Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse

I may have found a new "comfort read" author. This novel is about reading for comfort, in a way. When Nell Stillman's abusive husband dies on the job, leaving her essentially destitute with an infant son, she is "rescued" by a member of the school board who offers her a job teaching third grade. Teaching becomes Nell's career, Laurence Lundeen and his family become her steadfast friends, and she "falls in love" with P. G. Wodehouse through borrowing his novels from Cora Lundeen. Whenever her life takes a difficult turn, she escapes into his latest collection of frivolous nonsense. There is so much more to this novel than might appear on the surface. It's a fairly straightforward narrative filled with the ups and downs of life in the show more early 20th century in a small town in Minnesota. They are not spared the grief of WWI, or the tragedies that arise from sheer human beastliness. As she ages, Nell Stillman becomes the woman some of her students turn to for advice and solace as they grow older and face life's challenges...the woman who will always listen, ply them with tea and cookies, and make no judgments whatsoever. As a fairly young child I dropped in on several elderly ladies who were sheer blessings in my life; they didn't stick around into my adulthood, but I'll never forget 'em. It was a delight to meet them all again in the person of Nell Stillman. show less

I wanted to like this one more than I did. It was oddly shallow despite some big issues (domestic violence, shell shock, adultery...), and it read as a series of anecdotes rather than an actual novel that hung together. It provides a portrait of a small Minnesota town in the first half of the 20th century, mostly through the eyes of a young (at the start) widow and mother. I wish there had been more depth, but it was a pleasant enough read.

The books of P.G. Wodehouse have brightened the lives of many people over the past century, myself included. In 2015, Faith Sullivan wrote a wonderful novel about it, “Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse.”

Another in her series of novels set in the small midwestern town of Harvester, the story's focus falls on Nell Stillman and covers most of her life. The novel begins with her self-written obituary, which outlines virtually the entire story, and ends with her death.

Nell is widowed as a young mother and never marries again, though "the love of a good man" she mentions to in her obituary turns out not to refer to her husband. She is offered a position as third-grade teacher, and she continues to teach for decades.

Although the novel covers a show more lifetime, the small-town characters remain mostly constant, allowing various plotlines to develop. Some of these involve a young woman hired to care for her son, Hilly, while she teaches; her son's life before and after his disabling injury in World War I; a series of poison-pen letters to her that continue for decades; and John, a usually absent politician who becomes the love of her life.

That is, if you don't count P.G. Wodehouse. She reads each night to settle her thoughts after a tiring day, but her favorite books are those written by Wodehouse. "Mr. Wodehouse is my savior," she says at one point. She imagines conversations with him. In time she actually corresponds with the author, and he writes back, sending her signed copies of his books.

Covering a life as it does, the novel contains just about everything a typical life contains, especially in that time and place. The joys, the heartaches, the disappointments, the sorrows, the pleasures — they are all there in this fine novel. show less

Despite the fairly predictable plot foreshadowed in main character Nell's Page 1 obituary
(we all die! and nearly every other main character does too),
the book moves smoothly and comfortably along, with many welcome intrigues.

Nell's life evolves around the P.G. Wodehouse books she reads and is inspired by...until she learns
that he and his wife may have been Nazi collaborators. Like the unknown writer of the nasty letters,
this mystery remains unsolved. And there can be no sequel because, again, most everyone dies.

This is too bad as it seems an easy way out: the remaining world though Hilly's eyes would have been
one amazing story.

I'll confess I got this solely for the cover and Mr Wodehouse's name in the title. It wasn't what I had expected (what should I have expected?) but I did enjoy it a lot. Once I got started it was hard to put down. Not funny like Wodehouse, but a wonderful cast of characters over a long period of time. I really got to know them and wanted to spend time with them. Nice world of a small town. There were some smiles and tears. Interesting loose ends that didn't get tied up, but they didn't need to. Very like real life. Overall feel good novel. I think I will seek out Ms Sullivan's earlier work.

Sweet story about small town America during the various war years. Characters are well drawn and events pull the reader along, but one gets the feeling the author is just filling in time until the main character dies- the book could have ended earlier with no great loss.

Basic plot is about a hard-done-by but sweet woman who is just ordinary but strong of spirit, able to handle the various hardships of life with recourse to reading PG Wodehouse stories.

There are mysteries that aren’t resolved in the story (who is writing the notes?) and some things are only explained very late on. This leaves the main character really quite a shell of a person. We want to see inside her more.

Pleasant read but low residue, though Hilly is a character show more that breaks your heart. show less

I wanted to love this, but the book didn’t live up to the title—frankly, the bits about Wodehouse (quotes as well as comments) could have applied to nearly any author. The role books play in our lives was a case of telling more than showing; if it was meant to be a major theme, it fell flat.

Many of the supporting characters weren’t developed well enough to keep them straight. Nell does grow and change based on her experiences, and I thought Hilly’s war experiences and life after were handled well (in so many books, either the soldier is killed in action or returns home virtually unchanged). On the flip side, the anonymous letter writer faded away with no resolution or hint of identity. The writing was adequate but nothing that show more will stand the test of time. show less