Jeeves and the Tie That Binds

I love all the Jeeves stories, and whilst this is not up there among my top five, it does stand out for me because as far as I remember, it is the only one in which Jeeves is actually rattled - only for a few seconds, but it really does happen! PG Wodehouse's books are brilliant and I would highly recommend them to anyone who...well, to anyone! Go read them, now if not sooner! :-)

'Jeeves & The Tie That Binds' was assigned reading for a college 'Humor in Lit' class. As so often happened to me in college, I managed to get through the class without doing the assigned reading. What a mistake! A week ago I happened to pick 'Jeeves & The Tie That Binds' up off of my bookshelf. I rarely so much as chuckle when reading, but P.G. Wodehouse's bumbling Bertie Wooster and his arch-English Butler Jeeves had me laughing out loud. The story is a whirling cacaphony that includes Bertie's friend Ginger Winship standing for Parliment, money troubles, the Junior Ganymede club book (and it's dangerous contents), engagements, disengagements, theft, and every other manner of absurdity. Not that the plot really matters. P.G. Wodehouse's comic genius is in his wordplay and comic timing. If you really want to delve into Wodehouse, you would find the ever present English obsession with class but you'd also be ruining a wonderfully light hearted piece of writing through over-examination. At only 208 pages, it's the perfect book for an airplane flight or a train ride.

This is a very special book. Written by Wodehouse at age 90, it celebrates the deep affection and friendship that grew between Bertie and Jeeves as a result of their many years of shared adventures--"the tie that binds". Followers of the series know that Bertie belongs to the Drones men's club. In chapter one, we learn that Jeeves has also long belonged to a club for "gentlemen's gentlemen" (butlers and valets) known as the Junior Ganymede. The Junior Ganymede requires its members to contribute information about their employers to the club book. When this book (complete with its 11 pages of "dynamite" about poor Bertie's misadventures) is stolen by a villianous ex-valet a crisis ensues. Friends of Bertie and Jeeves will greatly enjoy the warm, gentle humor of "Jeeves and the Tie That Binds".

It would be a mistake to read Jeeves & the Tie that Binds without being fully familiar with the earlier books about Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. This story follows hard on the heels of the action in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, which in turn is a sequel as well. Without having enjoyed the two earlier books, I fear that this one will seem a little pale . . . because it relies on knowing the context for igniting fully humorous explosions of uncontrolled guffaws and side-splitting laughter. Jeeves & the Tie That Binds also has the charm of looking behind the scenes to reveal a little more about Jeeves and his fellow butlers and gentlemen's gentlemen who belong to the Junior Ganymede club that keeps the top secret book about the foibles of those they serve . . . so they can avoid taking on someone who will be most unsuitable as an employer. Bertie's been worried about that book for years, despite having benefited from many of Jeeves's shared confidences about the book. On the surface, the call to arms is a simple enough one. Aunt Dahlia, whose table is made resplendent by the redoubtable Anatole, wants Bertie to come to Market Snodsbury (don't you love that name?) to help his old Oxford friend, Harold (Ginger) Winship, run for office as an M.P. Bertie soon has matters all fouled up, as usual, when he makes his first campaign call on Ginger's opponent. But Ginger has more serious problems, he's engaged to Florence Craye, the woman who keeps threatening to marry Bertie. Florence loves to improve her men, which is why Ginger is running for office. Fail to be elected, and he knows he will get the old heave-ho. Bertie soon falls afoul of his mistaken reputation as a thief, and worse risks soon threaten him. Unfortunately, the latest person to suspect Bertie is the man he's supposed to charm into giving lots of money to his old friend, Tuppy Glossop. Life gets even more challenging when it turns out that the secret book contains scandalous doings by Ginger that would scotch his efforts to become elected. Then Florence would have her eye on Bertie again . . . not to mention that Madeline Bassett is also seeking Bertie's hand in marriage. Matters become so difficult that Bertie takes in on the lam, leaving matters in Jeeves's capable hands. As usual, a major point in the book's favor is the frequent use of original metaphors, similes and comparisons. Here's one of my favorites by Aunt Dahlia: "Why are you staring at me like a halibut on a fishmonger's table?" Hew to the old feudal spirit!