Piccadilly Jim

By: P. G. Wodehouse

Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

It takes a lot of effort for Jimmy Crocker to become Piccadilly Jim – nights on the town roistering, headlines in the gossip columns, a string of broken hearts and breaches of promise. Eventually he becomes rather good at it and manages to go to pieces with his eyes open. But no sooner has Jimmy cut a wild swathe through fashionable London than his terrifying Aunt Nesta decides he must mend his ways. He then falls in love with the girl he has hurt most of all, and after that things get complicated.

In a dizzying plot, impersonations pile on impersonations so that (for reasons that will become clear, we promise) Jimmy ends up having to pretend he’s himself. Does he deserve a happy ending? Listen and find out.

©Copyright © by the Trustees of the Wodehouse Estate. All rights reserved. (P)2011 AudioGo

Delightful P.G.Wodehouse plot & J.Cecil narration

I can warmly recommend this stand-alone novel by P.G. Wodehouse. As a big fan of the Jeeves & Wooster series who made the author familiar to me, I have since looked into more of his works here on Audible. If you are looking for a first book to start your Wodehouse journey with, the begin with this one (or 'Somehing Fresh). Written in a rich and wonderfully witty language, the plot builds up and thinkens all the way, while Jonathan Cecil manages once again to bring all the characters to life with his various voices and dialects. This one can be enjoyed many times over.

fast paced and twisty

I listened to this 2x in 2 months! It twists
and turns moreso than his others. Pure fun, remodeled a bathroom first listen, worked a puzzle the second time. Fav character Jim of course!

Enjoyable.

I particularly liked that the personalities of the main characters were more nuanced, and had more layers or sides to them. His use of language was as usual clever and yet humorous. Will definitely listen to this again.

But I Thought We Were Here to Have Fun...

There’s a sharp division of opinion about Wodehouse’s earlier, one-off novels like A Gentleman of Leisure, The Girl on the Boat and Piccadilly Jim. I enjoy them, while all the critics nit-pick and fault-find. “There is far too much disguising and false-naming for even faint credibility” writes Richard Usborne. “At one stage Jimmy Crocker, pretending to be the son of English butler Bayliss, has to pretend to be Jimmy Crocker to fool his father”. Honestly, I don’t recall that. Even more honestly, I don't care. Wodehouse once described his books as "musical comedies without music". My experience of that genre of entertainment has taught me that the more madcap, the less plausible, the better.

In fact, I’ll add to Usborne's charge sheet: Jimmy, an American, is supposed to be the Englishman Algernon Bayliss (where’s his accent?); if he and Ann Chester ever got Mrs. Pett’s son Ogden to that dog’s hospital on Long Island, how long before New York’s finest (and / or the FBI) found him? I reiterate: I don’t care. Wodehouse insulates me from the jolts of life’s potholes. And Miss Trimble, that almost-too-capable employee of the International Detective Agency, is one of my favorite secondary Wodehouse creations (she hates men and yet spends her off hours reading Schopenhauer). After that, who needs credibility, faint or otherwise?

I’ve always enjoyed Frederick Davidson’s reading of this one and would never have tried Jonathan Cecil’s fine performance had it not been for Audible Plus.

Still as fresh.. still as relevant..

This was my first Wodehouse book and boy did I enjoy it.. it almost seems like the guy looks at you smugly with a sparkling wink and knows that you are going to enjoy this one ..

Charming

I loved it. Like a madcap 30’s movie. Such wonderful writing has me looking for other books like this. The perfect antidote to too much seriousness.

Classic Wodehouse

Love Mr. Cecil’s performance and the story was a hoot. Fans of Wodehouse will love it!

A fun romp Wodehouse Style!

An entertaining book in the best tradition of P G Wodehouse. If you’re a fan you won’t be disappointed. If you’re new to Wodehouse give it a try!

It’s a corker

Once again I’ve entered that mad cab delightful world where every problem is solved with snappy lines and crazy plots. Well read and I found myself laughing out loud.

Good

PG Wodehouse had a knack for stories with many different threads that weave together in an entertaining way. The characters in this book were quite well developed. Not as good as Jeeves in my opinion but still good.