Alexander McCall Smith is a hugely popular writer, best known for the series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. He has also written several other series, and I chose the second book in his 44 Scotland Street to see what makes Smith so popular (well, really I didn't choose it--my mom happened to have it).
Titles in the series provide a look into the lives of various residents of the title address. Espresso Tales features Pat, who is about to start college after two "gap" years and has an adventure with a handsome nudist; her obnoxious roommate Bruce, who has been fired from his job and dumped by his American girlfriend; their 60-year-old neighbor, who regales Pat with philosophy, anthropological insights, and stories; Pat's boss Matthew, his father, and the father's possibly gold-digging girlfriend; and a variety of other characters (one set of whom seemed to have no relation to the building or any of the other characters). Smith does have a way with characters--quickly and wittily conveying their personalities. He's particularly skilled at drawing individuals with significant flaws.
One such character is Irene, mother of six-year-old Bertie and wife of the passive Stuart. Bertie is very bright, and his mother views his upbringing as a project, taking him to yoga and therapy and forcing him to wear pink dungarees to school. Both Irene and Bertie's psychiatrist are far more in need of therapy than Bertie; at some points in the story, you can't help thinking that Bertie may not escape childhood with his sanity intact, but events near the end of the book point to happier days ahead.
I enjoyed Bertie's story, found some of the numerous other characters interesting enough, and occasionally got a chuckle from Smith's rather wicked humor. Unfortunately, however, the stories don't really add up to anything. In addition, numerous forward threads (hints at what happened in the previous book) and unfinished business (Smith has written three more books in the series since this one was published) make you feel like the intent is primarily to keep selling books. So, I can see the appeal of Smith's work but probably won't pick up another of his books.
Favorite passage:
Dr. Fairbairn nodded . . . "Any signs of further obsessional behaviour?"
Irene looked up at the ceiling. There had been nothing as bad as the setting fire to Stuart's Guardian, but there certainly had been little things. There had been deliberate mistakes with Italian verbs (a mixing up of past participles, for example), and there had been reluctance, marked reluctance, to practice the scales for his grade seven saxophone examination.
No comments:
Post a Comment