Sunday, 12 August 2012

The Girl in Blue. By P.G. Wodehouse

The Girl in Blue

P. G. Wodehouse

Penguin Books. First published in 1970.

Among the last few books of Wodehouse, and it shows. It is a romantic comedy, with many of the his usual types – the poor hero engaged to a girl he does not like, the poor heroine who he falls in love with and eventually marries after coming into money, and so on and so on. Wodehouse recycles characters and plot ideas, and also quite a lot of the language. The broker's man, Chippendale is the most interesting of the lot, and provides the largest amount of amusement. But criticism of Wodehouse always sounds stupid. He's so good that this book appears bad only in comparison with the books of his 'golden age'. Without such comparisons it's a pleasant way of spending a few hours. I first got this book in 1988, as a 'Present from Giridhar Krishna', as it says on the front page. This must be the 5th or 6th time I have read it.   

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