Book Review - The Man with two left feet and other stories (P.G. Wodehouse)

All this while, I regarded Wodehouse as the master of gentle, matter-of-fact, stiff-upper-lippy humor. I've read many of his Jeeves and Blandings offerings and every single one of them has left me in splits. The man has a way with words.

At this moment, I'm amazed and happy in equal measure to find that (unbeknown to me) Wodehouse possesses other dimensions to his writing - oh praise the lord! I had a major Wodehouse phase a few years back when all I read was one Jeeves story after the other and he managed to keep the humor going throughout. I think I'm ready to have another one. Some of the stories in this book so elegantly describe the feelings of love and romance and the matters of the heart, that all you can do is put down your beer and mentally applaud the master.

After the first few stories, I was disappointed that this book was not turning out to be as funny as the previous ones I'd read, but then I stopped looking for Jeeves-esque humor and enjoying the stories for what they were - and then as they say - magic happened. The latter half of the book has a few stories, which primarily talk about younglings ensnared by love and how things sort themselves out in the end, as they always do in the Wodehouse world. Books and Movies provide us with ample cases of elaborate, embellished, grandiose expressions of being in love, whether it be the resplendent words of the author, or the ostentatious displays of affection in the moving pictures. Meister Wodehouse has presented such a lightness of touch with his words, that its amazing to think how much he can convey with such simple turn of phrase. For all the intense emotions that love can generate, the master has done a stellar job at putting them out without excessively garnishing his words. 

Overall, the book remains true to the Wodehousian philosophy of things working out, on their way to a sweet, happy ending. The introduction for this book quotes the phrase - "God's in his heaven, and all is good with the world" No better way to summarize this book. Hallelujah!

Goodreads page for the book