Do Butlers Burgle Banks

By P.G. Wodehouse

Book Overview

Do Butlers Burgle Banks? features the hither to fortunate owner of Bond’s Bank, who find himself in a spot of trouble so serious that he wants someone to burgle the bank before the trustees inspect... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140050361
• ISBN13: 9780140050363
• Release Date: November 1991
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.4" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

On the Tried and Tired Side

The then 87-year-old Wodehouse still had six years of life and writing ahead, but his age does show in this slight, breezy escapade mixing rather cliched Chicago gangsters with their more refined though no less amoral criminal counterparts across the pond. Though Plum lived many years in the USA, he never managed Yankee dialogue convincingly; on the few occasions here when he attempts it, it glares. Other shortcomings include his relatively weak characterizations of what should be pretty interesting characters, like Mike the reluctant heir to a troubled bank, and his loving wife-to-be, Jill. They are etched with a vagueness that the author would have eschewed in prior years. Also, their willingness to engage in clearly criminal activity to rescue the bank from insolvency makes them somewhat less sympathetic than they ought to be. The ending is rushed and unsatisfying, smacking of a looming deadline. Still, there is some fun to be had; you could do worse on a warm summer day at the beach than peruse Do Butlers Burgle Banks.

A Gentle Classic

A gentle beautiful fantasy of a book. It's been claimed that Wodehouse is somewhat lacking in variety that if you've read one you've read them all. This book argues against that there is all the feeling and romance that anyone could ask for it is warm witty and wonderful, it maybe lacks the comfortability of a Jeeves or Blandings story or the freshness of Laughing Gas but it is still absolutely brilliant.

Mental Twinkies

A true Wodehousian romance, complete with chivalrous gangsters, plucky young women and feisty older ones, bank robbers "getting religion," and pious Scotland Yarders getting their comeuppance. A soothing little snack for the mind.

More Wodehouse silliness--without Jeeves!

To those readers of Wodehouse stuck only on Bertie & Jeeves, I urge you to explore further with this tale. Gently satirical, romantic, timeless, and, of course, complexly and predictably plotted, with the usual dose of P.G.'s silliness. Who needs more? An enjoyable read.