The Luck of the Bodkins

I wasn't sure about this book. My first impression was that it was a book about the trivial antics of a small group of upper-class twits trapped in each other's company on a transatlantic voyage; and indeed that's what it is.

As I got further into it, I realized that the characters were going through a whole series of contortions to try to get out of their various problems, and each time landing themselves deeper in embarrassment and what they would see as trouble. Some people find this sort of thing amusing; I tend to find it rather painful.

However, I have to admit that the book rather redeems itself with a rousing finale in which everyone miraculously gets out of trouble after all, and they all at least have a chance to live happily ever after. This is the kind of ending that endears a book to me; it leaves me in a good frame of mind.

So, overall, I give this book a pass and concede that I quite like it. The twists of the plot are neatly done and some of the characters are quite well drawn. If you have an interest in the American film industry of the 1930s, there is some possibly amusing commentary about it here (Wodehouse was acquainted with it from the inside).