Luck of the Bodkins

I love the writing style of P.G. Wodehouse, this is one of my favorites - so funny. It sort of reminds me of a well written Three's Company episode where everyone gets the wrong idea about everyone else. Attention Hollywood: this book would make a great screenplay! You can pay me a finders fee, of course!

There may be no Jeeves or Wooster, but the Luck of the Bodkins shows that P.G. Wodehouse is still able to produce a nigh flawless novel without his two most well-known characters. Wodehouse is at his creative peak with this comic soap opera about several folks on a transatlantic cruise. The title character is Monty Bodkin who has pursued his erstwhile fiancée Gertrude onto a ship going to New York. A misunderstanding has made her break the engagement, and though it will soon be resolved, more misunderstandings will follow. Also on board is movie studio owner Ivor Llewellyn who is being coerced by his absent wife to smuggle a pearl necklace to the states; he incorrectly thinks Monty is a customs inspector and thus targets him for some bribery. There is also the actress Lotus Blossom, who is engaged to Ambrose Tennyson (cousin of Gertrude); Ambrose is contracted to work for Ivor, and is also jealous of his younger brother Reggie, who is also aboard and once had a fling with Lotus. In addition to all these characters. there is the ship's steward, Albert Peasemarch, who in certain ways is the anti-Jeeves: he has a seemingly magic way of making any situation worse. If this is beginning to sound complicated, it is, which is why this is one of Wodehouse's longest stories. There's a lot going on, but it all comes together seamlessly. As always, you don't read Wodehouse for deep looks at the human condition; instead you get light entertainment, which is a nice escape from the weighty issues of real life. Simply put, reading Wodehouse is fun, and the Luck of the Bodkins is Wodehouse at his best.

Great books unsually start with great 1st sentences, and Luck of the Bodkins doesn't disappoint with this classic Wodehouse gem: "Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French." How can you possibly put a book down that starts like that! And it only gets better. The eponomous hero Monty Bonkin is also a minor character in the Blandings novel "Heavy Weather. " This book picks up right where we left him at the end of that book making it a sequel of sorts though you defininately do not have to have read "Heavy Weather" first. Set in London, New York and Hollywood this is a great farce, which will keep you laughing to the end. Another great thing about this is that it the longest Wodehouse novel I've come across at 358pgs. so there's more to love. Most importantly, make sure you pick this novel up (as well as the other Wodehouse books available) in the exquisite Overlook edition -- the beautifully designed, well crafted uniform editions that will last for generations and only cost a couple of bucks more than the mass marke paperback.

This is a great book; it's my favorite Wodehouse book. It has a hilarious plot and is a book that's worth buying because you can reread it every year and it's great every time.