A Pelican at Blandings (1969)

Satisfactory. This being my first Wodehouse, I think that I approached it expecting something wonderful given the number of times that I'd heard of Wodehouse's brilliance. I came away a little disappointed, but with nothing that I can pin down as the reason.

This is a late entry in the 'Blandings Castle' cycle: the last before the unfinished Sunset at Blandings. It features Gally as the principal protagonist, organising the life of his godson John Halliday who has just become engaged at the same time as uncovering a tricky situation related to the art gallery in which he has invested the bulk of his money. Gally takes a trip to Blandings at the behest of Halliday, joining a growing house-party of assorted guests who are connected in a number of ways that form the plot twists. Each character is well drawn; sufficiently sketched such that the work stands easily alone even though it forms part of an extended series. However, perhaps my lack of knowledge of the back-stories of the characters was one of the factors that made me think that there was something missing at the core of the book.

The pacing is fine and the setting is almost timeless (somewhat necessary for a series written over a period approaching 45 years). The language rarely introduces words and phrases that are outside the normal lexicon, and there were only a couple of times that I struggled with the sentence structure. However, such minor inconsistencies were sufficient for me to get a bit annoyed given the high standard that I was expecting.

So, my criticisms are all minor, but this wouldn't stop me recommending the work as something that can safely be tested as a stand-alone work within the Wodehouse cannon, to see if the style suits. ( )