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2.0étoiles sur 5
A Bit Uneven, Aoû 26 2009
"The Head of Kay's" is a slight step backward for P. G. Wodehouse. Originally published on October 5th of 1905, it was a return to the school stories which he departed briefly for his humorous children's history of William Tell. Wodehouse creates a public school this time, in the form of Eckleton, with most of the action taking place with members from Kay's and Blackburn's houses. Once again, sports play a big role in the story, this time including Cricket, Football, and track and field sports, with just a little bit of boxing thrown in. Wodehouse also throws in a slightly different venue during part of the book with some of the boys at camp.
Though this book doesn't have as many problems as some of the earlier novels, it does seem to be a step backward from his previous school book "The Gold Bat", and his previous book "William Tell Told Again". Many of the situations he has covered before, and overall the book had less of the humorous feel than his better efforts, even during his early career. That being said, this is also better than some of what he wrote before.
There is no single lead character in this book. When the story opens, it is mostly focused on the current head of Kay's House, Robert Mowbray Fenn. This is true even when Fenn isn't where the action is taking place. Fenn is on the verge of nearly single-handedly winning the Cricket Cup for Kay's House. They need just a small score of 79 to win the cup, and Fenn has personally scored more than 80 in all his previous efforts during the tournament. The particular Mr. Kay, though has gotten on Fenn's nervous a bit too much, and after a disagreement he holds Fenn out from the match until it is almost over. Fenn returns, but makes a critical mistake and they lose. The students in Kay's get some revenge on their master at the school concert when Fenn is given an ovation and then he treats them to an un-approved encore which really gets them into an unruly mood which results in the concert ending early.
The action then moves to camp, where Kennedy and Jimmy Silver of Blackburn's House are attending. Both of them are good friends with Fenn, but think little of the other members of Kay's house, some of whom have their own tent at camp. When the students return to Eckleton, they learn that Kennedy has been made the head of Kay's. This disrupts the relationship between Fenn and Kennedy, and for a while Kennedy is the main character of the book as he strives to make something out of Kay's House, though he is not able to make much headway without the help of Fenn
Fenn again becomes the center of the action, as he breaks a significant school rule and goes out after hours, knowing full well that others who have done so in the past have been dismissed from school. He nearly gets caught, and leaves evidence behind, which seems to be causing him more and more problems. At the same time, Jimmy Silver is trying to play the peacemaker between Fenn and Silver. Ultimately he succeeds, and just when Fenn appears to be on the verge of being kicked out, a miracle of sorts saves him. Together, they work to bring Kay's into some order, and when Mr. Kay leaves and is replaced with Mr. Dencroft, they House is much improved. They set their sites on the Sports cup, and the story finishes with the results of those competitions.
After two books which showed a great deal of improvement, it is somewhat predictable that he would take a step backwards now and then. This story is stronger than three of the five books which came before it, but weaker than the most recent two. It has its moments, but in general it doesn't have as much humor as one usually gets with Wodehouse. The characters are fairly well done, but by creating yet another school a lot of time is spent on exposition about the school and the history of the houses and the people.
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