I am an intelligent person who is well aware of the continual shifting of societal mores over the few thousand years of human history, and I am able to read books written in the past and know whether or not there are words or ideas there that I disagree with, find distasteful, or would not espouse/use myself because they would be hurtful to others. I also find books written in the past with differing attitudes to ours to be a help in teaching my own kids about how ideas and attitudes change over time. I find it very dangerous to try to erase those differences by pretending they never existed, whether it's by censoring fiction or burning history books under a swastika flag. You can't change the fact that people thought differently from you in the past, but you can prevent yourself from learning by blinding yourself to the past.
I'm not sure I've ever read a full Jeeves book before, though I have read quite a few of Wodehouse's stories in anthologies and so on. Of course, this is more like a collection of short stories than a novel, but that made it great to pick up and read a bit, and then go do something else. I am so happy to have the whole series now! This was an absolutely perfect book for me to read at the tail end of summer when I was feeling blue and gray and unhappy with the world. I am going to try really hard to remember how well these stories work for me at the end of summer.
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG because I don't think it's allowable to rate a P. G. Wodehouse book anything different. Also because there is a little mild cussing, but nothing else objectionable.
This is my 18th book read for my fourth Classics Club list, my 46th read off my TBR shelf for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023, and the last book I completed for #20BooksOfSummer23.
Wodehouse is one of my top favorite authors, and the Jeeves stories provide much the same function for me that they do for you--to reliably cheer me up whenever I'm feeling down. In fact, I often re-read my favorites in the evening before going to sleep because they're so soothing.
ReplyDeleteKatie, yes! They are definitely soothing.
DeleteWe all need a Wodehouse or two (or more) every now and then. Carry On, Jeeves is currently the next Bertie-Jeeves on my TBR. Can't wait to get at it soon.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, book banning is so annoying, but on the other hand, it's more often than not, the banning makes us curious enough to read the book. :))
Fanda, I guess "banning" a book bothers me a little less, as long as it's a specific organization like a school or a county library that bans it, not a whole government. You can always go find that book again somewhere else if you really want to read it. This isn't banning, this is changing the text of the book. Removing or replacing words, phrases, sections of the book, all because someone might not or does not like them. That's like saying if there are people who don't like statues of naked people, we should sculpt clothes over top of any statues of naked people, so Michealangelo's David has been changed. Not photos of it, not replicas of it, the statue itself. Horrifying.
DeleteI can't remember now what first induced me to read a Jeeves and Wooster short story, but I do remember laughing so hard I peed my pants! So then of course I was hooked and read them all. There are many more short stories than novels and, quite frankly, the novels get a little tedious stretching the typically silly and frivolous plot lines over an entire book. What I like best about Wodehouse is that his humour is not just in the characters (he perfected the "upper class twit of the year" trope long before Monty Python came along), nor in the ridiculous antics his idiotic characters get up to, but also in the text itself via "Bertie's" writing style and use of phrases, slang and abbreviations to express himself.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 1990s, the Brits made a TV series called "Jeeves and Wooster" based on the stories, starring the brilliant and hilarious actors Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Wooster. I think it was broadcast in the US on PBS -- that may be where I saw it, although I also remember renting episodes on DVD. I don't know if you watched it but if not, it is well worth hunting down the DVD collection, if you can find it.
Debra, the Fry/Laurie TV show is marvelous! I have only seen about half of the first season, but I recently found the whole series on DVD at the used bookstore, and so it is now on my shelf waiting for me to watch more whenever I need a pick-me-up. I absolutely love their portrayals, to the point that I heard most of the dialog in their voices while I read this book :-D Which made it extra fun!
DeleteI definitely can't see myself reading this series straight through, but as a little mood-lifter now and then, it is going to be wondrous. My teen son is reading this one right now, as I type, and laughing every few pages :-D
I'm so glad you've got the DVD collection! Enjoy!
DeleteOh now they're messing with my beloved P.G Woodhouse's Jeeves stories *growls*. I wanna know what word they censored now because I have no recollection whatsoever of hearing or reading any such word.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, so it would appear. Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl have come under the publisher's knife too, recently. I don't know what on earth they are changing in this series (I believe it's just a couple of books, not all of them), but I know they decided Roald Dahl books were "fat shaming" and "appearance shaming" and changed some of his descriptions. Like, what in the world -- fictional characters don't have feelings! And, what I have read of Dahl, at least, tends to show that people who judge others by their outward appearance are bad or stupid or lazy! Sigh.
DeleteI love Wodehouse! I find him hilarious, so glad you enjoyed it too. Your take on changing texts was very well said and your analogy re: Michelangelos’s statue is so perfect! Absolutely spot on.
ReplyDeleteAmy B., oh my goodness, I had the best time reading this. Just uproariously fun.
DeleteThanks! Like, I have no problem blacking out words I find objectionable in my own copies of books, especially if my kids are going to read them. But I should not go to the library and do that to the library copy, nor should I do that to all the copies in the bookstore, and I definitely shouldn't do that to all the copies being printed henceforth! Just not okay.
Exactly!
DeleteYou said it perfectly, both in the post and the comments how and why it is unacceptable to modify an authors words in that manner. Incensed is right! Grrr. I've never read these books or seen the show, but I have heard of it! Now I would want to make sure if I do read it, I get an older version that has not been mucked with.
ReplyDeleteThat was me... stupid thing still doesn't keep me logged in on blog comments.
DeleteDKoren, grrr, Blogger is so glitchy lately with sign-ins and such.
DeleteI don't think you would really want to read a whole Jeeves book, but a short story or two to lighten an afternoon, you might dig! Then again, the humor is veddy, veddy British, so... you might like them a lot!