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A review by yvettekeller
The Coming of Bill by P.G. Wodehouse
4.0
A great, funny book by a great writer, but only if you can overlook the racism, misogyny and eugenics throughout.
This fiction requires more than a suspension of disbelief. It also requires a suspension of modern sensibilities, or at least the ability to acknowledge offense without letting it spoil the fun.
Although eugenics is frequently the butt of the joke, being the antagonist’s goal in the book, it being openly addressed was shocking enough to me to pull me out of the story and put it down. That’s why it took me so long to read the whole thing.
Wodehouse has many many other funny books that are less challenging to the moral stance of the modern reader. Still, this book is sweet, funny, and deeply insightful about relationships and character motivations even while enjoyable plot twists and general hi jinx ensue.
This fiction requires more than a suspension of disbelief. It also requires a suspension of modern sensibilities, or at least the ability to acknowledge offense without letting it spoil the fun.
Although eugenics is frequently the butt of the joke, being the antagonist’s goal in the book, it being openly addressed was shocking enough to me to pull me out of the story and put it down. That’s why it took me so long to read the whole thing.
Wodehouse has many many other funny books that are less challenging to the moral stance of the modern reader. Still, this book is sweet, funny, and deeply insightful about relationships and character motivations even while enjoyable plot twists and general hi jinx ensue.