Love Among the Chickens is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It is the first appearance of Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge.
Finished on: 14.12.2018

Plot:
Jeremy Garnet gets a visit from his old friend, Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge. Garnet has been planning to devote his time to his new book, but with Ukridge in his life, that is absolutely unthinkable. Ukridge has recently gotten himself a wife, Millie, and a chicken farm with which he hopes to make a lot of money. He convinces Garnet to come with him to his farm to find the peace and quiet to write his novel there. An empty promise, as Garnet soon discovers, finding himself knee-deep in Ukridge’s chaos, and in love himself.

Love Among the Chickens is fun and romantic. The former worked for me, the latter not so much – but I think I will continue to read Wodehouse.

Love Among the Chickens is the first thing I read by Wodehouse, whose reputation as a great comedian precedes him. So my expectations for this novel were to laugh, mostly. And it did make me grin, albeit not laugh out loud. I found Ukridge at least as exhausting as Garnet obviously does, and that made the thing a little less fun than it could have been. Maybe that’s why this is the only novel with Ukridge – the rest is all short stories, and I think in smaller doses, it would be better to handle.

What I didn’t expect was how romantic it is – although the book title could have been a clue here. This is very clearly a love story and a lot of the book is concerned with Garnet’s wooing of Phyllis. I do like romances in general, but this one I just didn’t care for that much. I mean, it was okay, I just didn’t really get emotionally invested.

That being said, I was entertained throughout the novel and it is a whole lot of fun. Wodehouse has a nice, easy style. It definitely made me curious to read more of his work.

Summarizing: Entertaining.