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 A village always needs a lead to their future November 24, 2008
This novel has a texture and a fragrance that come directly from Botswana, from Africa. The plot is no plot at all. It is a big rich slice of the cake we call life seen through the critical eyes of a woman and tasted through her own tongue and mouth, a woman who sort of deconstructs and reconstruct the world around her for our pleasure. She explores the characters and behaviors of simple people because that is her job, being a private detective, and she has the trust of several other people which enables her to bring into the picture, her picture, all the hues and details the others can contribute. It is also a novel in which several types of women are the media we need to capture the world. These women are different but they have one common point: their enterprising spirit, even faith, that makes them do things, even risky things, and take the lead around themselves, gathering people and blazing the trails that will bring other people out of the bush to take and follow some road or path to the future, their future, that can only be that of everyone, since everyone has to take part and the future of each one of them, of us, has to be part of the future of everyone else. It may take a whole village to educate a child, but it often only takes a few people to set a whole village on the prowl for good and progress. This vision is so African that we can taste the cake of the last few pages and the sweet and pungent feeling it leaves on our tongue. Africa, and Botswana, is a continent where a grain of salt or a lump of sugar can make the difference between sadness and happiness, bleakness and joy. When a man has not reached the level when he may become wasteful, he knows how to appreciate the smaller pleasures of life, like that cup of tea my Buddhist monk students prepared and offered me after the two hours class I had spent with them teaching them the English of Buddhism. And the grain of salt was in their eyes and the lump of sugar on the palms of their hands. Even when, like in Pali, there is no word for "give" or "take", there always are so many eyes to share a feeling and so many hands to greet, receive and hand out what only exists if it is circulated from one heart to the next that the words are no longer needed. And that's exactly the feeling I get in this book.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
 What happened? March 19, 2008
More laid-back Botswana tales, with lots of incident and little plot - indeed, the only actual bit of detection for the detective agency peters out half-way through, as if the author had lost interest in it.
 A "full cupboard" of everyday life in Botswana. January 6, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In his fifth novel about the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, run by Mma Precious Ramotswe, author Alexander McCall Smith presents the full cupboard of Botswana life in all its richness. For Mma Ramotswe, people and their relationships are paramount, and she believes that these relationships are facilitated by Botswana's traditional code of behavior, with its customs of greetings, sitting down together, drinking bush tea, and casually talking around a subject, rather than addressing it aggressively. Life is a rich, full, and happy experience for Mma Ramotswe, who can find out everything she wants to know from her broad network of family and friends. Engaged to the good-hearted Mr. J.L.B. Matakone, who has not yet set a date for a wedding, she helps him surreptitiously with his problems and cooks and cares for the two orphans he has taken into his home. In this novel, full of gentle humor and wisdom, Mma Ramotswe and her friends face several "difficult" problems: A woman who has made a fortune establishing hair-braiding salons hires Mma Ramotswe to find out whether her suitors want to marry her for her money. Mr. J.L.B. Matakone finds himself tricked into "volunteering" to do a parachute jump. He is also disturbed to discover that First Class Motors, a rival garage, has sold improper parts and failed to service a classic old Range Rover correctly, and he has been procrastinating about reporting him to authorities. With an obvious lack of exciting plot lines, the reader focuses completely on the characters-- beautifully drawn, sometimes flawed, and always forgiven their faults. In a pace as leisurely as life in Botswana, McCall Smith recreates the colorful everyday lives of these ordinary people, who treasure friendships, treat each other with respect, and possess inherent good sense. Honoring the values that contemporary readers sometimes do not take the time to preserve, McCall Smith portrays complex social relationships in very simple and direct prose. Warm, gently humorous, and loving, McCall Smith creates a vicarious nostalgia for this way of life. Mary Whipple
Life is a rich, full cupboard...& this novel adds to it June 2, 2005
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
"The Full Cupboard of Life: More from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" is the fifth installment of Alexander McCall Smith's outstanding series about Mma. Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and perhaps the only female detective in all of Africa, with the exception of her assistant, Mma Makutsi. Mma Ramotswe's is an extremely intelligent woman who possesses a keen perception of the human character. She is also a good person with a kind heart and a strong set of values. Most inspiring, however, is her deep and abiding love for Africa, and for Botswana and its people in particular. "They are my people, my brothers and sisters. It is my duty to help them to solve the mysteries of their lives. I strongly suggest that any potential reader who has not already been introduced to our protagonist, read "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" and other prior books in the series. While not absolutely necessary, it will certainly enhance your experience with Mma Ramotswe and her country.Fortunately Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, Gaborone's best mechanic, are still planning to wed and both are in good health, as are their two adopted children. Alas, their wedding date has still not been set. And if I am anxious about their very prolonged engagement, well imagine how the lady involved with the procrastinating fiance feels. She doesn't want to pressure him, however, as he has enough problems to contend with at the moment. He is concerned about getting out of a promise to make a parachute jump, which Mma Potokwani finagled him into, in the name of charity. And he is also being distracted by a predicament with a business rival at First Class Motors. Case-wise, a wealthy beauty salon entrepreneur hires Mma Ramotswe to discover which of her many suitors are after her considerable fortune, and what their true motives for matrimony are. And assistant detective Makutsi's 'Kalahari Typing School for Men' is doing so well, she can afford to move...to a house with running water. As most readers of the series know by now, this is not an ordinary crime novel/police procedural. Nor is it an edge-of-your-seat mystery thriller. Mma. Ramotswe is a private detective, but she manages to solve mysteries without the use of guns and violence, preferring to use unorthodox solutions instead. The narrative is written simply, in a clear, uncluttered style. And our Number One Detective is a pure delight, as are the people she deals with, and their everyday problems which she helps them resolve.
JANA
A "full cupboard" of everyday life in Botswana. May 20, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
In his fifth novel about the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, run by Mma Precious Ramotswe, author Alexander McCall Smith presents the full cupboard of Botswana life in all its richness. For Mma Ramotswe, people and their relationships are paramount, and she believes that these relationships are facilitated by Botswana's traditional code of behavior, with its customs of greetings, sitting down together, drinking bush tea, and casually talking around a subject, rather than addressing it aggressively. Life is a rich, full, and happy experience for Mma Ramotswe, who can find out everything she wants to know from her broad network of family and friends. Engaged to the good-hearted Mr. J.L.B. Matakone, who has not yet set a date for a wedding, she helps him surreptitiously with his problems and cooks and cares for the two orphans he has taken into his home. In this novel, full of gentle humor and wisdom, Mma Ramotswe and her friends face several "difficult" problems: A woman who has made a fortune establishing hair-braiding salons hires Mma Ramotswe to find out whether her suitors want to marry her for her money. Mr. J.L.B. Matakone finds himself tricked into "volunteering" to do a parachute jump. He is also disturbed to discover that First Class Motors, a rival garage, has sold improper parts and failed to service a classic old Range Rover correctly, and he has been procrastinating about reporting him to authorities. With an obvious lack of exciting plot lines, the reader focuses completely on the characters-- beautifully drawn, sometimes flawed, and always forgiven their faults. In a pace as leisurely as life in Botswana, McCall Smith recreates the colorful everyday lives of these ordinary people, who treasure friendships, treat each other with respect, and possess inherent good sense. Honoring the values that contemporary readers sometimes do not take the time to preserve, McCall Smith portrays complex social relationships in very simple and direct prose. Warm, gently humorous, and loving, McCall Smith creates a vicarious nostalgia for this way of life. Mary Whipple
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