Jeeves in the Offing

by P. G. Wodehouse

Paper Book, 1985

Status

Available

Call number

823.912

Publication

London : Penguin, 1985

Description

Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: Anyone who involves himself with Roberta Wickham is asking for trouble, so naturally Bertie Wooster finds himself in just that situation when he goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court. So much is obvious. Why celebrated loony-doctor, Sir Roderick Glossop, should be there too, masquerading as a butler, is less clear. As for Bertie's former headmaster, the ghastly Aubrey Upjohn, and the dreadful novelist, Mrs. Homer Cream, with her eccentric son, Wilbert�their presence is entirely perplexing. And now someone has stolen Uncle Tom's antique silver cow-creamer�again. Suspicions fall on Wilbert Cream, believed to be a wealthy American practical joker and kleptomaniac known as Broadway Willie. But the incident only marks the beginning of Bertie Wooster's problems. It is only by a stroke of rare�very rare�genius that Bertie Wooster finds a solution. He calls on Jeeves, his incomparable manservant from his annual holiday at Herne Bay, to sort out everybody and everything in his usual inimitable style..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member atimco

Whenever I open a Wodehouse book, I wonder why I have stayed away so long. The man is brilliant. It doesn't matter that most of Wodehouse's stories have the same plot, that Bertie becomes unwillingly engaged and unengaged to a most ridiculous number of females in his career, that the country-house

setting rarely varies, or that he draws from a predictable stock of characters. None of that matters a smidgen when you open a Wodehouse book and fall into Bertie's hilarious narration. At that point your only goal is to get away somewhere private where you can guffaw heartily without provoking strange looks.

In this episode, Bertie is calmly eating his breakfast when his eyes light upon a most astonishing announcement in The Times. Apparently he is now engaged to his old flame Bobbie Wickham — and what a way for a fellow to find out, reading it in the paper! Jeeves is off on a vacation and so Bertie is left to deal with this most unwelcome news himself. He heads off to Brinkley Court to get to the bottom of it, and of course many complications ensue. Brain surgeons masquerading as butlers in order to discreetly spy upon Aunt Dahlia's guests, star-crossed lovers breaking off their engagements every couple of minutes, authors of scathing reviews suddenly meeting in person the writers they publicly derided — oh yes, all this and more. Even the eighteenth-century cow creamer has a cameo!

The only problem with Wodehouse is that he wrote so many books, and I read them so quickly that I have trouble remembering which bits belong to which titles. But if that means I must revisit them to get my titles straight, that's fine by me. This one wasn't the funniest of his that I've ever read, but it had me belly-laughing in a couple parts, and few books can do that. Good stuff.

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LibraryThing member Eyejaybee

Another foray into the wonderful world of Wodehouse!

This is not, perhaps, the finest of the Jeeves and Wooster novels, but that still leaves plenty of scope for it to be very good. Many of the old favourites are present, including Aunt Dahlia and Roderick Glossop, and we finally get to meet Aubrey

Upjohn, former headmaster of Bertie's preparatory school. Connoisseurs of the Wodehouse oeuvre will be pleased to know that the story even features a cow creamer, and Augustus the cat makes a couple of appearances.

The characters are as wonderfully crazy and unreal as ever and the plot has all the customary convolutions, though (as always) Wodehouse resolves all the numerous threads of the story line.

In this outing the story revolves around the complicated course of true love for Roberta "Bobbie" Wickham (one of the seemingly endless stream of gorgeous women to whom Bertie Wooster had at one time been engaged) and Reginald "Kipper" Herring (lifelong friend of Bertie and one of his fellow inmates all those years ago at Aubrey Upjohn's school).

Beautifully written, and faultlessly plotted, this book was as enjoyable now as when I first read it more than thrity five years ago.

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LibraryThing member iayork

Bertie Soldiers on During Jeeves's Vacation: Bertie Wooster is one of P.G. Wodehouse's greatest comic characters. He is normally balanced by the quick wit, aplomb and shimmering progress of Jeeves, his butler. But even butlers need a vacation. So Bertie bids good-bye to Jeeves for the year . . .

and promptly faces all sorts of unexpected problems.

The troubles begin a most distraught telephone call to Bertie from Lady Wickham. She sobs between words as she demands to know if "this awful news is true." The awful news is in this morning's Times. When Bertie opens the Times, he finds an announcement of his engagement to Lady Wickham's daughter, Bobbie, a woman to whom he has tried to become engaged to in the past. Darned if Bertie can figure out what it's all about. Bobbie, although beautiful, is one of those women who want to improve their men, and Bertie isn't up for such improvements. The path to solving the challenge leads him to his aunt Dahlia's country home, Brinkley Court, to help her entertain Homer Cream, an American tycoon who is doing a deal with her husband, Tom, where Bobbie is also staying. Bertie's old headmaster is also in residence, which leaves Bertie quaking. But the lure of Anatole's delightful cooking draws Bertie to Brinkley.

Once there, events become ever wackier. Sir Roderick Glossop, who thinks Bertie is dotty, is posing as the butler to evaluate a fiancé.

As usual, romance, plots to gain funds, weird collections and mistaken identities quickly twist the story into unexpected complications and directions.

The pages are filled with original similes and metaphors that will delight any student of the English language. This story has great fun with the fish theme. Bertie's great friend Reginald Herring has the nickname of "Kipper." At one point, Bertie says coldly that "I have every right to goggle like a dead halibut . . . ." Elsewhere, Bobbie's motives are described as, "She wanted you to see the big fish . . . you must have been surprised to see Kipper . . . ." Cream and cream pitchers are also done well in this story.

But the best schemes of Bertie and Kipper come a cropper, and Jeeves has to be called back to make a miraculous recovery for the causes of love and the old feudal spirit.

Right ho!

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LibraryThing member raizel

Time stands still in world of Jeeves and Wooster, even while events take place in chronological order. This book gives no clues that it was written in 1960, more than 40 years after the first Jeeves and Wooster story. Although, perhaps, there is an attempt by the author to resolve some of the

relationships surrounding Bertie. Bobbie Wickham becomes engaged to someone that Bertie feels is smart enough to be a helpmate to her. Sir Roderick Glossup and Bertie actually become friends. And ***SPOILER*** the cow creamer moves on.

Bertie already knows that, while he admires Bobbie Wickham and likes her as a friend, marrying her would be a terrible mistake. Hence his concern when, reading the newspaper, he discovers that he is engaged to her! It's really just a clever ploy by Bobbie to make her mother happier with her real choice, Kipper Herring, whom she has neglected to inform. Why Kipper still loves her is beyond me. Sir Roderick Glossup shows up as a butler, given the name Swordfish by Bobbie. The notorious cow creamer also appears and continues to be source of trouble. Bertie's brilliant idea of ensuring person A's admiration of and loyalty to person D by having person B push person A or C into a body of water and person D jump in to save person A or C is reprised with equally unplanned-for results: Person E rescues C and causes person F to fall in love with E, while A walks away dry and still angry, B is rescued by D, and it becomes apparent that Jeeves, who has been on vacation, is needed to put everything aright.

Wodehouse continues to quote from poetry and the Bard, although Bertie tends to assume that most pithy remarks made by Jeeves are original. Bertie continues to talk piffle.

My favorite this time around is on page 116:

"... I'm sore beset, Jeeves. Do you recall telling me once about someone who told somebody he could tell him something which would make him think a bit? Knitted socks and porcupines entered into it, I remember."
"I think you may be referring to the ghost of the father of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, sir. Addressing his son, he said, 'I could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, thy knotted and combined locks to part and each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine.'"
"That's right. Locks, of course, not socks. Odd that he should have said porpentine when he meant porcupine. Slip of the tongue, no doubt, as so often happens with ghosts...."

OK, I looked up porpentine and it seems that Bertie is correct and it is an obsolete word for porcupine. Go know.

Wodehouse also spells out the reason that Bertie so involves himself in painful and embarrasssing situations:

... the code of the Woosters, which, as is generally known, renders it impossible for me to let a pal down. [p. 170]

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LibraryThing member gazzy

Worth it for the prose alone.

LibraryThing member JBD1

My first foray into the world of Jeeves and Wooster. Terribly enjoyable, as I fully expected it would be (and also quite a lot of fun to read aloud).

LibraryThing member PiyushC

Wodehouse was the chosen author for February, and while I rarely participate in the monthly Author reads, any excuse to return to the wonderful world of Wodehouse is a welcome one.

Picking a Wodehouse is generally a safe bet, picking one featuring Bertram Wooster and Jeeves is an even safer one.

Jeeves in the Offing was no exception.

Despite not being one of the top Wodehouse works, Jeeves in the Offing, manages to entertain. There was a lot less of Jeeves, but the book was carried admirably by Bertie and Bobbie Wickham. It is surprising how well Wodehouse develops his characters, old and new, even in books as short as his usually are; with most of the characters being sketched and portrayed in conversations among the other characters.

This was a refreshing read and it made me get over the disappointment of my last Wodehouse, The Clicking of Cuthbert.

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LibraryThing member Maydacat

It’s time for Jeeves’ annual vacation, and one would think that for a couple of weeks or so, Bertie could manage to stay out of trouble. Alas! That is not the case! But in Bertie’s defense, the problems are not really his doing. Imagine his surprise, in reading a newspaper, to find out that

he is engaged to be married to a former girlfriend. And so the hilarity begins. Of course, Jeeves finally comes to Bertie’s rescue, but before that happens, Bertie finds himself in more and more trouble. Wodehouse’s dialogue is delightful and witty and the plot is a wonder of pure entertainment.

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LibraryThing member SomeGuyInVirginia

Rare and refreshing fruit.

LibraryThing member Sandydog1

That silly old guffin Bertie Wooster is at it again, and Jeeves ends his holiday prematurely to bail him out. Typical Wodehouse: one or two hilarious, unforgettable scenes and non-stop wordplay.

LibraryThing member isabelx

Poor old Bertie!

"These clashings of will with the opposite sex always end with Bertram Wooster bowing to the inev."

LibraryThing member lizzybeans11

Classic Jeeves and Wooster all around. A quick but very amusing read.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

In this classic comedy novel, Bertie Wooster once again finds himself in the midst of some hijinx at his Aunt Dahlia's place involving some fringe relatives and friends. He bumbles through a weekend (mostly

without Jeeves to save him) being accused of stealing a girl, spying, theft, drunkenness and overall lunacy. Of course, Jeeves eventually steps in and the relatives with their wits about them solve the problem and everything is fine.

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LibraryThing member Pferdina

Another fine Wooster adventure, although one in which Jeeves barely figures. Bertie finds himself engaged (again) to the silly girl Roberta Wickham who was supposed to marry Bertie's old school chum Kipper. In order to extricate himself from this mess, he travels to Brinkley Court, the home of his

Aunt Dahlia, and there becomes even more hopelessly enmeshed. A reunion of some favorite old characters ensues.

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LibraryThing member PhilSyphe

“Where Art Thou, Jeeves?” would’ve been a more appropriate title. The brainbox has little more than a cameo in this novel.

Not only it there a lack of Jeeves, but there’s a lack of laughs. Yes, it’s funny in places, but not to the extent I expected, especially when I learned the wonderful

Bobbie Wickham was involved.

Bobbie’s previous appearances in Wodehouse books are fantastically funny. In this novel, however, she’s somewhat subdued. “Subdued” is the right word for the story.

Overall, then, I was disappointed, but if you like the author and/or the other Jeeves books, it’s still worth reading.

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LibraryThing member losloper

Anyone who involves himself with Roberta Wickham is asking for trouble, so naturally Bertie Wooster finds himself in just that situation when he goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court. So much is obvious. Why celebrated loony-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop should be there too,

masquerading as a butler, is less clear. As for Bertie’s former headmaster, the ghastly Aubrey Upjohn, the dreadful novelist, Mrs Homer Cream and her eccentric son Wilbert, their presence is entirely perplexing. Without Jeeves to help him solve these mysteries, Bertie nearly comes unstuck. It is only when that peerless manservant returns from his holiday that the resulting tangle of problems is sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction – except Bertie’s.

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LibraryThing member michdubb

A jolly and amusing read, as always, but this one does seem to lack some indescribable something, which is found in other Jeeves & Wooster books.

LibraryThing member addunn3

Bertie is once again haplessly involved in trying to stop a liable suit, an engagement and the displeasure of his aunt.

LibraryThing member themulhern

Narrated by Ian Carmichael, and I laughed out loud occasionally. It is all in the language.

LibraryThing member ianw

Excellent Wooster/Jeeves tale involving Aunt Dahlia, Bobbie Wickham and a surprisingly jovial Sir Roderick Glossop in the part of Swordfish the butler.

LibraryThing member therebelprince

Good fun. Not my favourite Jeeves book; there's something about some of these later ones that makes the narrative feel a trifle watered-down. Truth be told, I find some of the characterisations in the books a bit vague, as if Wodehouse wanted to update the social mores to the time he was writing

(indeed, there are a few sly anachronistic cultural references by the narration) but couldn't, whether because he was in thrall to the formula, or perhaps because he was already 80(!).

Still, very well put together. Probably reads better if you've read some earlier books, as a lot of the inter-relationships and references to other novels threaten to overwhelm the story and thus the humour.

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