A brilliant contemporary reimagining of the greatest comic relationship of all time, which goes far beyond pastiche to places even Wodehouse couldn't.
Alan Blair, the hero of Wake Up, Sir!, is a young, loony writer with numerous problems of the mental, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and physical variety. He's very good at problems. But luckily for Alan, he has a personal valet named Jeeves, who does his best to sort things out for his troubled master. And Alan does find trouble wherever he goes. He embarks on a perilous and bizarre road journey, his destination being an artists colony in Saratoga Springs. There Alan encounters a gorgeous femme fatale who is in possession of the most spectacular nose in the history of noses. Such a nose can only lead to a wild disaster for someone like Alan, and Jeeves tries to help him, but. Well, read the book and find out!
Industry Reviews
What ho! A novel inspired by Jeeves and Wooster? First published in the US in 2004, this is the story of Alan Blair an alcoholic American writer with a weakness for British novelists and a host of problems spanning the mental to the spiritual and a very specific sexual fantasy. Fortunately, he has a valet named Jeeves to help when things go awry. But does he even exist? -- Fiona Wilson The Times, Books of the Year It's a Necker Cube of a book in that it can be either extremely funny or extremely sad, depending on the face that presents itself to you as you read (it is of course both, and everyone who bought this book on my recommendation has told me they loved it) -- Nicholas Lezard Guardian Books of the Year This gleefully knowing mash-up of Wodehouse and literary fiction makes me smile every time I remember it -- Nick Curtis Evening Standard Books of the Year 2015 Superb and audacious... the word "hilarious" seems inadequate. The novel is extremely funny but it is also sad and poignant, and almost incredibly clever. -- Nicholas Lezard Guardian A picaresque tale with pratfalls aplenty Tatler Fiendishly funny Esquire A rip roaring delight... A cauldron of wit, myriad themes and hilarity... 'Wake Up, Sir' is a genuinely brilliant novel, a neatly crafted slice of literary chaos with some heart-warming tenderness added to the mix. Huffington Post A bizarre romp Financial Times Too funny for the canon of high literature, the book is too brilliant to be mere diversionary humor New York Press Jonathan Ames has a brilliant way with words and summons the ghost of PG Wodehouse with almost genius (apparent) effortlessness... [he] never, not for one page, forgets to be very, very funny Big Issue It is hard to convey the hilarity of this novel in just a few words... The prose is littered with philosophical musings... There are passages that will have you laughing out loud... A clever and amusing book. BookTrust It's weird, it's clever, it's funny Evening Standard This isn't just an enjoyable pastiche of Wodehouse but also a clever reimagining of his oeuvre in the present day -- Glasgow Herald Ames is every bit the rightful heir to Wodehouse's legacy of razor-sharp turns of phrase and acutely funny social observation... Jonathan Ames has done that rare thing of producing a pastiche that overreaches the status of an imitation -- Imogen West-Knights Quadrapheme Frequently hilarious... Ames's mastery of the Wodehouseian idiom is total; it's hard to believe that Bertie Wooster's legions of admirers won't find much to enjoy here... The best Jeeves and Wooster novel Saul Bellow never wrote Spectator Clever, ingenious and really, really funny Daily Mail Jonathan Ames's latest comic novel is so brilliant and charming that any description of it is bound to be impossibly dull by comparison Seattle Weekly Amid the hilarity [is] a deep pathos... This is an audacious more-than-pastiche New Statesman A Wodehouse novel for the recovery era The New York Times Book Review What do you get when you cross Carry On, Jeeves with Portnoy's Complaint? ... Jonathan Ames's very funny new novel, Wake Up, Sir! Newsday The X-rated Woody Allen Guardian Ames is a remarkable comic writer. He excels at punching out hilarious monologues on subjects ranging from nose fetishes to the planks of Buddhism TimeOut New York Ames is a considerable misanthropic talent, even if he does hail from over the pond. What ho, in all senses of the phrase. -- James Kidd Independent Cause for celebration... As Jeeves himself might prompt Ames, 'Carry on, sir!' Washington Post Pungent and hilarious, if completely off the deep end Kirkus Reviews
