse series. After listening to the first book, one is inclined to believe Hitchens’ high praise is partly due to the story line.

The Jeeves’ series is about an upper class English character that chooses to move to New York to live as a wealthy New Yorker. Though Hitchens was not a wealthy Englishman when he arrived in New York, he did choose to become an American citizen. With Hitchens’ upper class English education, he undoubtedly had a keen understanding of Wodehouse’s skewering of the English upper class; particularly the ridiculously privileged and wealthy.

Hitchens’ fascinating mind and skill as an essayist of life, books, and politics suggests he knows more about the value of Wodehouse than this reviewer. Listening to another Wodehouse book remains in one’s mind; maybe not soon but certainly in the future. If Mark Twain is an acquired taste, so may be Wodehouse. One supposes Hitchens would not have cared one way or another about anyone else’s opinion.

Too bad about the narration

These stories are delightful, but the narrator's mannerisms are indeed distracting--especially the ridiculously rolled r's. I finally gave up on the audio, even though I love the stories.

A fun reading of classic Wodehouse.

A perfectly theatrical reading of Wodehouse, complete with clear characterisations and accents. The whole thing is great fun. A few minor audio editing mistakes, and randomly placed chapter breaks, do not detract from the overall experience.

Brilliantly narrated light reading

A lovely comic light reading. The book consists of several independent episodes, ideal for when you want some short "bedtime stories".

The narrator is brilliant.

Early version of the character with overacting reader

This is a light salad of a book, for those occasions when a full meal is too much. The collection of stories are not connected, so they can be consumed in bits and in any order. It is mildly humorous without requiring great concentration to follow. As such, it can be a good break from heavier entanglements or when you have less time or attention to devote. But it is not Wodehouse's best.

Half the stories involve Reggie, a prototype character to the familiar Bertie Wooster. I wish I knew this at the outset, as I found it confusing, at first. More problematic was the reader's accent. Though I appreciated the constantly rolling "R's", at first, it felt tiresome and affected after a while.

Hilarious!!

I have to admit at first I did not "get" this book, but after listening to it for a while I could not quit chuckling at the absurdity of it all. Jeeves is a genius, and so is Wodehouse. Such a fun listen!