Cocktail Time - P.G. Wodehouse - ★★.½

AUTHOR: P. G. Wodehouse

SERIES: Uncle Fred, #3

GENRE: Classic, Humour

RATING: 2.5 Stars.

In a Nutshell: Not his best by far. But I think I picked this up at the wrong time and hence will cut it some slack.

This is the third book in the Uncle Fred series. A seemingly innocuous Brazil nut aimed at a topper hat results in a controversial book being published, and a whole load of shenanigans resulting around the said book.

Where the book worked for me:

✔ The book did offer me plenty of smiles and laughs.

✔ Typical madcap PGW humour and writing. Loads of classic British fun delivered in a deadpan and sarcastic style.

✔ The repartee between a few of the characters was excellent at time.

✔ Quite a few similies and metaphors in the writing, as is to be expected in PGW’s works. All the analogies are hilarious.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

❌ I was reading this as a BOTM for my bookclub, and hence had to race to complete it. This killed my enjoyment to a great extent, The book would work far better when you read it in a relaxed state of mind.

❌ There's no single dominant character. The action jumps too often across the characters. Because of this narrational relay race, my attention kept zoning out.

❌ Why does Pongo have a barely-there presence in this book?

❌ A condensed version of the story was originally published in the Ladies' Home Journal in April 1958. This story would have worked better as a short story. It is too stretched to justify being a full-length work.

❌ The initial 30-35% captivated me, but I found the book boring after that as it felt like the plot was stuck in the same jokes rather than moving ahead. Only the end redeemed it somewhat.

If you know PGW you know what to expect in the writing style. There are lots of dialogues, many sarcastic remarks disguised as humour, and a meandering plot that comes together only at the end. A fair amount of the content is also outdated and misogynistic, but I won’t judge a classic with contemporary eyes.

I don't think I'll remember this book once I complete this review. And that's its biggest shortcoming for me. It didn't offer long-term satisfaction. It is definitely not his best work, and doesn’t even belong to his best series. Give me Bertie and Jeeves any day over Uncle Fred.

2.5 stars, rounding up as I know I should have picked it up some other time. I love the humour but not the plot.