P.G. Wodehouse
The Authorized Biography
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Frederick Davidson
About this listen
But what of their creator, Pelham Greville Wodehouse, whose 93 years produced a volume of work "unsurpassed in the history of literature"? Was he really a traitor to his country who broadcast dangerous propaganda from Germany during the war? And how can this be squared with the immensely lovable figure of "Plum" upon whom the Queen bestowed a knighthood in 1975?
In researching this authorized, definitive biography, Frances Donaldson was given unique access to Wodehouse's most important private papers, including the notebooks he kept during the sad episode of his internment during the Second World War. She also, for the first time, puts his beliefs, his writings, and his actions into the full context of the rest of his life.
Lucidly and evocatively written, yet meticulously detailed, P.G. Wodehouse is a thought-provoking biography of an intriguing and widely misunderstood man. It is the benchmark of biographical writing against which recent literary biographies have had to be measured.
©1982 Frances Donaldson (P)1998 Blackstone AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Something New
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, we have a glorious ensemble of Woodhousian characters knocking elbows to foreheads in the elegant and grand Blandings Castle. Meet Freddy Threepwood, the vagrant son of doddering old Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. Freddy has recently become engaged to Aline Peters, the American heiress of an irascible father. The snag is that Freddy seems to have at one point become enamored of a struggling actress, Joan Valentine, and written some impetuous and imprudent letters to her.
-
-
Same book as Something Fresh
- By customer on 03-07-15
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
Love Among the Chickens
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Love Among the Chickens" is a comedic novel by British master of the genre, P. G. Wodehouse. The novel is narrated by Jeremy Garnet, an author and old friend of Ukridge. Seeing Ukridge for the first time in years, with a new wife in tow, Garnet finds himself dragged along on holiday to Ukridge's new chicken farm in Dorset. The novel intertwines Garnet's difficult wooing of a girl living nearby with the struggles of the farm, which are exacerbated by Ukridge's bizarre business ideas and methods.
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Man Born to Be King
- A BBC Radio 4 Drama Collection
- By: Dorothy L. Sayers
- Narrated by: full cast, Gabriel Woolf, John Westbrook, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothy L. Sayers was best known for her mystery novels featuring aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. But she was also a poet, playwright and committed Christian, and in The Man Born to Be King, she combined art and evangelism to powerful effect, making the story of Christ accessible, relevant and every bit as thrilling as her detective fiction.
-
-
I would like a bit less dynamic range
- By Adam Shields on 02-23-23
-
Money in the Bank
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Uffenham, the eccentric sixth viscount of Uffenham, has just converted the family fortune into diamonds - and stashed them away in a secret hiding place. But as luck would have it, an unfortunate car accident soon thereafter causes him to forget the jewels' location. In order to recover the gems, he must let out his estate, Shipley Hall, to big-game hunter Clarissa Cork and return posing as the butler, Cakebread.
-
-
A weaker version of "Cocktail Time"
- By Captain Wafer on 01-29-21
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Luck of the Bodkins
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Monty Bodkin loves Gertrude, who thinks he likes Lotus Blossom, a starlet who definitely adores Ambrose, who thinks that she has a thing for his brother, Reggie, who is struck by Mabel Spence, sister-in-law of Ikey Llewellyn (movie mogul, Ambrose’s prospective employer and reluctant smuggler), but hasn’t the means to marry her. With well-meaning but unhelpful ship’s steward Albert Peasemarch and a toy mouse thrown in for good measure, it will take the luck of the Bodkins to sort it all out.
-
-
There's No Longer a Serious Gap in this Recording
- By John on 01-12-13
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Best of Jeeves and Wooster
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Kevin Theis
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Collected here are eleven of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster short stories (comprising all of the Jeeves tales from "Carry On, Jeeves" and "My Man Jeeves") as well as the complete novels Right Ho, Jeeves and The Inimitable Jeeves. Along with Jeeves and Bertie, we are introduced to an entire cast of beloved Wodehouse characters: Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Bingo Little, James "Corky" Corcoran, Tuppy and Honoria Glossop, Rockmetteller Todd, and the terrifying and bombastic Aunt Agatha.
-
-
Icky, Icky, Icky Pooh
- By Cenobite on 06-20-22
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
Something New
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, we have a glorious ensemble of Woodhousian characters knocking elbows to foreheads in the elegant and grand Blandings Castle. Meet Freddy Threepwood, the vagrant son of doddering old Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. Freddy has recently become engaged to Aline Peters, the American heiress of an irascible father. The snag is that Freddy seems to have at one point become enamored of a struggling actress, Joan Valentine, and written some impetuous and imprudent letters to her.
-
-
Same book as Something Fresh
- By customer on 03-07-15
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
Love Among the Chickens
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Love Among the Chickens" is a comedic novel by British master of the genre, P. G. Wodehouse. The novel is narrated by Jeremy Garnet, an author and old friend of Ukridge. Seeing Ukridge for the first time in years, with a new wife in tow, Garnet finds himself dragged along on holiday to Ukridge's new chicken farm in Dorset. The novel intertwines Garnet's difficult wooing of a girl living nearby with the struggles of the farm, which are exacerbated by Ukridge's bizarre business ideas and methods.
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Man Born to Be King
- A BBC Radio 4 Drama Collection
- By: Dorothy L. Sayers
- Narrated by: full cast, Gabriel Woolf, John Westbrook, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothy L. Sayers was best known for her mystery novels featuring aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. But she was also a poet, playwright and committed Christian, and in The Man Born to Be King, she combined art and evangelism to powerful effect, making the story of Christ accessible, relevant and every bit as thrilling as her detective fiction.
-
-
I would like a bit less dynamic range
- By Adam Shields on 02-23-23
-
Money in the Bank
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Uffenham, the eccentric sixth viscount of Uffenham, has just converted the family fortune into diamonds - and stashed them away in a secret hiding place. But as luck would have it, an unfortunate car accident soon thereafter causes him to forget the jewels' location. In order to recover the gems, he must let out his estate, Shipley Hall, to big-game hunter Clarissa Cork and return posing as the butler, Cakebread.
-
-
A weaker version of "Cocktail Time"
- By Captain Wafer on 01-29-21
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Luck of the Bodkins
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Monty Bodkin loves Gertrude, who thinks he likes Lotus Blossom, a starlet who definitely adores Ambrose, who thinks that she has a thing for his brother, Reggie, who is struck by Mabel Spence, sister-in-law of Ikey Llewellyn (movie mogul, Ambrose’s prospective employer and reluctant smuggler), but hasn’t the means to marry her. With well-meaning but unhelpful ship’s steward Albert Peasemarch and a toy mouse thrown in for good measure, it will take the luck of the Bodkins to sort it all out.
-
-
There's No Longer a Serious Gap in this Recording
- By John on 01-12-13
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Best of Jeeves and Wooster
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Kevin Theis
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Collected here are eleven of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster short stories (comprising all of the Jeeves tales from "Carry On, Jeeves" and "My Man Jeeves") as well as the complete novels Right Ho, Jeeves and The Inimitable Jeeves. Along with Jeeves and Bertie, we are introduced to an entire cast of beloved Wodehouse characters: Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Bingo Little, James "Corky" Corcoran, Tuppy and Honoria Glossop, Rockmetteller Todd, and the terrifying and bombastic Aunt Agatha.
-
-
Icky, Icky, Icky Pooh
- By Cenobite on 06-20-22
By: P. G. Wodehouse
Related to this topic
-
Booked for the Holidays
- By: Liz Maverick
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky, Andrew Eiden
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year. When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.
-
-
What a gem!
- By Joanna N. on 11-14-24
By: Liz Maverick
-
George Orwell’s 1984
- An Audible Original adaptation
- By: George Orwell, Joe White - adaptation
- Narrated by: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
-
-
A Revelation!
- By wotsallthisthen on 04-07-24
By: George Orwell, and others
-
Dead Med
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso, Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs. But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.
-
-
Hmm
- By Morgan Meaux on 08-22-24
By: Freida McFadden
-
Holiday Hideaway
- A Short Story
- By: Mary Kay Andrews
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.
-
-
I ain’t afraid of no ghosts
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 10-31-24
By: Mary Kay Andrews
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Fred271 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
Mr. and Mrs. Christmas
- By: Michelle Stimpson
- Narrated by: Marcella Cox, Ian Hackney
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.
-
-
Loved the book!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-15-24
-
Booked for the Holidays
- By: Liz Maverick
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky, Andrew Eiden
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year. When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.
-
-
What a gem!
- By Joanna N. on 11-14-24
By: Liz Maverick
-
George Orwell’s 1984
- An Audible Original adaptation
- By: George Orwell, Joe White - adaptation
- Narrated by: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
-
-
A Revelation!
- By wotsallthisthen on 04-07-24
By: George Orwell, and others
-
Dead Med
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso, Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs. But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.
-
-
Hmm
- By Morgan Meaux on 08-22-24
By: Freida McFadden
-
Holiday Hideaway
- A Short Story
- By: Mary Kay Andrews
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.
-
-
I ain’t afraid of no ghosts
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 10-31-24
By: Mary Kay Andrews
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Fred271 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
Mr. and Mrs. Christmas
- By: Michelle Stimpson
- Narrated by: Marcella Cox, Ian Hackney
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.
-
-
Loved the book!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-15-24
-
Technically Speaking
- By: Michael Elliot
- Narrated by: Coco Jones, Keith Powers, Queen Latifah, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 50 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oakland-bred LaVeesha “Vee” Gilliam (Coco Jones) is a determined single mother of an autistic son and a gifted aspiring coder. When Vee loses her job as a food-services worker at the onsite restaurant at Grapengine, a large Silicon Valley tech company, she’s unable to pay for her son’s much-needed specialized education. By a twist of fate, mistaken identity, and her tech skills, Vee meets Troy Wilson (Keith Powers), the company’s wealthy founder and CEO and a wunderkind in the tech industry, who believes that Vee is a college-educated techie who works at his company.
-
-
Overdue Diverse Representation in Tech!
- By Jatai Pollock on 09-26-24
By: Michael Elliot
-
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
-
-
Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
-
Fahrenheit 451
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
-
-
Wish I Hadn't Cliff Noted This in High School
- By Joel on 03-27-17
By: Ray Bradbury
-
Brain Damage
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Charly struggles to recover from her brain injury, she begins to realize that the events of that fateful night are trapped in the damaged right side of her brain. Now, she must put the jigsaw pieces together to discover the identity of the man who tried to kill her...before he finishes the job he started.
-
-
Who Else Laughed, Cried, and Shuddered?
- By Jennifer Chichester on 09-16-22
By: Freida McFadden
-
Starship Troopers
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.
-
-
The definitive version!
- By Kristopher G. Hesson on 10-03-24
-
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story
- By: Christopher Golden, Amber Benson
- Narrated by: Amber Benson, Charisma Carpenter, James Charles Leary, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Original cast members from the beloved TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reunite for an all-new adventure about connections that never die—even if you bury them. A decade has passed since the epic final battle that concluded Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The game-changing spell that gave power to all potential Slayers persists. With new Slayers constantly emerging, things are looking grim for the bad guys.
-
-
A dream come true
- By Anonymous User on 10-12-23
By: Christopher Golden, and others
What listeners say about P.G. Wodehouse
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Seanna
- 04-16-21
Very focused on wartime broadcasts
Although Wodehouse’s wartime broadcasts were the most significant event of his life and certainly shouldn’t be overlooked, I would have liked more about the times in which he lived. Written by a friend of the family, the book narrates the events of Plum’s life and analyzes his books, but gives no sense of, say, the New York theatre scene of the 1920s.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 02-13-22
A wonderful account that helps one to appreciate this gifted creator even more!!!
Wodehouse books are such a perfect diversion to keep ones mind in a sunny place!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M.Biblioswine
- 07-09-20
Nicely done, I suppose
Nicely done, I suppose. The book is nicely written but doesn’t grab me. The reading performance was professional and skillful in many ways. But, it constantly irritates me. I recommend the book because I recognize it’s good qualities and because it is the only biography Audible offers on P.G. Wodehouse.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gretchen
- 05-17-23
Fascinating biography
Fascinating biography by a friend of Wodehouse's family. It's a bit quirky and idiosyncratic for a biography, but that's what makes it interesting. The narrator's exaggerated vocalizing is more than a little hard to get past, but i pressed through , got used to it and was glad because i enjoyed the book so much.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 05-15-12
An Appreciative Official Biography of Plum
What did you love best about P.G. Wodehouse?
Well read, fairly honest in its enthusiasm for Wodehouse, and surprisingly objective when it comes to the troublesome aspects of P.G.'s character and difficult periods of his life. The author was a friend of the family who knew PGW, and was also the daughter and biographer of playwright Frederick Lonsdale. This book makes a nice compliment to Robert McCrum's definitive biography of a few years ago. It does provide some greater detail to Plum's interment during WWII, including some lengthy excerpts of his camp journals, and does provide a longer treatment of this period, perhaps more artfully summarized in McCrum's book.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
There is an almost chronological review of PGW's writing and some commentary on books other than those most currently remembered (the Jeeves and Bertie series and the Blandings Castle stories).
Which character – as performed by Frederick Davidson – was your favorite?
Ms. Donaldson provides an objective, "insiders" view of PGW, and if she is forgiving of his eccentricities, she does deal with them in an objective, if generally sympathetic manner. The unfortunate episode and its aftermath does cast a kind of pall on the book, which is perhaps proportionate to its impact in PGW's life. But overall, Ms. Donaldson conveys the charmed life of a gifted and rightly celebrated writer. Because of the author's obvious affection for her subject, she does take the time and effort to go through the entirety of his career, including his work for the stage which is sometimes given short shrift.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Like most of the Wodehouse audible releases, the performance is terrific, particularly when reciting excerpts from the Master's work. It was a bit strange at first, to hear a male voice narrating a book authored by a woman, but this worked as well, since there is a lot of recitation from PGW's work and his private correspondences.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary Anne Miller
- 09-23-21
very enjoyable
I skipped through some long parts, but really enjoyed it and learned alot about P.G.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jaded Buddha
- 02-23-24
Reader is unbearably humorless and pompous
I am a huge PG Wodehouse fan. I read his books over and over, always delighted by his comic writing. Yet I cannot get through more than 10 minutes at a time of this audio biography due to the appalling affect of the reader. Davidson is grating, unlikeable, and off putting. I would greatly prefer a robot reader to this disgraceful performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- BookFan
- 10-11-23
Enjoyable for Wodehouse fans
By the end of the book, I felt I had a sense of Wodehouse’s personality, not merely the facts of his life. The book ends abruptly with his death which felt unsatisfactory as I was curious about his wife’s life afterwards. Maybe I just didn’t want the story to end. I think this book will be most satisfactory to those who have read a good deal of P. G. Wodehouse’s writings and are familiar with English authors. A lot of time was spent on the war time, broadcasts and the aftermath, but that seems appropriate because that episode colored his life forever after. The results of this book will be to whet your appetite for reading and rereading his books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James W. Van Scoyoc
- 05-18-21
Disappointing.
This book seems to breeze through the author's youth and beginnings as a writer, and is devoid of the humor found in other Wodehouse biographies. The story first two decades of Wodehouse's life were told so briefly that the book had the feeling of an abridged work. So much so, in fact, that I checked to see if it was an abridged production. (It isn't.)
Overall, I do not recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 09-09-20
A Personal Take Rather Than a Scholarly Biography
According to Donaldson, works I esteem (A Gentleman of Leisure) fail to make “the first rank of the novels”; characters I should have shunned (Ukridge) I love; other characters I prize as exemplary effusions of the Master’s genius (Psmith) stand revealed as atypical impediments to Wodehouse’s development. A novel I adore (The Girl on the Boat) is really, “…one of the most unsatisfactory of all…with a slow-moving plot and not very much humor”. It’s embarrassing, like being caught using the fish fork for the entrée. One simply doesn’t know where to look.
But then, this is the work of a biographer who sat down and, it seems from her own testimony, plowed through Wodehouse’s more than 90 books, in order of publication, and then delivered her personal responses to them. A somewhat chatty, anecdotal book, I found very few instances of an insight that unlocked a deeper understanding of the man or his works. For that, you need to go to Robert McCrum's superb biography, Wodehouse: A Life (alas, not on Audible but a great paper-and-ink read).
Donaldson’s position as “authorized” biographer should prepare us for sympathetic treatment of her subject, and she handles the biggest mistake of Wodehouse’s life, the Berlin broadcasts, with even-handed intelligence. But it’s also the only period of his life she treats at length, and with some sense of chronology, giving an overall impression of lopsidedness. However, the scanty, debatable literary analysis remains the largest fly in this ointment. Frederick Davidson, one of my favorite readers of Wodehouse, does his usual superb job.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful