The gentry at Blandings Casle are idiots; the servants are brilliant. Revolves around the "theft" of an Egyptian scarab. Stephen Fry calls it "sunlit perefection."

OK, so it's official now: I definitely have a serious problem with Blandings series. I know it's very popular, many people love it - I don't. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book - it was crazy and funny, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I should.


The book is quite complicated, like all Wodehouse's books, but generally there is this young couple, Ashe and Joan, who have no money. They find out, that an American millionaire is willing to pay a thousand pounds for stealing a scarab from Blandings and they both decide to do it.


The first half was so long and slow, that I really had to make myself read it. It gets better later - the ending was fast and fun, but reading the first half was a chore for me.


I was not a great fan of neither Ashe nor Joan and I was not interested in their romance at all. Aline, Joan's friend, was insipid, and George was so patronising and full of himself, that it was painful to read. I really liked Freddie - he was great, so silly and polite, it was hard not to love him. I quite liked his father, lord Emsworth, so absent-minded and a bit crazy.


All in all, normally I would give this book three stars, but it's Wodehouse, so I gave it four. I will give this series the second chance in the future, but I'm in no great hurry to get back to Blandings.

This review was first published at my blog: https://dominikasreadingchallenge.blogspot.com/ ( )

Meh. A disappointing read, certainly not as good or as witty as I’d expected. I think I should try some of the Jeeves and Wooster novels instead. I shan’t be reading more of the Blandings Castle series at least. ( )

This first book in the Blandings castle series is a scream! If you like Wodehouse's style then this is a must-read. Only one thing was lacking & that was the pigs... otherwise, Lord Emsworth is at his absent-minded best and Rupert Baxter becomes entangled in those events which lead him to be considered insane in some of the later books. ( )

Sometimes the world gets into such a state that only the refined silliness of PG Wodehouse will do as an escape.

I read all of the Jeeves stories as a boy, and many times since, but I have never read any of his Blandings series before. Something Fresh is the first in this series, which is centred on the doings at Blandings Castle, owned by the absent-minded Lord Emsworth.

Lord Emsorth's hopeless son Freddy is engaged to the daughter of US millionaire J. Preston Peters. Emsworth is invited to visit Peters to be shown his valuable collection of scarabs. In the process, Emsworth absent-mindedly pockets a scarab worth thousands, and walks off with it. Peters, thinking of it as theft, is aghast and determined to recover his prize.

Meanwhile, pulp fiction authors Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine are bored with their writing and seeking a change. Ashe answers an ad placed by Peters and gets a job as a pretend valet, with a view to sneaking into Blandings and stealing the scarab back for a reward. Independently of this, Joan hears about the scarab and the reward from her friend Aline - Peters' daughter - and insists on Aline hiring her as a maid so that she can also go to Blandings and steal the scarab back.

Once everyone descends on Blandings, the usual Wodehouse hi-jinks ensue, involving subterfuge, misunderstandings, embarrassment and, ultimately, a happy resolution for all. His writing is full of sardonic observations; the narrative commentary is probably more witty than the actual plot. It's a typical Wodehouse outing and, as such, a brief and welcome distraction. ( )