THE MAN UPSTAIRS AND OTHER STORIES

That most active of Wodehouse's audio interpreters, Frederick Davidson, takes microphone in hand and reads a group of the master's pre-WWI stories. This was an early stage of Wodehouse's long career, and the stories, while timelessly funny, are less lively than his later works, such as the Jeeves and Bertie masterpieces. Davidson has his usual trouble with young female characters; he’s seemingly unable to render them other than brainless, breathy nitwits. But there’s usually only one such character in each story, so he gets away with it. His overall narrative voice is wry, British and almost drawling, and one supposes that this is pretty much how Wodehouse himself would sound. D.R.W. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]