LemonSky reviewed The Adventures of Sally by P. G. Wodehouse
Review of 'The Adventures of Sally' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Published in 1922, this is a funny, charming, screwball comedy about a young woman, Sally Nicholas, and her attempts to manage the lives of almost everyone around her. There's her foolish, Flo Ziegfeld-wannabe brother, Fillmore, who has one wild scheme after another; her devoted admirer, Lancelot "Ginger" Kemp, with his flame-red hair, impulsive nature, and knack for losing one job after another; the aging, British expatriate actor, Maxwell Faucitt, whose observations about people are always dead-on; Ginger's rich, unpleasant cousin, Bruce Carmyle; and, my personal favorite, Toto. Not that Toto, but the singularly obnoxious pet of Sally's landlady, Mrs Meecher:
"Like everyone who had ever spent any length of time in the house, she had strong views on Toto. This quadruped, who stained the fame of the entire canine race by posing as a dog, was a small woolly animal with a persistent and penetrating yap.
Oh, does that sound …
Published in 1922, this is a funny, charming, screwball comedy about a young woman, Sally Nicholas, and her attempts to manage the lives of almost everyone around her. There's her foolish, Flo Ziegfeld-wannabe brother, Fillmore, who has one wild scheme after another; her devoted admirer, Lancelot "Ginger" Kemp, with his flame-red hair, impulsive nature, and knack for losing one job after another; the aging, British expatriate actor, Maxwell Faucitt, whose observations about people are always dead-on; Ginger's rich, unpleasant cousin, Bruce Carmyle; and, my personal favorite, Toto. Not that Toto, but the singularly obnoxious pet of Sally's landlady, Mrs Meecher:
"Like everyone who had ever spent any length of time in the house, she had strong views on Toto. This quadruped, who stained the fame of the entire canine race by posing as a dog, was a small woolly animal with a persistent and penetrating yap.
Oh, does that sound familiar!
Sally is a nice girl, though perhaps too unselfish and generous for her own good. She is basically good at running everyone's life but her own. She sees the problems with other people's decisions - most notably those of Fillmore and Ginger - but never her own. She expects the best from people, but is occasionally disappointed in a rather dramatic fashion. Sally goes from one crazy situation to another. It's a wonder she even leaves her home. I don't understand why this wasn't adapted as a screwball comedy in the 1930s. It's a natural for it.
Like others have said, P G Wodehouse has a gift for language. You don't read his books for deeply drawn characters or realistic plots (definitely not!). You read them because they make you laugh. Wodehouse's novels are surefire cure for the glooms.
I have this in both audiobook and ebook form. The audiobook is from LibriVox read by Kara Shallenberg. Ms Shallenberg took some getting use to. She doesn't really differentiate between the characters, male or female, which makes it hard sometimes to figure out who's talking. I also thought Bruce Carmyle's last name was Carlisle until I read the book, due to her pronunciation. However, she grew on me after a while. She sounds quite amused as she's reading the book. The story is told largely from Sally's point of view, and I came to think of Ms Shallenberg's voice as Sally's voice. I also don't believe I would have ever guessed how to pronounce "Scrymgeour."
There are other versions available from Blackstone Audiobooks and AudioGO, though I haven't listened to them.
