Customer Reviews:
 Amusing, entertaining and thought-provoking - despite a degree of predictablity March 18, 2008
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Slow paced, often predictable, repetitive, based in an imaginary, utopian version of a very small country. Not really crime fiction and certainly not thrillers. So why do I like the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency so much?
I read "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive", having realised, on buying the recently published next book in the series, and issued, that I had missed it out. My main quibble is that the denouement of this episode was itself very predictable, based I am sure on an "urban myth" or something similar - and while elements of the storyline are very predictable, I had not previously found the crux of the ending to be.
Professor McCall Smith writes unashamedly feel-good books, with a slow, measured pace and lightness of touch that makes you feel that Mma Ramotswe is leading you by the hand. The baddies, such as they are, are never really bad, and the conflicts around which the stories are based are ones between basically good people with everyday, minor flaws. I think that the intentional elements of predictability are supposed to reflect the sparsely inhabited place they are set, and the people who live there, who have lived their all their lives and are content to die there too as their ancestors did before them. Those of us who live in the West rather than in this fictional Botswana are perhaps being invited by McCall Smith to consider that our frenetic lifestyles are self-inflicted and by no means a guarantor of greater happiness.
McCall Smith was a professor of medical law and clearly has great interest in philosophy and ethics. The books are readers in practical philosophy, a commentary on the differences between man and woman and young and old, a call to live a calmer life and to treat one's fellow human being a little better. And also, despite the predictable bits, they are amusing, thought-provoking and a cracking good read.
Four stripes for the good husband of Zebra Drive. February 9, 2008
27 out of 37 found this review helpful
Alexander McCall Smith has delivered the goods yet again with another highly enjoyable addition to the No1 Ladies Detective Agency series.As always it's light on plot but takes a good natured,well intentioned and,at times,reflective look at life in Botswana.McCall Smith's background as a philosiphy writer is always evident in the way that life's everyday dilemas can be examined,considered and resolved with the minimum of fuss.Precious Ramtotswae the main character drinks more bush tea than she solves cases but this doesn't stop you from enjoying these light hearted and fun novels.His minimalist plotting style won't suit everyone but i suggest you stick with the characters,get to know them and before you know it you'll be reading all the others in the series and wanting more.At just over 200 pages long it doesn't outstay it's wellcome and can be read and enjoyed in one sitting.
 All Hail the Traditionally Built Woman! January 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In this latest installment of the #1 Ladies Detective Series, we find Mma Ramotswe finding challenges in the most unexpected places: the resignation of Mma Makutsi, holder of the 97 percent degree from Botswana Secretarial College; the desire of husband Mr. J L B Matekoni to take on an investigative case in the belief that life as a detective is more exciting than his work as a mechanic; the case of the late patients of a local hospital overseen by her cousin.
Throughout the book we find ourselves drawn in to the slower pace of the Botswana life, where people stop to watch the birds in the trees and contemplate life. A perfect respite from our own fast-paced world. But the faster pace of life outside Botswana seems to be making inroads in this book. The types of cases being investigated have begun to change, causing Mma Ramotswe to look to her compatriots for their input and finding that if one but takes the time to sit back, think things through, and open their eyes to the things around them answers to life's questions can be found.
Easy to read, this work packs a lot of information and entertainment in its short span of 210 pages. But really, how long does a work need to be if the message can be delivered succinctly?
Once again, McCall Smith has given me a good solid read and I look forward to the next chapter in this series.
Also recommended: The first 7 books in this series.
A Welcome Return for the Most Gentle of Detectives November 3, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you're looking for hardboiled thrills then don't read these books. For me, the detecting is always an added bonus rather than the reason for reading them. McCall Smith has developed a wonderful cast of characters within these books and it is a struggle to wait patiently for him to update us on what is happening next in their lives. Will Mma Makutsi get married this time around? Will the feckless Charlie ever sort himself out? These are the kinds of things I want to know. In this book, Mma Makutsi and Mma Ramotswe have a misunderstanding, Mr. JLB Matekoni decides to take on a little detecting work of his own and Charlie opens his own taxi firm. As always there are lashings of redbush tea, cake at the Orphan farm, and lashings of sensible advice, lovingly administered by the most kindly and therapeutic lady detective of them all, Mma Ramotswe. Let's hope that her little white van lasts long enough to drive her into the pages of another book very soon.
Three stumbling steps June 11, 2007
41 out of 41 found this review helpful
Mma Grace Makutsi enjoys shopping. New dresses are a fine thing to buy, but for Grace, shoes are nearly an obsession. While most people are limited in their available shopping times, Grace has a bit more flexibility. One day, she follows her impulse to visit the shops. What follows is a cascade of events with unexpected results. Among other things, it brings on a clash with her employer, Mma Precious Ramotswe of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The confrontation is rather intense for two such mild-mannered ladies, but the success of the business may be at stake - as well as the type of lifepath each lady will follow. Grace makes a decision regarding her future. It's the first of several mis-steps that occur in this tale.
McCall Smith may have reached a new peak with this book. Each character seems enlarged through this volume - particularly when compared to the earlier works. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, proprietor of the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors facility - which also houses the Agency - takes on a richer role here. As Precious' husband, he is challenged as never before, as a man and as a mentor. The author grants him more introspective opportunities, and we learn even more about him than the earlier books conveyed. Even Charlie the apprentice mechanic becomes something more than just an aggravation to both Mr Matekoni and Grace. For one thing, Charlie has also determined to enlarge his role - in unexpected ways. It, too, proves a difficult, almost tragic, step in the wrong direction.
The "mysteries" the Agency must resolve are of the usual type. There is the suspected unfaithful husband. A printing shop is being victimised by one of its own employees. And in distant Mochudi, patients in the local hospital have died under mysterious circumstances. Mochudi, of course, is a special place to Mma Ramotswe, and she must travel there to investigate this bizarre circumstance. Meanwhile, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni has taken it upon himself to address the adultery issue with surprising results. Is he going to become a detective instead of keeping to his beloved mechanic's role?
McCall Smith seems to add triumph upon triumph in this series. His ability to depict characters is unexcelled, brought here to new heights. He has already given vivid life portrayals to both Precious and Grace. They are more fully revealed in this book. The added thoughts and feelings of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni are especially moving. Although most of these novels may be read without reference to the other works, this one's value cannot be fully embraced without having at least the first one under the reader's belt. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
|
