Monday, January 13, 2014

Review- Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks

Goodreads Summary:

A gloriously witty novel from Sebastian Faulks using P.G. Wodehouse's much-loved characters, Jeeves and Wooster, fully authorised by the Wodehouse estate.

Bertie Wooster, recently returned from a very pleasurable soujourn in Cannes, finds himself at the stately home of Sir Henry Hackwood in Dorset. Bertie is more than familiar with the country house set-up: he is a veteran of the cocktail hour and, thanks to Jeeves, his gentleman's personal gentleman, is never less than immaculately dressed.

On this occasion, however, it is Jeeves who is to be seen in the drawing room while Bertie finds himself below stairs - and he doesn't care for it at all.

Love, as so often, is at the root of the confusion. Bertie, you see, has met Georgiana on the Cote d'Azur. And though she is clever and he has a reputation for foolish engagements, it looks as though this could be the real thing. However, Georgiana is the ward of Sir Henry Hackwood and, in order to maintain his beloved Melbury Hall, the impoverished Sir Henry has struck a deal that would see Georgiana becoming Mrs Rupert Venables.

Meanwhile, Peregrine 'Woody' Beeching, one of Bertie's oldest chums, is desperate to regain the trust of his fiancee Amelia, Sir Henry's tennis-mad daughter.

But why would this necessitate Bertie having to pass himself off as a servant when he has never so much as made a cup of tea? Could it be that the ever-loyal, Spinoza-loving Jeeves has an ulterior motive?

Evoking the sunlit days of a time gone by, Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is a delightfully witty story of mistaken identity, a midsummer village festival, a cricket match and love triumphant.


REVIEW:

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks from Random House India in exchange for an honest review. We thank the publishing house for the book! 

I came across Jeeves and the Wedding Bells in the wonderful Literary Blog Hop where it was up for grabs on quite a few blogs. I was lucky enough to win a copy and coincidentally, we even received it for review. For the life of me, I've never read or even thought of reading any P.G. Wodehouse book but I've heard some amazing things about them and do plan to pick at least a book or two sometime. I went into Jeeves and the Wedding Bells without having any idea about how it'd be but excited nonetheless because it sounded pretty interesting. Because I have no previously read P. G. Wodehouse experience to compare  Jeeves and the Wedding Bells to, my review is predominantly going to be about how the latter was for me. 

Honestly, the so to say "classic" or "literary" writing, though very beautiful, is something I find hard to follow and the- and again I say so to say- "old" or "traditional" English way of life, although supremely fascinating, is difficult for me to comprehend. And Jeeves and the Wedding Bells has both those which I found pretty nice and enjoyable but it couldn't hold my attention as it took me a lot of time to read the book. There are many, and I really mean many, many characters in the book which got really confusing at times but the main characters like Wooster from whose point of the view the book goes, Jeeves after whom the book is named and Georgina stood out and the numerous others, while very confusing to keep track of, were wonderfully put down. 

Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is quite an enjoyable read and I found myself laughing more than once at the absurdity of it and above everything else, the book truly amused me and for a first experience, it turned out to be pretty good. Maybe I didn't get the book as a Wodehouse fan would, but I did have a good time whilst reading it. I can say nothing about author Sebastian Faulks' take on a Wodehouse classic, but I have to say that the author's writing is very sharp and his story very entertaining. I enjoyed the references that I could understand and I only wish I'd liked the book more and maybe someday that's very far away when I decide to reread it, I actually will. 

RATING:


5 comments:

  1. I have never heard of this one. It sounds like a truly interesting book but I do get why it took you so long to finish it. Honestly if I weren't for the deadlines it'd probably took me more to finish all the classic I need to. So yeah I mean I do see beauty in it, but the problem is that our life style is more faster and dynamic. Great review, Sarika :)

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    1. Totally, I agree with you hands down. Thank you, Tanja!

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  2. Hey, even I have a really hard time with that kind of writing and English is my first language! It's impressive that you were still suitably entertained by this book despite not always understanding it though!

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    1. Aw, that makes me feel intelligent and smart. Thank you, Aylee!

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  3. Hahaha! Exactly. I feel dumb too especially when literally everyone else loves classics. You can skip this easily but it is pretty funny. Thank you, Aman!

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