Young Men in Spats

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

In need of some comic relief, I wanted to read through the Uncle Fred stories starting with this, the book in which he first appears. He's only in one of the short stories – “Uncle Fred Flits By” – but that one is a prize of the collection. It's a hilarious episode in which said Uncle Fred (aka the Earl of Ickenham) torments his nephew Pongo (one of the “young men in spats”) by dragging him along as he descends on unsuspecting citizens in a variety of false identities. Further analysis would be useless and only detract from the comic pleasure; read the story and have your funny bone tickled.

The other stories were also entertaining, if you enjoy reading highly verbal comedy mixed with slapstick about feckless young men in England between the wars. Wodehouse is the indisputable master of the genre and this collection is a good sampling of his best stuff.