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Hot Water (2003)

Hot Water (2003)

Book Info

Rating
4.12 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
1585673897 (ISBN13: 9781585673896)
Language
English
Publisher
overlook books

About book Hot Water (2003)

This was my first P.G. Wodehouse novel. It won't be my last but, it might, regardless of the quality of his other stories, be my favorite because of the name that appears on the dedication page. Wodehouse dedicated this story to the actress Maureen O'Sullivan. Unfortunately, today, O'Sullivan is best remembered as the mother of Mia Farrow but, in her prime, she was Jane to Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan and MGM's top ingénue starlet. She emitted a certain romantic vulnerability that attracted the day's top artists to her. F. Scott Fitzgerald professed such admiration for O'Sullivan and revised the script "A Yank at Oxford" to give her part more substance. Erich Maria Remarque too had shown a marked interest. It is easy to see how Wodehouse became so enamored by her. Considering the dedication and the apt character description, one can divine that Jane Opal was based off of her. However, the question remains whether or not Jane Opal's relationship with Blair Eggleston runs parallel with O'Sullivan's relationship with John Farrow. Apparently, on the day O'Sullivan first met Wodehouse, his wife was giving the young actress some "blunt and sensible advice" on a "stormy romance" she was going through. They had an on again-off again relationship until they married in 1936. Farrow was a writer, and although I'm not familiar with any of his work,I know, in some circles, writing an anthology on the papacy might be considered a little highbrow. Blair Eggleston's inherent characteristic was his highbrow writing. Overall I found the book very entertaining. Initially I thought I would eventually confuse situations and characters but Wodehouse does a remarkable job fusing everything together. I do find it remarkable that the Hollywood studio system did not utilize his work more in an age where Screwball comedies were in high demand. MGM could have easily assembled an all-star cast for "Hot Water". Robert Montgomery as Packy, Lionel Barrymore as Senator Opal, Nat Pendleton as Soup Slattery, Guy Kibee as J. Wellington Gedge, Etc....I was disappointed that it never transferred to the screen.

I finally got to read P. G. Wodehouse. The great reviews of other readers had pointed me to the "Jeeves" series of books but I didn't want to start them till I could locate all of them and as yet I haven't. It was certainly no problem finding other titles. The library copy of "Hot Water" that I borrowed listed over 80 of his books on the back cover.The story is set in the seaside town of St. Rocque in France, where a Mr. and Mrs. Gedge have rented the Chateau Blissac and are inviting guests for the weekend. Her intent is to pull some strings and get the powers that be to appoint Mr. Gedge Ambassador to France. Meanwhile, in a bar in town plans are being made by small time thieves to break into the chateau to steal the diamond jewelry Mrs. Gedge keeps in her bedrom safe.What ensues is a comedy of identities. Hardly anyone is who they claim to be and as the motives of one character after another come clear and chance meetings threaten to blow cover stories the plot gets complicated and comical. What begins as a pile of puzzle pieces falls neatly into place creating a clear and tidy picture by the end.Wodehouse's language is great fun to read. Slightly more than tongue-in-cheek and slightly less than sarcastic, it's witty and wry and slightly mad. How satisfying it is to know there are so many of these books to come back to; this is the kind of writing that fits into my "comfort reads" category and it's a rare thing now for me to find anything that qualifies so I'm thrilled with these.I'm pretty sure you've all been reading Wodehouse for years now, but on the off chance you've been living under a rock like me and have missed the fun of these books you should beg, borrow or buy one immediately. They're that good.

Do You like book Hot Water (2003)?

There's very little mystery to the reader of Wodehouse about whether and even how things will be tidied up in the end, but that's not the joy of reading his books. Instead the delight is the rollicking ride he takes you on to get to the finish (which is not without a few surprises). Here our protagonist, Packy, does indeed get himself into some hot water at the Chateau Blissac, where almost everyone is impersonating someone else, and hoax is layered upon hoax, all in the name of altruistic chivalry. This is one of the best Wodehouse I've read so far.
—Dani

It begins simply enough. Mrs. Gedge has guests coming to the French chateau she's renting -- the Vicomte, the son of the landlady, and she has firm instructions to keep him from drink and firm intentions of complaining about the plumbing, and Senator Opal, a firm Dry, whom she intends to persuade to get her husband appointed Ambassador to France. But this is Wodehouse. . . .Two American criminals are hanging out in St. Rocque -- Soup Slattery and Oily Carisle -- and meeting up in a foreign land so has them chatting about their female accomplices who left them, and the prospects in the area. Mr. Gedge (who has no desire to be ambassador) confides in Slattery about how he lost all his money in the crash, so only Mrs. Gedge has it -- plus all the jewelry, worth thousands, that he had bought her before. Meanwhile, a young American millionaire named Packy and Lady Beatrice have become engaged. She gives him firm instructions to stay in London and meet Blair Eggleston, who was, according to the people who mattered, among the most promising writers of his generation. Eggleston himself is engaged to Jane, Senator Opal's daughter. Owing to some contretemps about a barbers' strike and a letter from the Senator to his bootlegger, he sets sail to St. Rocque to help Jane and Eggleston, out of pure sympathy for fellow lovers.It goes on from there, involving a lady's maid who's reading a book about a detective disguised as a lady's maid, catching a burglar and putting him on the window sill until morning, a carnival disguise, Packy getting into the chateau under two separate false pretenses, Soup Slattery's desire to buy a farm, and Senator Opal's getting confused about who his daughter is engaged to. Culminating in one of Wodehouse's glorious complicated and hilarious plots
—Mary Catelli

J. Wellington Gedge hates the chateau in southern France his wife made them rent. He misses his old life back in California but Mrs. Gedge has other plans that involve staying in France. She needs the help of Senator Opal, a teetotal tyrant who tries to bully everyone, including his daughter Jane. Jane is secretly engaged to a penniless novelist her father would never approve of. What happens when Packy Franklyn, ex-Yale football star and bon vivant is let loose in St. Roque without his stuffy fiance? A solution to Jane's problem, a boozy French Viscomte, a couple of crooks and a zany plan that just might work... if everyone plays their role correctly. There is so much going on in this book. It was hard to get into and moved so slowly that I didn't really get into the story until it was almost over. The plot is very similar to early Blandings Castle stories but not quite as well written. It's hard to keep track of who's who and who is pretending to be what and who has which job to do. The story lacks a true screwball scene but has some unexpected plot twists. I wondered which one would prove to be a certain someone but was surprised at who it was. None of the characters are likable except Jane. She refuses to be bullied by her father. She knows her own mind and is determined to do things her way. She doesn't get discouraged or dismal like the Blandings ladies. She's delightful in every scene and there aren't enough of them. In this novel the women are the stronger characters. The men are weak and stupid.
—QNPoohBear

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