Nov 10, 2017 05:16 PM
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(Updated Nov 10, 2017 05:25 PM)
Monty and Gertrude always seem to have troubles in paradise,
Will the night of doubt be dispersed and the morning of confidence ever rise?
Assurances and pacifications seem to stand to no avail,
In the end, will the good luck of the Bodkins stand proudly and prevail?
Plot: 3 heroes and 3 heroines with their tangled love stories just about sums up the overall script!
Monty Bodkin, an amiable, simple and handsome young fellow, is engaged to be married to pretty Gertrude. She is a renowned hockey player. However, his love story always seems to be on the rocks since Gertrude is quite suspicious of his loyalty towards her. The moment the misunderstandings are sorted out after a million assurances from Monty, love starts blooming in the air for them. However, there is always some new suspicion raising its ugly head just around each corner.
Famous Hollywood actress Miss Lotus Blossom is vivacious and pretty. True to her glamorous on-screen persona, Miss Blossom is way too ‘friendly’ off-screen too with anyone who gets acquainted with her. She is engaged to the amateur author Mr. A. Tennyson who is disciplined, serious and suave. The 3rd hero is Mr. R. Tennyson. Any Wodehouse fan can infer that, due to the common last name, mistaken identities and misunderstandings are a prime ingredient in this humorous omnibus.
All these people are traveling by a ship starting from Canne. Each one on board has his/her own agenda of travel but, towards the end, all agendas go topsy-turvy and they are trying to achieve seemingly impossible goals!
There are little rivers of independent stories that get intertwined and merged to form a wonderful, vast ocean in the end. One of the independent stories is particularly my favorite. It is about the Hollywood motion picture magnet Ivor Llewellyn. He, as per the author, is quite fat and ‘has 3 chins that have a tendency to merge into one when shocked’! He is terrified of 2 diverse sets of people - customs officers and his wife. So when his wife orders him to smuggle a valuable pearl necklace by hiding it in his hat, he agonizes at the notion of committing a crime right under the nose of the local customs official. Between the devil and deep sea, how will he escape?
As expected from vintage PGW, there is witty dialog, cringe-worthy disasters, laughable misinterpretations and hilarious coincidences in each of the love stories. Will the luck of Bodkins sail the ship of love to the shore safely ensuring a happy ending?
Quotes:
“How did you break up with her.”
“I will tell you everything from the beginning, skipping early childhood, of course.”
“O for heaven’s sake. You have the most infernal habit when anyone says the simplest thing to you, of letting your lower jaw drop and looking like a half-witted sheep staring over a fence.”
"Suddenly, he shot up like a young Fakir with sensitive skin making acquaintance with his first bed of spikes."
"As mentioned in the advertisement, this will make a week old corpse spring and dance the karaoke."
My Opinion:
It took me about 4 hearings of the first two chapters till I figured out how many people were actually there. I guess this is a disadvantage of listening to audiobooks. As they say, “Books are the objects that have the best playback button.” However, as I got to the point where I sorted out the characters in my head, the journey through the book was thoroughly enjoyable. This one deserves 5 stars without a shred of doubt.
