Post by Bruce Partington-Plans on Aug 7, 2023 14:32:19 GMT
As a long-time fan of the works of "Plum" and in particular the Jeeves stories it was with some trepidation that I picked this up in a charity shop a few years ago. The fashion for modern writers to produce new novels in the style of the original author is something of a common present-day affectation and it seems the estate of P.G. Wodehouse is no exception. Faulks has already done as much for the James Bond canon - with mixed success, so I understand - so it should perhaps not be so surprising that he was approached to have a crack at an all-new Jeeves story.
I'm just over half-way through Jeeves and the Wedding Bells at the moment (so this review, such as it is, may get updated once I've finished reading it) but so far it is proving to be tolerably entertaining, if nowhere near as funny and featherlight as the works of the man himself. In his preface Faulks has made no pretensions about coming close to Wodehouse's prose, merely setting out his stall as a lifelong fan who couldn't turn down the chance to write something in the same vein, and to his credit he hasn't done a bad job in those circumstances. The story is diverting and the characters are more or less recognisable. However much of this is as a result of some obvious cribbing of Plum's style, which cannot help but stand out given the fact that one knows it is written by somebody else. If you are a Wodehouse aficionado it slightly detracts from the overall flow of the narrative as you notice the odd Wodehousian turn of phrase slipped into the text at various points. The best analogy I can give is that it reminds me of those "modern vintage" cars so popular at weddings. You know the sort - they look like something out of the 1930s but take off the outer coverings and underneath it's a Ford Sierra. If you like the aesthetic but aren't too bothered about accuracy then you'll likely not notice the difference between one of those cars and, say, a Rolls-Royce Phantom II. But to those of us with a trained eye little things like the wheel size, track width and external fittings contrive to give the game away and identify it as a modern pastiche. And so it is with Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. If you're coming to it having never read a P.G. Wodehouse book before it is an acceptable way in to the works of the great author and I would hope (as Faulks does) that it proves so for many. If, however, you have already come to know and love the travails of Bertram Wilberforce Wooster et al. then, while it might appear suitably Wodehousian on the surface, you may after a time start noticing the occasional mis-sized wheel here and there and wishing the publishers still had access to that Rolls-Royce of whimsical comedy writing.
I'm just over half-way through Jeeves and the Wedding Bells at the moment (so this review, such as it is, may get updated once I've finished reading it) but so far it is proving to be tolerably entertaining, if nowhere near as funny and featherlight as the works of the man himself. In his preface Faulks has made no pretensions about coming close to Wodehouse's prose, merely setting out his stall as a lifelong fan who couldn't turn down the chance to write something in the same vein, and to his credit he hasn't done a bad job in those circumstances. The story is diverting and the characters are more or less recognisable. However much of this is as a result of some obvious cribbing of Plum's style, which cannot help but stand out given the fact that one knows it is written by somebody else. If you are a Wodehouse aficionado it slightly detracts from the overall flow of the narrative as you notice the odd Wodehousian turn of phrase slipped into the text at various points. The best analogy I can give is that it reminds me of those "modern vintage" cars so popular at weddings. You know the sort - they look like something out of the 1930s but take off the outer coverings and underneath it's a Ford Sierra. If you like the aesthetic but aren't too bothered about accuracy then you'll likely not notice the difference between one of those cars and, say, a Rolls-Royce Phantom II. But to those of us with a trained eye little things like the wheel size, track width and external fittings contrive to give the game away and identify it as a modern pastiche. And so it is with Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. If you're coming to it having never read a P.G. Wodehouse book before it is an acceptable way in to the works of the great author and I would hope (as Faulks does) that it proves so for many. If, however, you have already come to know and love the travails of Bertram Wilberforce Wooster et al. then, while it might appear suitably Wodehousian on the surface, you may after a time start noticing the occasional mis-sized wheel here and there and wishing the publishers still had access to that Rolls-Royce of whimsical comedy writing.