Wow—a late spurt of excellence in the Jeeves œuvre. A must read. ( )

Told from Wooster's perspective, he only finds himself in constant trouble when merely attempting to help Stinker Pinker. A humorous story that explores resilience, with a final rescue from Jeeves. ( )

Told from Wooster's perspective, he only finds himself in constant trouble when merely attempting to help Stinker Pinker. A humorous story that explores resilience, with a final rescue from Jeeves. ( )

A satisfactory read - but...

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves is consistently funny, and actually moves along the plots of the wealth of recurring characters Wodehouse had compiled by this point. However, it feels a little bit like we're on autopilot. Nothing is quite as outrageous as in the earlier novels, and often chapters will end with situations being salvaged rather than worsened! That's not to say that Wodehouse is straying from the formula: instead he's using the regular 'Jeeves' formula but seems to have removed some of the spicier ingredients.

I wouldn't recommend this book to newcomers. There are far too many recurring characters for a new reader, and the situational comedy doesn't reach anything near the heights of The Code of the Woosters, for example. (A book that is referred to constantly here, making the comparison all the more bitter.)

The novel was published in 1963, by which time Wodehouse was in his 80s(!) and had been writing Jeeves and Wooster stories for 50 years(!!). For loyal fans, there are still charms to soothe the savage breast. Regardless of my qualms, the narrative voice remains as sublime as it has ever been. A diverting read for the helpless Wodehouse acolyte. ( )

Reading a Wodehouse, you expect the formulaic. Nevertheless, compared to others in the series, this comes across as rather average. Same wildgoose chase (but less interesting) and always Jeeves to the rescue. ( )