Piccadilly Jim

A fun outing this one. Jim Crocker is a bit of a lad about town, which is fine until his name is linked with that of his aunt Nesta and she takes umbrage about it. She's convinced that Jim is a wastrel and that his life should be turned around by working for his living, preferably in her husband's firm. Jim doesn't necessarily agree with the plan, but he ends up falling in line when he falls for Nesta's husband's niece, Ann. Unfortunately, Ann has had a run in with Jim before, when he was working as a journalist and wrote a piece after an interview in which he scorned her poems and she has been set against him ever since, on principle. Somewhere mixed in all this is a boxer, a plan to kidnap a spoilt brat, baseball and two determined show more sisters who have married men who might be able to exert themselves in the office, but who wilt when faced with their wives. It's light-hearted and, unlike the Bertie Wooster books, at least has someone wanting to marry (unlike Bertie's aims to not be married). Enjoyable light writing, not entirely believable and relying on co-incidence, but you can forgive that when they're this much fun. show less

Great fun, a story full of impostors: a millionaire pretending to be a butler in New York so he can take in the World Series instead of pandering to the ambitions of his social-climbing wife in London; a young man who, in brief, is impersonating himself; a female detective posing as a particularly unconvincing parlourmaid; and a rather questionable English lord. There's a kidnapping plot involving a kid who's more obnoxious than the protagonist of Ransom of Red Chief. A very amusing story, and pleasant to read because Wodehouse's command of his characters' language is so sure. The Americans talk like Americans of their respective classes (with a few British expressions from the expats, and more than a few from the ambitious social show more climber) - very few British writers can manage that. show less

The man can do no wrong - another corker!
This is a story of farcical mix ups between an American and English extended family, when the antics of James Crocker (the eponymous Piccadilly Jim) in London upsets his step-mother when his antics may cost his American father an English Lordship.
James Crocker shamed by his behaviour therefore takes ship for New York, meets the girl of his dreams on the ship, who he had upset five years earlier writing a biting review of her book of adolescent verse. She does not recognise him, so he pretends to be the son of his parent's butler (Bayliss - a precursor of Beach in the Blanding novels), but then is asked to pretend to be James Crocker (yes, himself!) in order to gain access to his aunt and uncle's show more house (they have never met him) to kidnap the extremely badly behaved son of his aunt, who is making his step-father's life a misery.
Of course, it is more complicated than the above even begins to convey and yet it is written with such ease, when you are reading it it all makes perfect sense and it is so funny.
Although not in one of the series for which he is better known, this is an excellent stand-alone Wodehouse. show less

Laugh out loud funny! I listened to it this time and it was fabulous! The language is terrific and the twists and turns amazing. I have to admit that half way through I wondered how on earth Wodehouse was going to extricate these folks from the tangle. But, of course, he is a master and all is well in the end as it should be. Highly recommended!

I love Wodehouse, but am used to his Jeeves & Wooster books, which are, essentially, a string of short stories. Piccadilly Jim is a single, coherent plot, told with the usual Wodehouse brilliance. Any description of the plot would undoubtedly be a 'spoiler'. Suffice it to say that it is shot through with deception, counter-deception and mistaken identity. Towards the end I scarcely dared to turn the page to the next Chapter in fear of the next excruciating twist and turn. Wooster is, in the end, always put upon by others. Piccadilly Jim manages to make his own trouble. Look out for the wonderfully written Miss Trimble, Housemaid and Private Detective, as well Skinner the butler!

Top daft daftness. Farce at its best. At one point this chap is actually pretending to be himself. No sign of Jeeves or Wooster so rather disorientating until you stop worrying about it and enjoy the tale.

Now I have to come clean ... I am a big PG Wodehouse fan, as well as his books I also own several audiobooks of his stories or the BBC dramatisation of his stories. And Piccadilly Jim does not disappoint, it's full of the typical 'wodehouse' characters set in the typical 'wodehouse' plot ... which is to say literally anything can (and will!) happen. Kidnapping plots, people assuming false names and identities (in one case one fellow pretending to be someone else pretending to be himself .... picture The Life of Brian with men dressed as women pretending to be men ...), put-upon husbands, pretentious poets, phoney inventors, thiefs and the usual smattering of butlers - some even are who they claim to be.
If all you know about PG Wodehouse show more is that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie once played Jeeves and Wooster I urge you to read some of his other books, and this one would not be a bad place to start. show less