Mike and Psmith

Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville), 1881-1975Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 302K words
Chapters: 31

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Mike and Psmith by P. G. WodehouseAuthor: Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville), 1881-1975,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is an early Wodehouse comic novel set in a school, centering on Mike's transfer and his encounter with the distinctive, quick-witted Psmith. It already shows the light dialogue, absurd situations, and gentle satire that would become Wodehouse's hallmarks, with school life, cricket matches, and boyish rivalries driving the plot. It succeeds not through elaborate suspense but through clashes of personality and verbal humor, making it suitable for relaxed reading. For readers curious about Wodehouse's early style or fond of British school humor, it is a friendly entry point; it also offers English learners material for appreciating British colloquial speech and humorous expression.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy British humor and school settings
Readers curious about Wodehouse's early style
Learners hoping to build reading interest through light English fiction
Readers drawn to stories of boyhood growth and friendship

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strong plotting, suspense, or fast-paced narrative
Readers uninterested in school life and sports competition
Readers seeking deep social critique or serious literary analysis

Reading tips

Read it as light comedy and savor the verbal wit; don't rush after plot.
Read the first few chapters to get a feel for the contrast between Mike and Psmith, then follow the school events.
Don't dwell on background details like cricket; grasp the relationships and conflicts instead.
Afterward, compare with Wodehouse's later works to observe how his humor continues and changes.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is Psmith the protagonist of this novel?

Mike is the main viewpoint character, and Psmith is an important foil. Their interaction drives the story's main interest, and the title signals the importance of that relationship.

Do I need to understand cricket to read this?

No. Cricket is part of school life, but the focus is on personality and humorous dialogue; you can follow the story without knowing the rules, reading those passages as atmosphere.

Is this book suitable for English beginners?

Not for absolute beginners. The text contains much British colloquialism, slang, and school expression; the sentences are not very difficult, but the humor often depends on verbal detail, so a basic reading foundation is recommended.

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About the author

Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville), 1881-1975 Author

P. G. Wodehouse (Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, 1881–1975) was a British humorist and novelist known for his light, witty comic style. The library holds 41 of his works, including the Jeeves books Right Ho, Jeeves, My Man Jeeves, and The Inimitable Jeeves, as well as The Clicking of Cuthbert, The Girl on the Boat, A Damsel in Distress, The Man Upstairs and Other Stories, and Psmith, Journalist. These works often turn on the mismatched relations between idle aristocrats, clumsy young men, and shrewd servants, with plots driven by misunderstanding, coincidence, and role reversal, and prose marked by irony and exaggeration. Wodehouse's easy elegance, brisk dialogue, and comic invention had a lasting influence on twentieth-century English humorous writing. Public information is limited, so no biographical details are conjectured here.