The Mating Season by P.G. WodehouseMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read in the Ulverscroft large print edition, which has a few typesetting errors.
Not one, not two, but four romances have to be prevented from crashing and burning in this entry to the Jeeves and Wooster series, including, once again, the Gussie Fink-Nottle/Madelyn Basset romance - which, if it fails, will leave Bertie obligated to marry the Basset, a fate he quails from.
Written after World War II, it has a subtly different feel from the earlier books. Wodehouse had been living in France at the time of the Nazi invasion, and had been interned by the Germans. He endured some discomfort in the process, and made several (apolitical) broadcasts over German radio to the US, which caused a lot of controversy at the time. He was criticized for this error of judgement by, among others, his friend A.A. Milne, whose Christopher Robin poems are gently mocked in this book.
The language is also stronger than in earlier books, both "bitch" and "bastard" appearing as descriptors for different characters. Most notably, Jeeves is largely absent from the narrative, and when present is less subtle and more hard-boiled. (view spoiler)
Wodehouse was notoriously afflicted with aunts, several of his twenty aunts and fifteen uncles having part of the task of raising him in England since his parents were stationed in Hong Kong, where his father was a magistrate. The aunts in this book are, apparently, a close reflection of some of his actual aunts, and the way they're scored off in the denouement must have been a satisfying piece of wish-fulfillment for him.
All in all, it's not the best in the series. On the one hand, it largely follows the established formula without too much that's fresh, but on the other, when it does depart from the formula it does so in a way that veers, for Wodehouse, a little dark. I did have several chuckles, though, and the mastery of language and the convoluted, farcical plot are both still there to enjoy.
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