Something New (by PG Wodehouse)

(Amazon UK link)

I love having a Kindle when I’m travelling. I was flying to the UK, and in browsing through my Kindle library, I discovered ‘Something New’ by PG Wodehouse. I had downloaded it years ago from Project Gutenberg, even though we have a paperback edition. However the last time I read it was almost twenty years ago, when I read it aloud to my sons, who were young teenagers at the time.

Thus I had entirely forgotten the story. I had also forgotten that it’s the first book about Blandings Castle, whose inhabitants feature in some other excellent and amusing Wodehouse novels. Blanding’s Castle’s owner, Lord Emsworth, is absent-minded and likes the countryside, although in this book he has not yet taken to breeding pigs. His son Freddie Threepwood is rather vacuous but basically good natured. And he’s just become engaged to a girl called Aline, the daughter of a wealthy American.

But the first person we meet is a young man - another American - called Ashe. He’s a writer of sensational crime fiction although he doesn’t much enjoy it. He likes to keep fit and in doing so is spotted, one day, by a young woman called Joan Valentine. She is also a writer but has followed a surprising number of other professions. She and Ashe are both struggling financially, but Joan is more inclined to do something about it. She tells Ashe that if he doesn’t like his career, he should find an adventure. She recommends that he study the ‘situations vacant’ in the paper…

Nothing is straightforward with Wodehouse. I had a bit of a struggle keeping track of who was whom for the first part of the book. This was not helped by being tired, and abandoning the book on the flight. I then dipped into it at odd moments during a busy few days, and it’s not easy, on a Kindle, to flip back to the first chapter to remind oneself of who is whom.

But it didn’t matter that much. Wodehouse’s use of language is quirky and - in my opinion - excellent. His observations, often satirical, make this a joy to read even when I somewhat lost track of the plot. I can’t say I sympathised very much with anyone, other than perhaps Joan; but then most of the people are delightful caricatures rather than realistic. At least, I hope so.

There are many recognisable Wodehouse ploys: false identities, attempts to steal a valuable object, and some extremely low-key romances. But to make it a little different, there's a large and rather dull scarab collection too. The book made an excellent diversion, and I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading it.

Definitely recommended if you like PG Wodehouse, or would like to try his writing. ‘Something New’ is out of copyright, of course, but fairly often reprinted. It is also widely available in ebook form, free or inexpensively.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews