Delightful. I enjoyed this more than any of the other Pratchetts I've read so far (admittedly, this was only the third or fourth, lol). The charactersDelightful. I enjoyed this more than any of the other Pratchetts I've read so far (admittedly, this was only the third or fourth, lol). The characters were oodles of fun and the humor was humoring (catch me hooting over "statueskew"). I also liked that the novel took the time to explore the actual, high-stakes implications of a dragon siege, although the graver moments (i.e. when Pratchett tried to extrapolate a serious philosophical commentary on Human Nature™ from the inherently whimsical story) occasionally felt tonally out-of-place. Cool, but out-of-place.
Pratchett's writing style in this particular book is almost identically reminiscent of William Goldman's in The Princess Bride, so reading Guards! Guards! was basically like spending an extended amount of time in that best-beloved of novels, which is an opportunity I'll always appreciate. ;)
P.S. Errol is the Goodest Boi™ and I, too, wish to buy him a squeaky hippo toy which he will inevitably devour....more
He stepped forward. “Can I ask you a question, madam?”
“You may ask me a question,” she corrected, as aunts are contractually obliged.
“Do you believ
He stepped forward. “Can I ask you a question, madam?”
“You may ask me a question,” she corrected, as aunts are contractually obliged.
“Do you believe in God?”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the blood drain so fast from anyone’s face; it was like an avalanche at an abattoir.
“I beg your pardon?”
“God, madam. Are you a fan?”
“A fan? . . . Of the Lord Almighty? . . . How dare you?”
What tremendous fun that was. I liked it much more than Jeeves and the King of Clubs, and perhaps even more than some of the original J&W productions. Jollity and joie de vivre to the appropriate order of Wodehouse, humor and hilarity to rival his own (had me snort-giggling), and enough of a plot to mitigate the risk of boredom that accompanies too much undiluted comedy.
Could have done without the flippancy about potential adultery, but you can’t have everything. My only real qualm (and I’m not committing wholesale to it) is the fact that (view spoiler)[Schott pairs up both Jeeves and Bertie with respective romantic partners at the end. (Point 1) I have always read Bertie as essentially asexual, so giving him romantical flutterings felt a little off. On the other hand, (point 1a) ace people can obviously still want life/romantic partners even if the sexual aspect of such partnerships doesn’t float their boat. And, (point 1b) Iona was splendid and she and Bertie were cute together. As (point 1c) was Jeeve's outrage when finding out that Roderick Spode was sniffing around the apple of his eye. So the jury’s still out as to whether I actually object. But the fact remains that (point 2) executing this pairing, as Schott does, at the very end of the novel (albeit with prior foreshadowing), in a comical cliffhanger, is more than a little unsatisfactory both because of said cliffhanger and because (point 2a) it reads as an attempt to gently and officially “close the book” on the J&W universe – i.e., this is the last any of us will see of these characters, there will be no new adventures forthcoming, they’ll be recessing into the proverbial sunset with their lady loves, etc. – especially as Schott has indicated that he will likely not be writing any more of these pastiches (incidental sad face). Leaving aside the fact that (point 2b) this feels a skosh presumptuous on Schott’s part, (point 2c) I simply dislike the idea of Bertie and Jeeves ever parting company and much prefer to imagine them toddling about on their London-based adventures and wreaking havoc together in celibate perpetuity, ad aeternum. (hide spoiler)]
Still and yet, however, still and yet – we also get to see Bertie introduce Jeeves to the literary goldmine represented by the Hundred Acre Wood, and that's worth my reading time any day of the week.
The "anything that can go wrong does go wrong" plot structure bothered me a little more this time around and as a result the book dra{May 2023 Reread}
The "anything that can go wrong does go wrong" plot structure bothered me a little more this time around and as a result the book dragged, but it's still excessively diverting. :)
{April 2020 Reread}
I still wish the blackface incident wasn't a plot point; but this time, I caught a few phrases that almost made it seem to me as if Wodehouse was using his farce as a subtle way of speaking out against racism.
At any rate, still an indecently fun and funny book. ...more
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