Sam the Sudden- A Wodehouse Novel

As is the case with all Wodehouse books, Sam the Sudden is full of delightful misadventures that miraculously come together and make everything right at the end. I like to rate his books based on how hard I laughed while reading them, and this one's a clear winner, people. It's consistent, got a little bit of mystery in it, and promises you at least one giggle per page.



The Story - Sam Shotter is an adorable and whacky young man who's been given the boot from his uncle's import- export business in New York and shipped off to London to work at the Mammoth Publishing Company. A few interesting twists of fate lead him to the house of Miss Kay Derrick, the girl whose photograph Sam has been in love with. He decides to woo her, and becomes her neighbour by leasing the haunted house next door, "Mon Repos".

Contrary to what everyone thinks, Mon Repos isn't haunted - the nighttime noises are the handiwork of a bunch of small time crooks who are searching for stolen treasure that has been buried inside Mon Repos. Now that the house is finally occupied, how will the crooks continue searching for it? Some plan needs to be devised to get access to the house, isn't it! Throw in a pompous Lord Tilbury with all his meddling, fake detectives who're in love with their waxed moustaches, Amy the ferocious-looking but completely harmless dog, Hash and Claire's rocky love story, small time crooks Soapy and Dolly Molloy, and what you get is absolute delight packed in some 100 odd pages. Hard to believe how everything can be set right in so less space, but Wodehouse manages to do it fine.

This book marks the birth of some recurring characters - Chimp Twist, Percy Pilbeam, Soapy Molloy, and then we have Lord Tilbury of Mammoth Publishing House (this one's his second appearance).

Sam the Sudden made me smile when I was down in the dumps, and that's saying something. Makes for a nice weekend read. Go for it.

Trysts with Wodehouse

How exactly do you go about reviewing a Wodehouse novel? No, no, let alone writing a review, how would you even begin to write a summary of the book?! I didn't realize I had such a hard task ahead of me when one day I breezily decided to write about Wodehouse books, one after the other. I started out with Sam The Sudden, my latest read; but days turned to weeks and there I was, staring at the screen, wondering where to begin.



Plots, and sub-plots (and even more mini-plots if that was possible) are all crammed into every book, and, just when you're thinking, hell, no way is all this going to come together and make for a smooth ending, you find yourself staring at the last page wondering how everything could turn out so right.

Gosh, what I wouldn't give to live just one day of my life in Blandings Castle! Perhaps, if I got lucky, I might even get to see the Empress of Blandings in all her fat glory. For those of you that have not been introduced to this lady yet - she's the prize pig of Lord Emsworth, three times winner in the Fat Pigs class at the Shropshire Agriculture Show, hehe.

Wodehouse doesn't need Harry Potter-esque magic in his books to take us all to wonderland - purely out of comic genius he's created a perfect world, a world where summer never ends, a world full of happy endings, a world where Jeeves, Psmith and Lord Emsworth are real. A world of never ending, magical delight.

Let me know people, if you have any personal Wodehouse favorites! Always excited to talk to another fan! As for me, I'll go back to my Sam the Sudden review and try and get to finish it. So long, right ho!