Bachelors Anonymous [Paperback]

Now, Llewellyn is a single again, and his divorce lawyer is trying to help him avoid another disaster. Mr. Ephraim Trout of Trout, Wapshott and Edelstein tells Llewellyn that Trout has avoided matrimony by relying on a little circle of friends that call themselves Bachelors Anonymous, an organization inspired by the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. They dissuade their fellows from proposing when the urge strikes and sometimes even take stronger action.

But Llewellyn is about to go to London where there is no such organization. Trout proposes that he introduce Llewellyn to a law firm there in order to find a lawyer to play that role. Llewellyn agrees.

At the same time, the imperious Vera Dalrymple is in the process of ruining a new play, Cousin Angela, for its playwright, Joe Pickering. Inadvertently, Joe makes a good impression on Llewellyn by tossing him from the stage door when he arrives ready to propose to Vera. So through his lawyer friend, Joe gets the job of protecting Llewellyn from proposals.

But there's a complication, Joe has become smitten with a remarkable young woman, Miss Sally Fitch. Her life has taken a turn for the better when she inherits some money and a great apartment from a former employer . . . conditioned on not smoking for two years. A female private detective comes to live with her to make sure that she isn't smoking.

Will Llewellyn avoid Vera's clutches? Will Joe and Sally find each other? Will Sally get her money?

You'll have to read the book to find out, but the trail is a twisted and hilarious one.

Anyone who liked The Plot That Thickened will be delighted with this book. The premises are extreme, but if you can swallow them they take you into some fun territory.

P.G. Wodehouse once said that you could write about life as it is or as musical comedy without the music. He preferred the latter, and perhaps none of his books better captures that wonderful comic perspective as Bachelors Anonymous does.

I would have rated the book higher, but I think that those who haven't read other P.G. Wodehouse books might find this one a little extreme in its characters and plots . . . and that might make suspending disbelief harder. For me, though, this is a five-star laugh!!

After you finish, think about where you could accomplish more if your friends helped you. Then, ask for that help!

Bachelors Anonymous is a fine example with two cheerful loonies visiting from America (keen to avoid marriage), two young ladies eager to get married (one keen enough to kidnap), a love-lorn play-wright and his popsy-chasing lawyer chum, a merry widow and a man-eating actress. The main ingredient that sets Wodehouse's characters apart from the rest, is their tendency to over-react, jump the gun, misunderstand, take quick offence and generally behave in an exaggerated imitation of normal folk. They're always eager and willing to take rash and extreme action to achieve their ends (normally to sort out a catastrophe of their own making - thereby only making things worse). It's all very predictable and easy to guess the likely outcome of any given hair-brained plan, once you've recognised the pattern. But that's all part of the charm. A harmless bunch of nit-wits and bumbling extremists waltz crazily from disaster to disaster with wit and eloquence, towards an inevitable conclusion when all the misunderstandings are cleared up and the chap gets (or evades) the girl - whichever is the best outcome for our hero.

If your smile muscles could use some exercise, this book will give them a good work-out. My own smile muscles have been a little overworked by the experience so now I'm off to find something more serious to read and give them a rest.