The Code of the Woosters

When Bertie Wooster and his faithful valet, Jeeves, visit Totleigh Towers, the stately home of Sir Watkyn Bassett, mayhem ensues. Bertie is given several tasks, many of which conflict, including stealing a silver-cow creamer, retrieving a purloined leather-bound notebook, and safeguarding the nuptials of two sets of friends. As is usually the case whenever Bertie Wooster tries to do anything, he finds himself deep in the soup, leaving it up to the clever Jeeves to save his neck. Nicolas Coster has a wonderful voice for reading most of Wodehouse, but not for the "Jeeves" stories, which are narrated in the voice of foppish Bertie Wooster. Coster's slow, deliberate reading style, with its aged rumble and occasional tremolo, does not suit Wooster's youth and lively personality. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

May 28, 2012
Given the scrupulous care Wodehouse gave to plotting his hilarious screwball farces, and the unique narrative voice of his hapless hero, Bertie Wooster, the very notion of an abridged recording of one of his best books will offend purists. But that publishing choice aside, Martin Jarvis—a veteran narrator for this author—is once again outstanding in conveying all the elements that make Wodehouse one of the most memorable writers in all of English literature. Wooster, a well-meaning but clueless member of the British upper class, is once again roped into another harebrained scheme, this time by his Aunt Dahlia. Her deceptively simple request—that he go into an antique shop and “sneer at a cow-creamer”—proves anything but, and listeners will be captivated by the ensuing complications. The rich source material is more than done justice by Jarvis, who lends pitch-perfect, distinct voices to Wooster, Aunt Dahlia, and the omnipotent gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves, who can always be relied upon to extricate Wooster from any mess in which he finds himself stuck.