Early coauthored shorts. Luck favors fools. 1604500514 Loved the ironic narration style, but every story follows the same story line. Felt sory for the way too naive Mr. Bleke who seems incapable of love and who would lead a happier life as a poor man than as a millionaire. 1604500514 Fun and enjoyable - author’s usual. Well narrated (LibriVox). Recommended. 1604500514 A Don Quixote like wandering innocent in the world of the moneyed,
Bottom Line First:
Six short comic misadventures forming a light read. A Man of Means is humorous rather than raucous. For a Wodehouse fan such as myself this is a collection completer of material often hard to find in paper copy. Mine is a Kindle copy. This may make for good bed time stories for the almost to early Harry Potter aged child. As an adult reader I enjoyed these stories but I know PG can do better.
Wodehouse's six short tales of a traveling Innocent, Roland Bleke is our Man of Means. Having been co-written with C. H. Bovill and first published as a magazine serial 1914 they are from after the period Wodehouse would call his apprentice years. So neither exactly early Wodehouse, but neither is it from his prime.
There are several aspects that make these connected stories unusual. Unlike many of his earlier books the main character is a young man, not a school boy. There is nothing about boxing or cricket. Unlike many of his more famous stories Roland begins as a working man of few means and no connections. He will come into money and find that this is a mixed blessing. Across six brief stories, barely totaling 90 pages his money will get him into troubles including those he comes through while being oblivious. His several near ruinations often has efforts to skin him doubled back on the would be con artists.
He will meet a butler who will resemble Jeeves but with less loyalty towards his employers and social `betters' - having all of the smarts of Jeeves, much of the same cunning, but less interest in the well-being of his young man.
There is, as is usual with Wodehouse little in the way of social commentary and no danger of there being any larger morals or didactic efforts. A Man of Means is all comedy and all inconsequential. Just as PG Wodehouse should be 1604500514 The wodehouse magic is emerging, but one can see why these are the early shorts. Overall, a fun, light read :) The end was excellent! 1604500514
P.G. Wodehouse ´ 0 summary
Six early (1914) shorts, written in collaboration with C.H. Bovill:
- The Episode of the Landlady's Daughter / The Landlady's Daughter
- The Episode of the Financial Napoleon / The Bolt from the Blue
- The Episode of the Theatrical Venture
- The Episode of the Live Weekly
- The Episode of the Exiled Monarch / The Diverting Episode of the Exiled Monarch
- The Episode of the Hired Past
From the Manor Wodehouse Collection, a Selection from the Early Works of P. G. Wodehouse A Man of Means: A Series of Six Stories
Interesting form of a series of stories following the bumbling brilliance of a lottery winner. All he wants is peace and quiet but he keeps getting imbroiled in chaos by his chivalrous treatment of women. I liked that it feels like the stories are going to be about how he gets taken for a ride, but they end up being about how it all works out at the end. Except when he tangles with the servants, they do take him for a ride. 1604500514 3.5*
These 6 short stories are all about Ronald Bleke who starts off as an unassuming clerk and ends up as a man of means through no fault of his own. Fun stories though not quite as good as Wodehouse's best. 1604500514 A Man of Means is a collection of six short stories written in collaboration by P. G. Wodehouse and C. H. Bovill. The stories all star Roland Bleke, a nondescript young man to whom financial success comes through a series of “lucky” chances, the first from a win in a sweepstake he had forgotten entering. Roland, like many a timid young man seeks love and marriage. In this pursuit his wealth is regularly a mixed blessing. The plot of each story follows its predecessor, sometimes directly, and occasionally refer back to past events in Bleke’s meteoric career. The writing style is crisp and droll, and shows much of the skill and polish of the later Wodehouse. The disasters that befall the hapless Bleke are entertainingly recounted and his unforeseen rescues surprise and delight. In the character of the butler, Mr Teal, we meet an early draft of the ingenious Jeeves. 1604500514 This is the first audiobook I have ever got through. I say got through because I don't like being read to. However, this was quite funny, the chapters were only about 15-25 minutes long and it wasn't a hugely complicated plot so I was able to listen to a chapter to and from my walk to work and enjoy it. 1604500514 An early Wodehouse about a poor, helpless soul that the world insists on treating gently-- in fact, getting him out of any scrape he gets into and handing him oodles of money to boot. It's charming, if it doesn't quite survive in our darker age. Nowadays the young feller would have his head handed to him on the proverbial platter of life, right? Or perhaps I'm too cynical for this friendly tale that maintains its belief in good luck and success despite one's best efforts to fail.
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