Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen

I am a fan of P.G.Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster series of novels. You simply can’t go wrong with any book from the series, all of them are classics created by a master craftsman for whom the English language is the wet clay to be moulded and shaped the way he wants. And the resulting product is not something that is physical but is created in the mind of the reader and that’s the brilliance of P.G.Wodehouse. Unlike other fiction works, you can’t skip even a single word or read between the lines, because the whole point of reading a PGW work is the language. To enjoy them I definitely needed LIFCO’s Mega English Dictionary next to me, but you don’t feel the extra effort needed, it only adds to the overall fun experience. The storyline as such is always very simple, but it is the language which flows like a water in a waterfall from the sky.

This book ‘Aunts aren’t Gentlemen” is the last work of PGW in this series written just before his death in 1975. And to think of the fact the series was kept alive and vibrant by PGW for nearly 60 years is amazing – the first Jeeves stories appeared in 1919.  The story in this book is about Bertram Wooster going to the countryside to get rest on doctor’s advice, but what turns out to be is more an adventure of getting engaged and near death experiences for good ol’ Bertie. As always Jeeves comes and rescues Bertie. The climax scene is not told but left to our imagination after being outlined in the scene before that where Jeeves & Bertie discusses the plan in quick sentences and that adds to the brilliance of PGW’s narrative style.