The Golf Omnibus

This anthology of Wodehouse reflects all his signature, sparkling prose and wit. It is best enjoyed a few stories at a time to keep the feelings fresh and to not see the formula underneath. Too much at one time will get tiring and annoying. Virtually all the protagonists are of the ruling class and in that light not all of the stories have aged well. PGW also published the same story tweaked for British and American magazines making some of the setups a little hard to square.

Each chapter is a self-contained short story, and there are plenty of them making this book an ideal companion on a journey if you can make enough room in your bag for it. The writing shows that apparent effortlessness that only comes from immense talent and very hard work. The gallery of characters is pure Wodehouse - formidable aunts, American heiresses, ineffectual young men with vastly more money than sense. But the setting of the golf club offers a more varied social landscape than either Blandings or Bertie's circle can provide, which is why I actually prefer the golf stories to the more famous Jeeves books.

Not the best of Wodehouse, but still terrific fun. 'Clicking of Cuthbert' a high point. I spit me of nastikoff!

My first Wodehouse book...a collection of short stories relating to golf. I imagine if Aesop were a fun-loving golfer, this is how his series of fables might turn out. Almost every sentence is carefully crafted for maximum elegance and hilarity (which I imagine the rest of Wodehouse's works are). And as a budding golfer, I also learned a little golf technique and history, via some endearingly antiquated golf terms such as 'mashie-niblick,' though I imagine, wasn't exactly Wodehouse's intent.

I had to subtract a star, because in some points there was a lot to slog through (and I am a slow reader), but maybe it's just a fault of my own that my attention-span isn't focused enough.

This was a fun several-afternoon read. (As it was a short story collection, rather than a novel, I was able to read it in several sittings rather than one long go.) Not as good as I recall Jeeves being, this was, nonetheless, witty, deprecating entertainment. The idea that golf might somehow be lowbrow made me laugh, and the utterly ridiculous antics of the occasional non-Anglos made me cringe (except for the Russian author–he was side-splittingly hilarious). Still, this was, as I say, fun.

If I thought golf itself was likely to be half as enjoyable as these stories about it, I might consider taking up the sport.

Then again, why ruin a good walk?

"There comes a moment in married life when every wife gazes squarely at her husband and the scales seem to fall from her eyes and she sees him as he is -- one of Nature's Class A fatheads."

New Contents:
1. Those in Peril on the Tee
2. Farewell to Legs
3. Up From the Depths
4. Feet of Clay
5. Excelsior
6. Rodney Has A Relapse
7 Tangled Hearts
8. Sleepy Time

plus 22 previously published short stories