| 44 Scotland Street | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexander Mccall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $13.94 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 6693
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1400079446
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781400079445
ASIN: 1400079446
Publication Date: June 14, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Quaint and Entertaining September 21, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This collection of shorts narrating the lives of the inhabitants of 44 Scotland Street - a Edinburgh neighborhood, full of quirky characters, both lovable and unlovable - is quaint and entertaining, striking a cord of truth in the mind and heart, like many of Smith's stories. A great addition to those previously delighted with Smith - for new readers I recommend The No. #1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
 Just 'ok' September 16, 2006
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I started reading 'The no.1 Ladies Detective Agency' but could never really get into it. I liked the idea of this book however so decided to give the author another go. Sadly, although the book has some funny moments (Bertie's tantrums!)it never really gripped me. I love Scotland but am not familar enough with the places and slang terms so felt i missed out on the 'insider' comments. The book also has a very poor ending which leaves lots of loose ends and you end up thinking 'hold on what happened to..?' and 'what was the point of?'.
On the whole it is ok and i imagine if you are familar with Edinburgh you would enjoy it more than i did.
I Worried If He Could Match Botswana Series -- He Did August 17, 2006
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
The already pronounced success stars have a great disadvantage - we expect the next act to be as great as the last. Never can a baseball slugger of fame be adequate when we attend the game - unless he hits a shot heard around the world. Never can the ballet dancer have an above average day when we patronage. Never can a beloved writer be just a head taller than the good writers we also occasionally read.
McCall Smith is a proven writer, and beloved. The Botswana series has millions of reading minions, who inhale each novel religiously the week it comes out. I know one of those readers. See him every day in the mirror.
And, then that writer occasionally throws out other stuff - get a fresh try at it. And, sometimes it is good - 44 Scotland Street. And, sometimes, it is not as good - the Isabel Dalhousie series (But on September 16 a new novel comes out and he may rebound, and how we hope he does rebound).
Funny. Insightful. Depictive. And more. This novel handles a 5-year old [Bertie] and his all-too-aggressive mother [Irene] (who would make the most ardent soccer mom of the USA look like a pushover), a widowed and well traveled Scot who married an Indian [Domenica], a young girl experiencing her second year off [Pat] while working for the loser (but nice) rich boy [Matthew] and rooming with the narcissist hunk [Bruce] whose interest in his work as a surveyor under a boring boss and socialite wife is waning.
The meetings of poor little Bertie with his shrink are hilarious. The introspection of Domenica is great. And, Matthew's befuddling self is both endearing and provocative of sympathy and tears for his ever lost self esteem.
Each chapter is 3 pages long - probably as this was written for the newspaper's daily delivery. So, you can read one chapter and commence sleep with a smile. Alternatively, you can read 50 chapters and still have plenty left to read the next night. Either way, it makes for great bed stand reading.
This one is worth turning the pages. Try it, you will like it.
The essence of Alexander McCall Smith August 17, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is the 7th or 8th of Smiths wonderful story books I have read. What I enjoyed about 44 Scotland Street, as always, was the richness of character, the foibles, fears and strengths of these multiple and varying people who you feel you know on first aquaintance. The psychiatrist and overbearing mother take therapy to a whole new and perverse level! The narcissistic adonis, the bewildered young lady on a gap, the indecissive gallery manager are just a few of the treats in store. The ending of the book does not tie everything together in a neat package but you have enough at this point to do your own closure on the main actors of the book. A fun read.
meanders briskly, goes down easily July 11, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've gotten irritated with Smith's Botswana series, because (I think) he spends too much time on the characters' internal musings -- which are not as deep and meaningful as he seems to think they are -- and not enough on anything actually happening. Due to the requirements of the serial format, he was forced to combat that tendency in this book, with a happy result. Yes, it does meander a bit, but each meander is an interesting morsel in its own right, and it ties up into a fairly satisfying whole, if you can overlook a few loose ends.
I do agree with the reviewers who pointed out that it must have meant a lot more to residents of Edinburgh than it does to us. Most of the references are clear enough from context (i.e., "the Braids" is obviously some kind of upper-crust district), but the knowing wink will be lost on most American readers.
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