The Clicking of Cuthbert (by PG Wodehouse)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve liked PG Wodehouse’s writing, off and on, for about fifty years. My father introduced me to the ‘Jeeves’ books one summer, and I read most of them, followed by the 'Blandings Castle' books. But my parents didn’t have the Wodehouse short story collections, so I didn’t know that most of them existed until, browsing Project Gutenberg one day, I came across several Wodehouse books, out of copyright, free to download.

I’ve had many of these on my Kindle, kept for times when I’m travelling. One of them is ‘The Clicking of Cuthbert’, a book which I don’t recall ever having read before. It turns out to be a collection of golf-related stories, most of them supposedly narrated by the ‘Oldest Member’ of a golf club, usually to some disgruntled young man who’s having trouble either with his golfing, or with his love life. 

They’re dated - obviously! - and would be considered sexist if published today. But Wodehouse used caricatures for humour, and while most of his girls are fluffy and a bit silly, there are some who excel on the golf course, or who manage to help a nervous or miserable young man. And, to be fair, he’s just as negative about some of the men he describes. The book is really ‘golfist’ more than anything else, with non-golfers seen as unfortunate, seriously lacking in something important. 

You don’t have to be a golfer to read this book - I’m not, although I have relatives who play. I don’t know one golf club from another, nor what it means to ‘halve’ a hole, but I have the general idea of driving from a tee and hoping not to get a ball in the rough, or in a lake. I love the way Wodehouse writes, and his use of language in general is excellent. 

None of the stories is particularly memorable - which is, perhaps, why it’s not a book I’ve come across elsewhere. However it was easy reading for a flight; with short stories it’s quite convenient to read one, then put the Kindle down for a while.  I didn’t need to remember characters from previous chapters, and it didn’t much matter that many of the golfing terms were a mystery to me as I could get the general effect.  

There’s humour in some of the writing which, I think, would come across much better if read aloud to someone else who understands the satire and lengthy explanations that are all too easy to skim when reading to oneself. Some of the people are delightfully caricatured and I did smile once or twice, but there was nothing that made me chuckle aloud. 

I finished it this morning, and wa a bit surprised that the final chapter was rather different from the others, involving an ancient King who was introduced to ‘Gowf’ by a Scotsman employed as one of his gardeners. It’s mildly amusing, but probably would be perceived as racist if published today. 

Not a bad read if you like Wodehouse and don’t mind short stories about golf - but not if you’re likely to become annoyed at his many apparently condescending references to the ‘gentler sex’.  Still available free to download from Gutenberg, or in paperback form from Amazon and elsewhere. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews