3.5*

While I don't like Wodehouse's school stories as much as either the Jeeves or Blandings ones (too much cricket for this American), I thought this one was better than average.

My Kindle edition is actually from Project Gutenberg:
http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/6985 ( )

Wodehouse's second novel, and his first to take a decidedly comic slant. This is still a school story, with large chunks of the second half taken up by cricket games that mean very little to me, unfortunately. In the intervening year between The Pothunters and this novel, though, Wodehouse has clearly been praised for his dry turn of phrase; the tone feels more familiar, with at least some of the dry, ironic observation that peppers his later work.

The "Prefect's Uncle" of the title is the most Wodehousian invention, in the most Wodehousian plotline—so it's a shame that it basically fizzles away right at the middle of the book. He hasn't quite learned to balance the different elements of his plot, and there are still too many characters, but...he's getting there. ( )

Before Jeeves and Wooster, there was the boy’s life, and the young Wodehouse explored the world of boys for boys in books such as this. The title refers to an absurdity that could have been the pretext for a Gilbert and Sullivan opera: a new boy arrives at a public school (English = private school, American). Unexpectedly, he turns out to be the uncle of one of the school’s shining lights, “Bishop” Gethryn, in his final year and a prefect (English = dorm monitor, American). The new boy’s distinction is that of having been sent down by three other schools. After this career, his arrival at Beckford gives the reader an indication of where this school might rank in the world of education. The new boy, Farnie, shows no inclination to mend his ways nor to show the deference that the bishop expects. Part of Farnie’s reasoning might have been that one does not defer to one’s nephew, no matter how much older or distinguished.
This soon leads to the near ruination of the bishop’s school career, forcing him to disappear during an inter-school cricket match. His school’s unexpected loss can be plausibly tied to the bishop’s disappearance. A worse form of humiliation, and the subsequent shunning he endures, can not be imagined. Not even the fate of two of his fellow pupils, caught in flagrant plagiarism, rivals it.
This book shows its author to be on his way to developing the wry humor that makes his mature (with Wodehouse, one is tempted to place that adjective in quotation marks) work so enjoyable. There are many laughs. For me, the loudest was evoked by the description of the ineffectual headmaster, whose “spirit was willing, but his will was not spirited.”
That Wodehouse had not yet fully mastered his trade is shown in his handling of characters. Another new boy, Wilson, arrives simultaneously and makes an even bigger first impression (on the eye and nose of a would-be ragger) than does Farnie, but quickly becomes tamed as the fag (English = gofer, American) of the bishop’s roommate, Marriott. Farnie, meanwhile, disappears from the book after derailing the bishop’s life. We only hear from him again at the end, when we learn that he withdraws at the end of the term. His next step on the decline of his education will be in France. It seems disjointed that the figure who serves as the title’s subject should turn out to have been no more than a plot device.
This was my first experience with an audiobook, a Librivox product that I accessed through Project Gutenberg. A worthy project, Librivox makes out-of-copyright books available in audio form. This one was created by four or five different volunteers; understandably, their skill at reading varied. Overall, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment, other than the one narrator who seems convinced that something that can’t be avoided is inexcapable.
All in all, an enjoyable way to pass a few hours of enforced immobility. ( )

While I don't like Wodehouse's school stories as much as either the Jeeves or Blandings ones (too much cricket for this American), I thought this one was better than average. ( )

Much of the book consists of play-by-play descriptions of cricket games. But there is an amazing prank described in Wodehouse's inimitable (if that's the word I want) style :

...On the following morning, more by design than accident, Farnie upset an inkpot. Mr Smith observed icily that unless the stain was wiped away before the beginning of afternoon school, there would be trouble. Fannie observed (to himself) that there would be trouble in any case, for he had hit upon the central idea for the most colossal 'rag' that, in his opinion, ever was. After morning school he gathered the form around him, and disclosed his idea. The floor of the form-room, he pointed out, was some dozen inches below the level of the door. Would it not be a pleasant and profitable notion, he asked, to flood the floor with water to the depth of those dozen inches? On the wall outside the form-room hung a row of buckets, placed there in case of fire, and the lavatory was not too far off for practical purposes. Mr Smith had bidden him to wash the floor. It was obviously his duty to do so. The form thought so too. For a solid hour, thirty weary by enthusiastic reprobates laboured without ceasing, and by the time the bell rang all was prepared. The floor was one still, silent pool. Two caps and a few notebooks floated sluggishly on the surface, relieving the picture of any tendency to monotony. The form crept silently to their places along the desks. As Mr Smith's footsteps were heard approaching, they began to beat vigorously upon the desks, with the result that Mr Smith, quickening his pace, dashed into the form-room at a hand gallop. The immediate results were absolutely satisfactory, and if matters subsequently (when Mr Smith, having changed his clothes, returned with the Headmaster) did get somewhat warm for the thirty criminals, they had the satisfying feeling that their duty had been done, and a hearty and unanimous vote of thanks was passed to Farnie. [pp. 36-37] ( )