4.5*

Psuke Bariah did a very good narration of this 3rd book in the Psmith series. In this one, Psmith's friend Mike is on the fringes of the story; Mike's cricket team has come to the U.S. and Psmith has accompanied him but is at rather loose ends in New York City while Mike is away playing. He befriends a young newspaper man and gets interested in journalism. While Psmith is his typical self, this entry in the series has more obvious social commentary than most Wodehouse books and less silliness.

I find it a bit sad that many of the problems described in this book still exist over 100 years later -- gangs, slums, corruption... ( )

In the Preface, Wodehouse explains, "Most of the incidents in this story are based on actual happenings." The story is about gangs of New York City, corrupt politicians, slums---in particular one tenement in terrible condition owned by an unknown landlord, attempted murders, attempted bribery, muckraking journalists risking their lives, a boxer, a cowboy, a cat-loving gang leader and some of the usual Wodehouse style.
On the plus side, there is an interracial group of people that work well together; on the negative side, the group is a gang and one of its members is called by the N word, although not usually to his face. Italians also are referred to derogatorily by other characters. These ethnic slurs are now jarring at best; I like to think that Wodehouse was merely trying to show how gang members talk. Certainly he doesn't make them cute and cuddly; well, maybe, except for Bat Jarvis, the cat-loving head of the major gang. ( )

"Billy Windsor had started life twenty-five years before this story opens on his father's ranch in Wyoming. From there he had gone to a local paper of the type whose Society column consists of such items as "Pawnee Jim Williams was to town yesterday with a bunch of other cheap skates. We take this opportunity of once more informing Jim that he is a liar and a skunk," and whose editor works with a revolver on his desk and another in his hip-pocket."

Oh, Wodehouse. You're so quotable. ( )

Psmith, Wodehouse's quintessentially English aesthete, is unleashed in New York City; fish-out-of-water shenanigans in the style of 1980s cinema do not ensue. The fit is awkward and never satisfies as much as Bertie Wooster's later antics in the Big Apple. One feels that Wodehouse wanted a change of scene from the London/country house circuit, but his vision of New York reads somewhat like lesser Damon Runyon. This is still Wodehouse, so it is still excellent, but even Homer nods. ( )

I honestly cannot say that I was overly enthused by this book. While indeed Psmith continues his exploits, and this book sees less of Mike, the exploits in New York are less than fulfilling.

This, in my view, is a bit of a surprise, because PG Wodehouse generally does not fail to deliver the goods.

The book, describing Smith's exploits as a sub-editor seem, to me, to be a little over the top and the end seems to be a bit of an anti-climax. Still, PG was a brilliant writer.... ( )

Psuke Bariah did a very good narration of this 3rd book in the Psmith series. In this one, Psmith's friend Mike is on the fringes of the story; Mike's cricket team has come to the U.S. and Psmith has accompanied him but is at rather loose ends in New York City while Mike is away playing. He befriends a young newspaper man and gets interested in journalism. While Psmith is his typical self, this entry in the series has more obvious social commentary than most Wodehouse books and less silliness.

I find it a bit sad that many of the problems described in this book still exist over 100 years later -- gangs, slums, corruption... ( )

Bit different, this one. First time I'd ever read a Wodehouse story and wondered if someone was going to get killed along the way. ( )

This third installment of Psmith’s life and times takes him to America, where he takes up the
temporary job of “Cosy Moments’” subeditor whilst dodging bullets from members of various gangs,
who dislike certain articles printed in said newspaper.

Must say, this isn’t one of PG Wodehouse’s finest tomes, but was still worth checking out. Like with
the second book featuring Psmith (“Psmith in the City”), this third one doesn’t live up to the
entertainment value as displayed in the first novel (“Mike”).

While in “Mike” Psmith was by far the most amusing character, in the two subsequent works he
becomes less funny and more annoying, mainly through too many overlong monologues. These
elongated speeches lose some of the sharp wit apparent in “Mike”.

That said, he’s still the best character in the tale, just not up the high standard of his first appearance. ( )

While visiting New York, Englishman Psmith meets young Billy Windsor, who has just been left in charge of Cosy Moments, a sentimental little paper with a small readership. With both the owner and editor away for weeks, Psmith steps in and persuades Billy to give the paper a complete overhaul, doing away with the coziness and instead focusing on investigative journalism and boxing stories. By publishing a series of articles about the conditions of a particular tenement slum, the two writers bring themselves into a gang war and are targets for multiple murder attempts, but Psmith never loses his cheerful manner and verbosity. ( )

New York turn of ðe century gangs & ſlums under an Engliſh eye. A few Deus ex machina ſituations, but quite enternatainiŋ & even informative. ( )

I like the Psmith books of Wodehouse and wish there were more of them.

This one even has a bit of conscience attached to it.

All of it is of course improbable ( not impossible! as Psmith is wont to explain)

Well worth reading, particularly when in New York, as I happened to be ( having picked up this book amongst others to take on holiday, only to be pleasantly amused to find that the story is set in NY, though of a time a hundred years in the past....)

Big Ship
27 December 2014 ( )

Good jolly story. ( )

Psmith journalist is an odd item in the Wodehouse canon. During a summer in New York, Psmith becomes a temporary employee of a New York weekly and he becomes involved in trying to right social ills in the face of resistance from New York's criminal element. Because it's Wodehouse, the story is mostly played for laughs and Wodehouse has fun creating a cat-loving tough and some other varied bad guys, but it's somewhat odd finding a social conscience in the midst of Wodehouse's usual foolery. ( )

Psmith travels to New York, latches on at Cozy Moments, a sleepy little weekly, and transforms it into a muck-raking, philo-pugilistic scandal sheet. It’s all great fun, with the usual high-jinks all around, but also a measure of actual commentary on the social ills of the day, i.e. life in the Big Apple’s notorious tenements and threats from gangland thugs. ( )

Psmith, Action Hero!: Readers of Psmith's previous adventures (Mike and Psmith, Psmith in the City) will appreciate Psmith's adventures in darkest New York. Wodehouse limbers up his dese, dems, and doses as he introduces us to "Bat" Jarvis and his gang of lowlifes, with whom Psmith interacts in an amusing manner-- even, at times, becoming strenuous in his defense of justice and his own corpus! Psmith bonking miscreants over the head with a stick? Yes! Psmith disarming pistol-wielding evil-doers? Yes! And along the way, much of the artful and absurdly witty banter that Psmith and Wodehouse specialize in is served up in heaping dollops. Enjoy!