The Girl in Blue
by P. G. Wodehouse
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Description
Young Jerry West has a few problems. His uncle Crispin is broke and employs a butler who isn't all he seems. His other uncle, Willoughby, is rich but won't hand over any of his inheritance. And to cap it all, although already engaged, Jerry has just fallen in love with the wonderful Jane Hunnicut, whom he's just met on jury service. But she's an heiress, and that's a problem too because even if he can extricate himself from his grasping fiancee, Jerry can't be seen to be a gold digger. Enter show more "the Girl in Blue"--a Gainsborough miniature which someone has stolen from Uncle Willoughby. Jerry sets out on a mission to find her. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
After going through Jeeves series by PG Wodehouse, this one was refreshingly great read. While there was humour in it, it wasn't laugh-out-loud kind, but of mildly amusing kind. That didn't deter unputdownable quality of this book though. His writing, oh man, I am impressed. Each sentence is an art to be read and re-read. Imagine, analogies, structuring of thoughts are all masterpieces. Amazing read both from story and hilarity, but also from highest quality of writing and thinking.
A country house, financial worries, an unwanted engagement, love at first sight, an unexpected legacy, and a missing Gainsborough miniature provide the elements for yet another entertaining farce by P. G. Wodehouse. I'm more familiar with his Jeeves and Wooster stories, which I think of as period pieces. This book, published in 1971, provides evidence that Wodehouse's characteristic wit could keep up with the times.
I loved this description of the country estate's library:
The library was on the second floor, a large somber room brooded over by hundreds of grim calf-bound books assembled in the days when the reading public went in for volumes of collected sermons and had not yet acquired a taste for anything with spies and a couple of show more good murders in it.
Warmly recommended. show less
I loved this description of the country estate's library:
The library was on the second floor, a large somber room brooded over by hundreds of grim calf-bound books assembled in the days when the reading public went in for volumes of collected sermons and had not yet acquired a taste for anything with spies and a couple of show more good murders in it.
Warmly recommended. show less
Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of P.G. Wodehouse, so if he's not your snootfull of oolong, take my review with a grain of salt.
*****
In "The Girl in Blue," P.G. Wodehouse dances us through a tried-and-true plot with all the characteristic wit and charm. Although written toward the end of his life, this novel has all the vitality of his earlier work, with the sure, easy tread and pacing of experience.
Notably, the love stories in this volume include both young love and a more mature couple, a bit of a rarity. (Although Wodehouse often has older characters remarry later in life, we almost never get the story of how it happened. We merely see the results.)
Odd bits of anachronism pop up, with one character who is an air hostess, and oblique show more references to 1960s counterculture. And yet the language, settings, motivations, and characters all come from the interwar golden age in which nearly all Wodehouse novels are set. The anachronisms can be a little distracting, but isn't it nice to believe that golden age could last to the present day?
A great book for fans, and not a bad introduction to Wodehouse for someone new to his work. show less
*****
In "The Girl in Blue," P.G. Wodehouse dances us through a tried-and-true plot with all the characteristic wit and charm. Although written toward the end of his life, this novel has all the vitality of his earlier work, with the sure, easy tread and pacing of experience.
Notably, the love stories in this volume include both young love and a more mature couple, a bit of a rarity. (Although Wodehouse often has older characters remarry later in life, we almost never get the story of how it happened. We merely see the results.)
Odd bits of anachronism pop up, with one character who is an air hostess, and oblique show more references to 1960s counterculture. And yet the language, settings, motivations, and characters all come from the interwar golden age in which nearly all Wodehouse novels are set. The anachronisms can be a little distracting, but isn't it nice to believe that golden age could last to the present day?
A great book for fans, and not a bad introduction to Wodehouse for someone new to his work. show less
On Jury Duty, a political cartoonist falls in love with an airline stewardess while still betrothed to another woman. In the offices of a large retail facility, a reputable lawyer learns that, to avoid any sort of lawsuit on the part of his sister, he must take her out of the country immediately to keep her potentially kleptomaniac hands out of trouble. In London, another lawyer's day cannot get any better as he has gotten his hands on a family heirloom that had evaded him for years and his brother struggles to pay for the upkeep of their ancestral home. Each oblivious and in their own world, they are all about to find out how small a world it is after all.
Introduced to Wodehouse by an impulsive purchase of the Jeeves and Wooster show more television series by my roomie, I immediately fell in love. True, this is an [amazing] adaptation of the author as portrayed by the [brilliant] Fry and Laurie, but if the basis of the stories was anything akin to the madcap glory of the show, there was no room for let down. To be sure, then, that there was no let down. I picked up The Girl in Blue shortly after the aforementioned roomie purchased a substantial collection [single volume, which I detest on the whole] of Jeeves and Wooster reading material, and quickly realized that, while I have no need to buy the famed dandy and valet's stories, I had every reason to buy anything else by Wodehouse. I found myself several pages in whilst still sitting on the stepstool in the store. No chance was there of me not buying it, despite my proclaimed austerity measures. Shortly thereafter, I had a bit of a roadtrip to New Jersey where I was, unsurprisingly, the only early riser. The book was finished on day two.
It made me sad.
Every ounce of madcap fun, wit and cleverness found in the well-loved television series was represented in The Girl in Blue. Though it was in no way a mysery novel, the number of storylines that are involved give it an air of intricacy that a mystery novelist should dream of attaining. And yet, at the same time, there was no sensation of being overwhelmed by the numerous characters and locations. Each person was their own and could not readily be mistaken for another. The locations were well defined and because of this, though the characters were not always even in the same country, the only confusion to be had was to be found on the page when the chaos began.
If Shakespeare ever taught me anything, it was to always explicitly use names when talking to and about people.
If Wodehouse has taught me anything, it is to risk the offense and ask for information up front and save yourself the misadventures of assumptions.
And just so you know, I'd rather read Wodehouse over Shakespeare anyday.
Quite enjoyable, I look foward to more of the stuff. show less
Introduced to Wodehouse by an impulsive purchase of the Jeeves and Wooster show more television series by my roomie, I immediately fell in love. True, this is an [amazing] adaptation of the author as portrayed by the [brilliant] Fry and Laurie, but if the basis of the stories was anything akin to the madcap glory of the show, there was no room for let down. To be sure, then, that there was no let down. I picked up The Girl in Blue shortly after the aforementioned roomie purchased a substantial collection [single volume, which I detest on the whole] of Jeeves and Wooster reading material, and quickly realized that, while I have no need to buy the famed dandy and valet's stories, I had every reason to buy anything else by Wodehouse. I found myself several pages in whilst still sitting on the stepstool in the store. No chance was there of me not buying it, despite my proclaimed austerity measures. Shortly thereafter, I had a bit of a roadtrip to New Jersey where I was, unsurprisingly, the only early riser. The book was finished on day two.
It made me sad.
Every ounce of madcap fun, wit and cleverness found in the well-loved television series was represented in The Girl in Blue. Though it was in no way a mysery novel, the number of storylines that are involved give it an air of intricacy that a mystery novelist should dream of attaining. And yet, at the same time, there was no sensation of being overwhelmed by the numerous characters and locations. Each person was their own and could not readily be mistaken for another. The locations were well defined and because of this, though the characters were not always even in the same country, the only confusion to be had was to be found on the page when the chaos began.
If Shakespeare ever taught me anything, it was to always explicitly use names when talking to and about people.
If Wodehouse has taught me anything, it is to risk the offense and ask for information up front and save yourself the misadventures of assumptions.
And just so you know, I'd rather read Wodehouse over Shakespeare anyday.
Quite enjoyable, I look foward to more of the stuff. show less
Misconstrued intentions, way-laid plans and false observation. Mix that with love triangles and it makes this eccentric book so much rollicking fun.
I hadn't read any P.G. Wodehouse until the other day. The Girl in Blue so far is my favorite.
I hadn't read any P.G. Wodehouse until the other day. The Girl in Blue so far is my favorite.
A missing Gainsborough miniature of "The Girl in Blue" and the promise of a reward for its return and potential marriages among the characters. SPOILER: The expected pairing up of one couple is thwarted by sound advice of someone who has already experience an unhappy marriage. So, (nearly) everybody lives happily ever after, including three men who stay single.
This isn’t one of Mr Wodehouse’s finest works, but there are enough laughs to make “The Girl in Blue” a worthwhile read.
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P. G. Wodehouse was born in Guildford, United Kingdom on October 15, 1881. After completing school, he spent two years as a banker at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London and then took a job as a sports reporter and columnist for the Globe newspaper. His first novel, The Pothunters, was published in 1902. He wrote over 100 novels and short show more story collections during his lifetime including A Perfect Uncle, Love Among the Chickens, The Swoop, P. Smith in the City, Meet Mr. Milliner, Doctor Sally, Quick Service, The Old Reliable, Uneasy Money, A Damsel in Distress, Jill the Reckless, The Adventures of Sally, A Pelican at Blandings, The Girl in Blue, and Aunts Aren't Gentlemen. His most famous characters, Bertie Wooster and his manservant, Jeeves, appeared in books such as Much Obliged, Jeeves. He also wrote lyrics for musical comedies and worked as screenwriter in Hollywood in the 1930s. In 1939, he bought a villa in Le Touquet on the coast of France. He remained there when World War II started in 1939. The following year, the Germans appropriated the villa, confiscated property, and arrested him. He was detained in various German camps for almost one year before being released in 1941. He went to Berlin and spoke of his experience in five radio talks to be broadcast to America and England. The talks themselves were completely innocuous, but he was charged with treason in England. He was cleared, but settled permanently in the United States. He became a citizen in 1955. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1975. He died from a heart attack after a long illness on February 14, 1975 at the age of 93. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Girl in Blue
- Original title
- The girl in blue
- Original publication date
- 1970
- People/Characters
- Jerry West aka G.G.F. West; Homer Pyle; Jane Hunnicut; Willoughby Scrope; Crispin Scrope; Chippendale (show all 9); Vera Upshaw; Bernadette Claybourne nee Pyle aka Bunny; Dame Flora Faye
- Important places
- New York, New York, USA; Mellingham House, England, UK (Imaginary place)
- First words
- The afternoon sun poured brightly into the office of the manager of Guildenstern's Stores, Madison Avenue, New York, but there was no corresponding sunshine in the heart of Homer Pyle, the eminent corporation lawyer, as he sa... (show all)t there.
- Quotations
- One of her playwrights, speaking from the nursing home where he was recovering from mental exhaustion, has once described her as the vulture who cooed like a dove. ( of Dame Flora Faye, Chap.5, section 2)
Although it had been said of Crispin Scrope with considerable justice that if men were dominoes, he would be the double blank, he was not without a certain intelligence and an ability to deduce and draw conclusions. (Ch... (show all)ap.12, section 2)
"Hullo! I say! Is something wrong, darling? You look like a startled codfish. Suits you, of course. Very becoming. But it gives me the idea that something has happened to upset you. What's the matter, my angel?" (Chap. ... (show all)15) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They got down to it.
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