The Little Nugget

Although I didn’t find this to be one of P. G. Wodehouse’s funniest works, I feel it rates as one of his best for plotting skills. It reads like a light-hearted crime novel.

I also found it interesting, having read all of this author’s early books that were set in private schools and told from the perspective of the boys, that here we have a novel predominantly set in such a school, only this time we see it from the masters’ angle.

I like how Mr Wodehouse opens events by using a third-person narrative, followed by – a few pages later – switching to a first-person narrator in the form of Peter Burns. Peter’s not a larger than life-type of character, but he’s easy to like through his down-to-earth realism.

The Little Nugget show more himself is a detestable character, which is the author’s intention, and although his scenes are limited, he serves as a central focus upon which much of the story revolves. show less

It's always wonderful to have a PG Wodehouse to fall back on when the going gets rough. A delightful story and many laughs along the way. Frederick Davidson is a terrific narrator for these books.

Not quite a typical Wodehouse: there are professional criminals, a gun fight in which our hero is wounded, hints of an abusive relationship, and the main character actually matures and becomes a kinder person after the love of his life abruptly leaves him. This change happens before the story starts, but still---most Wodehouse characters don't evolve.

Too much has happened in the world since the book was written to make kidnapping seem cute. Perhaps it's worth noting, then, that Wodehouse and Bolton accidentally abducted a child from a London train station when they thought they were supposed to pick up a young relative of a friend there, (Bring on the Girls!, pp, 182-190.) SPOILER: The kidnapper sees his profession as a means of show more restoring family harmony by making parents appreciate their child and each other. He has decided to marry and go straight and convinces the Fords that as an expert in his field he is most suited to guard their child from other kidnappers. He doesn't pay for his crimes; he will get a salary because of them. show less

Every book I have read by PG Wodehouse has been charming and diverting, and this was no exception. Until now I have mostly read Jeeves books so I was surprised at the differences in this one—specifically, that there was gunplay, a proper romance, and the main character was of near-average intelligence. There were two butlers though—but there’s something suspicious about one of them! My favorite character was Smooth Sam Fisher. The book design was lovely--the publisher was Overlook. Unfortunately there is one use of the “n word” which I think a good editor should take out in the next edition. Oh, I should say, the novel is about a kidnapping, or a series of attempted kidnappings. Agatha Christie said this was her favorite show more Wodehouse novel. But Wodehouse was very offended by this because he had written dozens more since then, so he thought that meant she hadn't read any of his later work. I bet she did, but she just liked this the best. show less

The little nugget is the fat, jaded Ford boy, the only child of his wealthy, divorced parents. The parents are constantly having people kidnap the boy from each other, so that he isn't bothered at all when a stranger scoops him up. Wealthy Peter Burns has recently become engaged to a girl in the mother's circle, and to prove his love to her he agrees to be the latest kidnapper. He gets a teaching position as the boy's school and waits for his chance, but finds that he isn't the only one. And worse, the girl who jilted him five years before makes a living by watching the boy.

This is a very early Wodehouse, around 1913, I think. He isn't quite as funny as he would become later, but it's definitely Wodehouse. People "shimmer" out of rooms show more and there's a character named Glossop. I wouldn't recommend this one for someone wanting to try out Wodehouse, but it's not bad for his fans. show less

It's funny, but there's a point in the plot where our hero gets shot(!) in the shoulder during an escape from the villains. It's never resolved. He never gets medical treatment, never examines himself, never even disposes of it by saying something like, "Oh, I thought I was shot but it was just the old bursitis, ha ha, toodle pip." It's a minor point, as his stories are not what one would call realistic, but it threw me out of the story.

Thorold's review has said nearly all of what needs to be said about this early Wodehouse. The construction of the book is curious until you are aware of it's origins and I don't think much of Wodehouse as a writer of romantic fiction. For me, some of the most interesting bits were to do with pre-war - WW1, that is - social attitudes. Plum was familiar with the USA by the time he wrote this book but he goes along with the prevalent British concept that all Americans were either millionaires or gangsters. The hero's potential mother-in-law, a widow, is described as being "... connected with money on all sides, but could only obtain it in rare and minute quantities." Nonetheless, she lives between Sloane Square and South Kensington - not show more quite as fashionable then as now but still a reasonable address. She also has a butler, Parker. I suppose poverty has always been a relative term.

I had a moment of bibliomancy with this book. Waking very early and unable to sleep, I made a cup of tea and opened The Little Nugget where I had left off the previous day. I read this: "I am strongly of the opinion that, after the age of twenty-one, a man ought not to be out of bed and awake at four in the morning. The hour breeds thought. At twenty-one, life being all future, it may be examined with impunity. But, at thirty, having become an uncomfortable mixture of future and past, it is a thing only to be looked at when the sun is high and the world full of warmth and optimism." How true, but to give due credit to the author, even one of his lesser works distracted me wonderfully until dawn broke. show less