Review: Carry On, Jeeves

Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like The Inimitable Jeeves , this is a fix-up of connected short stories, rather than a novel as such, which does reduce the momentum of it somewhat; it's a series of scrapes rather than one long, complicated scrape. Each one is individually fun, though, and for variety, most of them are set in New York, where Bertie is escaping the consequences of disappointing his Aunt Agatha.

Especially of note is the character of Rockmeteller (Rocky) Todd, a free-verse poet who writes exhortations to young men to live a life of action and, by selling them to magazines, funds his preferred lifestyle of almost complete idleness in the wilds of Long Island. When his aunt, who provides him with an allowance, comes to New York and insists on enjoying the night life in his company, he is put through the wringer until Jeeves comes through with the rescue.

As always, Bertie is ever ready to help out a pal in need, and undergoes tribulations in the service of that goal. For me, that's a big part of why I like reading about him: yes, he's an idiot; yes, he's the very definition of the Idle Rich; but he will strain every sinew and take any risk to help a friend who's in trouble. Not, of course, without complaining about it bitterly to us, the readers, but usually with good grace towards the person concerned.

These early stories are often written to a formula, which involves a coolness between Bertie and Jeeves over some ill-advised purchase of an item of clothing or an accessory that Jeeves doesn't think is appropriate. When Jeeves gets Bertie (or a friend) out of a scrape, part of his reward is that the offending article is disposed of. Later on - I'm behind on my reviews, so I've read several more books after this one - that formula is less prominent, perhaps because, while it functions well in a short-story plot, at novel length the persistence of coolness between the two would derail things a bit.

View all my reviews