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    My Man Jeeves
    My Man Jeeves
    My Man Jeeves
    Ebook192 pages3 hours

    My Man Jeeves

    By P. G. Wodehouse

    4/5

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    My Man Jeeves is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the UK in May 1919 by George Newnes. Of the eight stories in the collection, half feature the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, while the others concern Reggie Pepper, an early prototype for Wooster.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooklassic
    Release dateJun 18, 2015
    ISBN9789635244874
    Author

    P. G. Wodehouse

    P. G. Wodehouse was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the twentieth century.

    Read more from P. G. Wodehouse

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    Reviews for My Man Jeeves

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Funny as can be.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyed the Jeeves & Wooster short stories, but Reggie Pepper...not so much.
    • 4/5
      I feel this writing style was unconventional at the time, it's a lot of fun, and largely a social comedy. The language can be a little awkward at time, but it's really enjoyable overall.
    • 4/5
      Short stories, half of which involve Jeeves. Spends some time in New York.
    • 3/5
      It's a rainy day in Sydney, and [My Man Jeeves] was the perfect companion for a lazy afternoon on the lounge. It was full of little smiley moments, and a couple of times some laugh out loud and gotta share with my husband. However, it needs the context of the book for it to be funny and the funny snatches don't really stand up in their own. Whilst completely different genre, have the same response as I did to [[Ian Rankin]] series - enjoyed one or two books, may read more, but probably won't read the lot.
    • 3/5
      My Man Jeeves is a collection of eight stories, four of them featuring Bertie Wooster and his capable manservant Jeeves. The language can be a bit annoying at times (chappies, rummy, ending sentences with what and so on), but they are still funny. All the stories have unexpected resolutions. The other four stories have other characters.

      LEAVE IT TO JEEVES tells about Jeeves helping Berties's friend in a way he didn't expect. It also shows how much and why Bertie Wooster respects his manservant.

      "From now on consider yourself the brains of the establishment."
      "Very good, sir. I shall endeavour to give satisfaction."
      And he has, by Jove! I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know..."

      So when his friend comes asking for help and advice, Bertie leaves it to Jeeves.

      JEEVES AND THE UNBIDDEN GUEST - Even if he has decided to avoid his aunt Agatha and stay in New York, he was saddled with aunt's friend's son as a guest. In front of his mother he is a quiet young man, but as soon as she leaves for a few weeks, he gets wild. As always, Bertie needs Jeeves to save him. Only this time, Jeeves is sort of mad at him because of his pink tie.

      JEEVES AND THE HARD-BOILED EGG is another story where Jeeves helps Bertie's friend. This time there is a disagreement between Bertie and Jeeves about Bertie's moustages.

      "... while there's no doubt that in certain matters of dress Jeeves's judgement is absolutely sound and should be followed, it seemed to me that it was getting a bit too thick if he was going to edit my face as well as my costume."

      This time a friend's problem is his miser uncle who expects him to be a successful rancher in Colorado.

      ABSENT TREATMENT is not a Wooster and Jeeves story. It is told by Reggie Pepper and it is about his friend's problem with memory which caused problems in his marriage. I was annoyed by the end of it.

      HELPING FREDDIE isn't about Wooster and Jeeves either. It's about Freddie Meadowes's problem with a girl. It is told by one of his friends. As usual, a simple plan becomes something completely crazy and unexpected. The ending is kind of rushed even for a short story.

      RALLYING ROUND OLD GEORGE is another story of a friend in need. A prince has been assaulted in a dark allay and George, the narrator's friend, doesn't remember what exactly happened so he assumes he is the one who attacked him.

      DOING CLARENCE A BIT OF GOOD is a Reggie Pepper's story. He receives an invitation from a girl he was supposed to marry (she married an artist instead). He hasn't got a clue why she invited him and why she would lie in that letter about the things which might get him there faster. Clarence from the title is her husband. I really couldn't understand why he would accept what she asked from him. It was annoying until the story's twist.

      THE AUNT AND THE SLUGGARD (Jeeves and Wooster's story). Another Bertie's friend is in trouble, this time with his aunt who has decided that he should live in New York and live as it's his last day. All he should do is write her a letter once a week describing his life. The problem is Bertie's friend hates New York and is really lazy.

      "About once a month he would take three days writing a few poems; the other three hundred and twenty-nine days of the year he rested.

      I didn't really like this character. This is the only story where I wanted to hit the person asking for help. Well, until I got to the aunt in the story anyway. It seems to me that any aunt in these stories is like Bertie's Aunt Agatha. I was so mad while reading this story. The woman is horrible. All Bertie wanted is to help his friend.
    • 5/5
      4.5 stars.

      This was awesome.

      British? Check. Hilarity? Check. Quirky characters? Check. Sidesplitting descriptions and dialogue? Check.

      I just *love* all the British-isms in both dialogue and descriptions. Some I had to google to know what they meant, but that just made it all the more fun. Oh, to talk like a Brit! I have so many highlights on my kindle.

      Bertie is a hilarious and quirky character, and his narration is just so fun to read. The situations he finds himself in are so amusing. And Jeeves is . . . so proper and serious and hilarious.

      Half a star off because it got a little boring in the middle, but the rest was so good, it was 5 star worthy! Highly recommended, especially if you love British humor! Recommend for ages 15-16 for interest level.

      A Sampling:

      "I tell you, Bertie, I've examined the darned cloud with a microscope, and if it's got a silver lining it's some little dissembler!"

      "I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know;"

      "Lady Malvern tried to freeze him with a look, but you can't do that sort of thing to Jeeves. He is look-proof."
    • 4/5
      This is a set of short stories set mostly in New York, during Wooster’s stay there to avoid the wrath of Aunt Agatha. There are also three stories that feature a character named Reggie Pepper. More on him later. The Wooster stories are nice little gems, showing just how clever Jeeves is in assisting Bertie’s friends who have more relationship and money troubles than any group of people likely to be found anywhere else in literature. Seriously, I don’t think Bertie has a single friend who hasn’t needed Jeeves assistance in sorting out some sort of problem. Anyway, these are delightful, as always.The three Reggie Pepper stories seems a little out of place, considering that Jeeves was not in them. However I recognized two out of the three, since the TV series of Jeeves & Wooster co-opted the stories for a couple of episodes. It wasn’t hard to do: Reggie is very similar to Bertie, but without so remarkable a valet. All the TV show had to do was make an excuse for Jeeves not being with Bertie at the time, change a few names, and that’s it. Anyway these stories were fun too.The final story is another one with Wooster, rounding off the collection nicely. I confused my coworkers more than once by giggling aloud at this book while I was supposed to be working. This book would serve as a great introduction to the world of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, for the curious. This who already know the characters would definitely not want to miss out on this installment.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyable introduction for me to the famous Jeeves, with his talent for getting his master and master's friend out of various messes of their own making. I knew P G Wodehouse had lived in the USA but I hadn't realised that so much of his fiction, including this work, was set there! Read this immediately after "The Coming of Bill" and discovered that some of the plot elements were common to stories in both books (same thing happens in Agatha Christie's short stories). I enjoyed this as a light and amusing read.
    • 4/5
      Although I adore Bertie & Jeeves, these vignettes aren't quite as hilarious as the later Jeeves novels are.
    • 1/5
      Good grief. Had to stop after the third repetitive, soporific, and completely unfunny chapter. Imagine the most formulaic sit-com without the com, all sit. Flabbergasted at the amount of Wodehouse fans still around today, his vapid London club slang hasn't exactly aged well in a century:

      “What ho!" I said.
      "What ho!" said Motty.
      "What ho! What ho!"
      "What ho! What ho! What ho!"
      After that it seemed rather difficult to go on with the conversation.”

      And after that it seemed rather difficult to go on with the book, but I tried...
    • 3/5
      Bertie Wooster is a young English gentleman of wealth and leisure, living in New York City, with his man, Jeeves.

      Jeeves is considerably the smarter of the two, a fact which Bertie acknowledges freely. Bertie gets into difficulties and scrapes, or his friends do, and Jeeves gets them out, with style, grace, and aplomb.

      About half of these stories are about Bertie and Jeeves. The other half are about another young English gentleman of wealth and leisure, Reginald Pepper, who lives in London and travels rather freely. He has a man, too, but his is far less active than Jeeves, and Reggie has to solve his own problems, for the most part. They're both good-natured young men, meaning only the best to their friends and no harm to anyone, and for the most part, that's what they achieve.

      These are light, humorous stories, pure entertainment, and they were contemporary fiction when they were written. They're fun, with no pretensions to be anything more.

      Recommended for the light entertainment they're intended to be.

      I bought this audiobook.
    • 4/5
      This collection of short stories sees Bertie Wooster consistently get into scrapes on his own or with one of his many chums, to be rescued repeatedly by his truly excellent valet, Jeeves. The collection also includes several stories featuring Reggie Pepper who also has quite the proclivity for getting into trouble. Just as funny and charming as I had expected based on my few prior exposures to Wodehouse's writing.
    • 4/5
      Fun, well-written brain candy :)
    • 2/5
      Everyone else seems to find this funnier than I do - it made me smile a couple of times, but never laugh.
    • 3/5
      I have only read one other Jeeves book. I enjoyed the other book more I believe. This is just a collection so it wasn't a novel and I would have liked that more. I was just looking for something avaiable at gutenberg.org that was a Bertie and Jeeves book and this was what I found.
    • 3/5
      Book on CD performed by Jonathan Cecil
      3***

      Bertie Wooster isn’t particularly talented or resourceful. He does have a significant income, however and is generous to his many friends. But his best asset is his man, Jeeves – an unflappable, intelligent, resourceful, creative, and discreet valet.

      Wodehouse wrote and published these stories as articles in various periodicals. Published as a collection, they appeal to fans of the genre, but …

      While they were fun and a great escape, the plots are repetitive, and I got tired of them after about four in a row. Still they were a nice diversion after reading some “heavier” material.
    • 4/5
      Topping good tales, what?
    • 4/5
      I wanted to be able to say I have experienced Jeeves and Wooster firsthand, and now I can. This brief collection of short stories is entertaining, if a bit formulatic; rather like the literary equivalent of an I Love Lucy marathon. Definitely worth the small investment of time needed to read them.
    • 4/5
      My Man Jeeves comprises two sets of short stories. One set, as the title suggests, features the familiar duo of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. These tales are obviously early ones, with both characters in nascent form. They stories are crisp and amusing, if not as polished as Wodehouse’s later works. This volume also includes a number of stories with a different protagonist, one Reggie Pepper. He’s also a problem-solver, but unlike Jeeves, his plans are usually executed at the expense of his own dignity. The Pepper stories are perhaps a bit less sharp than the Jeeves ones, but still worth a read nonetheless.
    • 5/5
      First totally legitimate audio book. I'd actually wanted to read this, but after listening to it, I'm glad I didn't. I'm not sure I would have liked it, because it is all rather hilariously silly. But listening to it, and especially with the reader the Overdrive mp3 version of the book had, it was one great story after another. There were a couple I liked especially well -- the ones with Jeeves and Wooster were the best, but there was another that took place on a beach that was fun as well. I am eagerly looking forward to more Jeeves and Wooster audio books.
    • 3/5
      This was an audiobook rental and I did not realize these were a series of short stories. the first several were clever and funny after the 3rd story they became repetitious the characters all having the same traits and personalities just changing names. several of the stories didn't even include Jeeves.
    • 3/5
      The Jeeves stories are fun. The book started with three, then ended with another. The stories in the middle were not as good. Wodehouse seemed to be experimenting with a different style that didn't work as well. Skip those.
    • 3/5
      This book is a group of short stories (Absent Treatment, Helping Freddie, Rallying Round Old George, Doing Clarence a Bit of Good, Fixing It for Freddie, and Bertie Changes His Mind) set in an earlier time of the 20th century. This was the first PD Wodehouse book that I have read and it was quite amusing with usual British humor.
    • 5/5
      Tee-HEE! Sheer entertainment for the jolly good "PG" fun of it.

      I'd heard the names of Wodehouse and his character Jeeves on various occasions and wanted to try a different author's "homage" novel to Wodehouse, but I thought I'd better start with some of the original author's writing first. And it didn't disappoint.

      I found this collection of short stories to be refreshingly vintage, comfortably clever, and light on its toes. I certainly laughed out loud at some moments that punctuated the quirky and generally humorous nature of it all for me.

      There was only one area of the humor that I really didn't care for, referencing King Herod and infants, but that moment was brief.

      I had little idea before just how many Jeeves and Jeeves-related (and Wooster-like) stories this author wrote. Now I think I'd better try out some more of 'em.
    • 4/5
      I don't really need to say anything about Wodehouse, but I'll just note that this is the one with separate stories, including a few that don't feature Jeeves and Wooster. I adored the last sorry - it felt like the first time Wodehouse had put the whole thing completely together.
    • 3/5
      The stories start to become a little formulaic. This is the early work, I an looking to see if it matures, it just continues in the same path.
    • 4/5
      I've always enjoyed the Jeeves & Wooster stories. This book also included some shorts of other characters similar to J & W, but just not quite that winning combination — hence 4 out of 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      I love the series Wooster & Jeeves. The stories in this book were hilarious. A great distraction in these times of surreal happenings.
    • 5/5
      awesome!
      great characters and stories.....bertie wooster is great...and jeeves the best chap

    Book preview

    My Man Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse

    978-963-524-487-4

    Leave it to Jeeves

    Jeeves—my man, you know—is really a most extraordinary chap. So capable. Honestly, I shouldn't know what to do without him. On broader lines he's like those chappies who sit peering sadly over the marble battlements at the Pennsylvania Station in the place marked Inquiries. You know the Johnnies I mean. You go up to them and say: When's the next train for Melonsquashville, Tennessee? and they reply, without stopping to think, Two-forty-three, track ten, change at San Francisco. And they're right every time. Well, Jeeves gives you just the same impression of omniscience.

    As an instance of what I mean, I remember meeting Monty Byng in Bond Street one morning, looking the last word in a grey check suit, and I felt I should never be happy till I had one like it. I dug the address of the tailors out of him, and had them working on the thing inside the hour.

    Jeeves, I said that evening. "I'm getting a check suit like that one

    of Mr. Byng's."

    Injudicious, sir, he said firmly. It will not become you.

    What absolute rot! It's the soundest thing I've struck for years.

    Unsuitable for you, sir.

    Well, the long and the short of it was that the confounded thing came home, and I put it on, and when I caught sight of myself in the glass I nearly swooned. Jeeves was perfectly right. I looked a cross between a music-hall comedian and a cheap bookie. Yet Monty had looked fine in absolutely the same stuff. These things are just Life's mysteries, and that's all there is to it.

    But it isn't only that Jeeves's judgment about clothes is infallible, though, of course, that's really the main thing. The man knows everything. There was the matter of that tip on the Lincolnshire. I forget now how I got it, but it had the aspect of being the real, red-hot tabasco.

    Jeeves, I said, for I'm fond of the man, and like to do him a good turn when I can, if you want to make a bit of money have something on Wonderchild for the 'Lincolnshire.'

    He shook his head.

    I'd rather not, sir.

    But it's the straight goods. I'm going to put my shirt on him.

    I do not recommend it, sir. The animal is not intended to win. Second place is what the stable is after.

    Perfect piffle, I thought, of course. How the deuce could Jeeves know anything about it? Still, you know what happened. Wonderchild led till he was breathing on the wire, and then Banana Fritter came along and nosed him out. I went straight home and rang for Jeeves.

    After this, I said, not another step for me without your advice. From now on consider yourself the brains of the establishment.

    Very good, sir. I shall endeavour to give satisfaction.

    And he has, by Jove! I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know; but give me five minutes to talk the thing over with Jeeves, and I'm game to advise any one about anything. And that's why, when Bruce Corcoran came to me with his troubles, my first act was to ring the bell and put it up to the lad with the bulging forehead.

    Leave it to Jeeves, I said.

    I first got to know Corky when I came to New York. He was a pal of my cousin Gussie, who was in with a lot of people down Washington Square way. I don't know if I ever told you about it, but the reason why I left England was because I was sent over by my Aunt Agatha to try to stop young Gussie marrying a girl on the vaudeville stage, and I got the whole thing so mixed up that I decided that it would be a sound scheme for me to stop on in America for a bit instead of going back and having long cosy chats about the thing with aunt. So I sent Jeeves out to find a decent apartment, and settled down for a bit of exile. I'm bound to say that New York's a topping place to be exiled in. Everybody was awfully good to me, and there seemed to be plenty of things going on, and I'm a wealthy bird, so everything was fine. Chappies introduced me to other chappies, and so on and so forth, and it wasn't long before I knew squads of the right sort, some who rolled in dollars in houses up by the Park, and others who lived with the gas turned down mostly around Washington Square—artists and writers and so forth. Brainy coves.

    Corky was one of the artists. A portrait-painter, he called himself, but he hadn't painted any portraits. He was sitting on the side-lines with a blanket over his shoulders, waiting for a chance to get into the game. You see, the catch about portrait-painting—I've looked into the thing a bit—is that you can't start painting portraits till people come along and ask you to, and they won't come and ask you to until you've painted a lot first. This makes it kind of difficult for a chappie. Corky managed to get along by drawing an occasional picture for the comic papers—he had rather a gift for funny stuff when he got a good idea—and doing bedsteads and chairs and things for the advertisements. His principal source of income, however, was derived from biting the ear of a rich uncle—one Alexander Worple, who was in the jute business. I'm a bit foggy as to what jute is, but it's apparently something the populace is pretty keen on, for Mr. Worple had made quite an indecently large stack out of it.

    Now, a great many fellows think that having a rich uncle is a pretty soft snap: but, according to Corky, such is not the case. Corky's uncle was a robust sort of cove, who looked like living for ever. He was fifty-one, and it seemed as if he might go to par. It was not this, however, that distressed poor old Corky, for he was not bigoted and had no objection to the man going on living. What Corky kicked at was the way the above Worple used to harry him.

    Corky's uncle, you see, didn't want him to be an artist. He didn't think he had any talent in that direction. He was always urging him to chuck Art and go into the jute business and start at the bottom and work his way up. Jute had apparently become a sort of obsession with him. He seemed to attach almost a spiritual importance to it. And what Corky said was that, while he didn't know what they did at the bottom of the jute business, instinct told him that it was something too beastly for words. Corky, moreover, believed in his future as an artist. Some day, he said, he was going to make a hit. Meanwhile, by using the utmost tact and persuasiveness, he was inducing his uncle to cough up very grudgingly a small quarterly allowance.

    He wouldn't have got this if his uncle hadn't had a hobby. Mr. Worple was peculiar in this respect. As a rule, from what I've observed, the American captain of industry doesn't do anything out of business hours. When he has put the cat out and locked up the office for the night, he just relapses into a state of coma from which he emerges only to start being a captain of industry again. But Mr. Worple in his spare time was what is known as an ornithologist. He had written a book called American Birds, and was writing another, to be called More American Birds. When he had finished that, the presumption was that he would begin a third, and keep on till the supply of American birds gave out. Corky used to go to him about once every three months and let him talk about American birds. Apparently you could do what you liked with old Worple if you gave him his head first on his pet subject, so these little chats used to make Corky's allowance all right for the time being. But it was pretty rotten for the poor chap. There was the frightful suspense, you see, and, apart from that, birds, except when broiled and in the society of a cold bottle, bored him stiff.

    To complete the character-study of Mr. Worple, he was a man of extremely uncertain temper, and his general tendency was to think that Corky was a poor chump and that whatever step he took in any direction on his own account, was just another proof of his innate idiocy. I should imagine Jeeves feels very much the same about me.

    So when Corky trickled into my apartment one afternoon, shooing a girl in front of him, and said, Bertie, I want you to meet my fiancée, Miss Singer, the aspect of the matter which hit me first was precisely the one which he had come to consult me about. The very first words I spoke were, Corky, how about your uncle?

    The poor chap gave one of those mirthless laughs. He was looking anxious and worried, like a man who has done the murder all right but can't think what the deuce to do with the body.

    We're so scared, Mr. Wooster, said the girl. We were hoping that you might suggest a way of breaking it to him.

    Muriel Singer was one of those very quiet, appealing girls who have a way of looking at you with their big eyes as if they thought you were the greatest thing on earth and wondered that you hadn't got on to it yet yourself. She sat there in a sort of shrinking way, looking at me as if she were saying to herself, Oh, I do hope this great strong man isn't going to hurt me. She gave a fellow a protective kind of feeling, made him want to stroke her hand and say, There, there, little one! or words to that effect. She made me feel that there was nothing I wouldn't do for her. She was rather like one of those innocent-tasting American drinks which creep imperceptibly into your system so that, before you know what you're doing, you're starting out to reform the world by force if necessary and pausing on your way to tell the large man in the corner that, if he looks at you like that, you will knock his head off. What I mean is, she made me feel alert and dashing, like a jolly old knight-errant or something of that kind. I felt that I was with her in this thing to the limit.

    I don't see why your uncle shouldn't be most awfully bucked, I said to Corky. He will think Miss Singer the ideal wife for you.

    Corky declined to cheer up.

    You don't know him. Even if he did like Muriel he wouldn't admit it. That's the sort of pig-headed guy he is. It would be a matter of principle with him to kick. All he would consider would be that I had gone and taken an important step without asking his advice, and he would raise Cain automatically. He's always done it.

    I strained the old bean to meet this emergency.

    You want to work it so that he makes Miss Singer's acquaintance without knowing that you know her. Then you come along——

    But how can I work it that way?

    I saw his point. That was the catch.

    There's only one thing to do, I said.

    What's that?

    Leave it to Jeeves.

    And I rang the bell.

    Sir? said Jeeves, kind of manifesting himself. One of the rummy things about Jeeves is that, unless you watch like a hawk, you very seldom see him come into a room. He's like one of those weird chappies in India who dissolve themselves into thin air and nip through space in a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just where they want them. I've got a cousin who's what they call a Theosophist, and he says he's often nearly worked the thing himself, but couldn't quite bring it off, probably owing to having fed in his boyhood on the flesh of animals slain in anger and pie.

    The moment I saw the man standing there, registering respectful attention, a weight seemed to roll off my mind. I felt like a lost child who spots his father in the offing. There was something about him that gave me confidence.

    Jeeves is a tallish man, with one of those dark, shrewd faces. His eye gleams with the light of pure intelligence.

    Jeeves, we want your advice.

    Very good, sir.

    I boiled down Corky's painful case into a few well-chosen words.

    So you see what it amount to, Jeeves. We want you to suggest some way by which Mr. Worple can make Miss Singer's acquaintance without getting on to the fact that Mr. Corcoran already knows her. Understand?

    Perfectly, sir.

    Well, try to think of something.

    I have thought of something already, sir.

    You have!

    The scheme I would suggest cannot fail of success, but it has what may seem to you a drawback, sir, in that it requires a certain financial outlay.

    He means, I translated to Corky, that he has got a pippin of an idea, but it's going to cost a bit.

    Naturally the poor chap's face dropped, for this seemed to dish the whole thing. But I was still under the influence of the girl's melting gaze, and I saw that this was where I started in as a knight-errant.

    You can count on me for all that sort of thing, Corky, I said. Only too glad. Carry on, Jeeves.

    I would suggest, sir, that Mr. Corcoran take advantage of Mr. Worple's attachment to ornithology.

    How on earth did you know that he was fond of birds?

    It is the way these New York apartments are constructed, sir. Quite unlike our London houses. The partitions between the rooms are of the flimsiest nature. With no wish to overhear, I have sometimes heard Mr. Corcoran expressing himself with a generous strength on the subject I have mentioned.

    Oh! Well?

    "Why should not the young lady write a small volume, to be entitled—let us say—The Children's Book of American Birds, and dedicate it to Mr. Worple! A limited edition could be published at your expense, sir, and a great deal of the book would, of course, be given over to eulogistic remarks concerning Mr. Worple's own larger treatise on the same subject. I should recommend the dispatching of a presentation copy to Mr. Worple, immediately on publication, accompanied by a letter in which the young lady asks to be allowed to make the acquaintance of one to whom she owes so much. This would, I fancy, produce the desired result, but as I say, the expense involved would be considerable."

    I felt like the proprietor of a performing dog on the vaudeville stage when the tyke has

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