Espresso Tales: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (2)
by Alexander McCall Smith
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Book Reviews of Espresso Tales: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (2)
Book Review: Witty and charming
Summary: 5 Stars
Although this is the second volume of a serial novel, it's not necessary to read the first to become quickly enmeshed in the lives of its varied and active characters. First published in daily installments in the Scotsman, the book follows the trials and triumphs of the inhabitants of a Georgian townhouse at 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh.
Ranging in age from 6 to 60-something, the residents come from a broad spectrum of middle-class society - widowed, wise and vigorous; young and single with a lifetime of decisions ahead; and - the most separate of the tenants, the Pollocks, who have embarked on the difficult and mysterious business of being a family.
The youngest resident, Bertie Pollock, is an intellectually precocious child of six whose bossy, insensitive, rigid and well-meaning mother is the bane of his helpless existence. As the brief, bright summer gives way to the more typical Scottish weather of fall, Bertie goes off to school in pink (`crushed strawberry") dungarees, which he hates with a passion he is rapidly transferring to his devoted mother.
Irene Pollock is a determined woman and given to calling her son's upbringing the "Bertie project." His is to be an "ungendered" childhood, thus the pink pants, pink bedroom and yoga lessons. McCall Smith articulates Bertie's inarticulate frustration with an underlying sense of building pressure - danger amidst the humor.
The eldest resident of the house, Domenica Macdonald, has traveled, lived and read widely. As a result she has formed a number of tart and pithy opinions she is dryly, eloquently given to sharing.
Across the hall from Domenica are young Pat Macgregor and her vain, pathetic and oblivious (but handsome) flatmate Bruce. Pat has just decided to stay in Edinburgh and become a student at Edinburgh University, delighting her father - who had feared she was returning to Australia. She spends a fair amount of time absorbing the wit and wisdom of Domenica, but their smoothly adjusted friendship suffers a brief jolt when Domenica blithely attempts to set Pat up with a handsome waiter. Luckily, Domenica's feathers are not easily ruffled by the mood swings of the young.
Bruce, Pat's former love interest and now awkwardly tolerated flatmate, "was history in every sense of the word," having lost his job with a firm of surveyors (caught out with the boss's wife) as well as any chance with Pat and, did he but know it, his American girlfriend too, who has already grown tired of his self-absorption. Odious Bruce is so narcissistic that each setback, each rejection, causes but a flicker of uncertainty before being transformed into "their loss" in his confident, mirror-gazing world view.
McCall Smith's point of view moves between these residents and those whose lives intersect with theirs. One of the most moving chapters comes at the very beginning when Pat's father meets her for lunch to hear an announcement of her plans. Her father does not play much of a role in this book, but McCall Smith's exploration of his stricken state of mind is deeply perceptive and touching as is his determination to hide this sense of loss should the worst - her removal to Australia - come to pass.
The action of the book - and there is plenty, though not of the headline making variety - takes place against the rich background of Edinburgh and the city's place in Scotland. There's even a map to orient the reader. As the characters move through the streets and each other's lives we get a strong sense of the city's character and the author's love of the place.
Humorous, wry, and perceptive, with affection for even the least deserving, McCall Smith's novels, like those of Barbara Pym (only less melancholy) are a celebration of the human condition.
--Portsmouth Herald
Book Review: Changes are in the wind for the 44 Scotland Street occupants...
Summary: 5 Stars
Following my enjoyment of 44 Scotland Street, I picked up a copy of Alexander McCall Smith's sequel titled Espresso Tales. Still the same quirky characters as 44 Scotland Street, and still more of a "slice of life" book with no overall driving plotline. Fortunately, it's still a lot of fun following the players as their pompous attitudes and actions get pricked and deflated...
Bertie is in a major rebellion phase against his overbearing mother Irene. She's still trying to make progress with his psychotherapy, but she's more interested in the therapist than Bertie is. Bertie's father also figures out that he's failed his son in terms of standing up to mom, and is determined to reverse that trend and give Bertie a normal boyhood. But to do that, he has to disassemble Irene's "Bertie Project" against her will.
Bruce is convinced that he's ready to open a wine shop and become the next great wine merchant. Ah, but he needs money to do that. He manipulates a long-time wimpish friend (George) to join him in the idea and front the cash. Bruce plunges in thinking he knows everything, but as usual he's completely clueless as to what people really think of him. As the store gets closer to opening, he's in for a few surprises.
Pat has decided to attend Edinburgh University and stay at 44 Scotland Street. Her father loves this idea, as he's grown quite close to his daughter. Domenica manuvers Pat into a date with a coffee house waiter by the name of Peter. She's somewhat uncertain about Peter on a number of different levels, and his invitation to attend a nudist picnic with him doesn't help much. Domenica, on the other hand, is getting antsy for her next great adventure, and decides that a new study abroad is what she needs.
Matthew is surprising everyone by actually turning a profit at the art gallery. He still holds a candle for Pat, but Pat really doesn't see him in that same light. Matthew's world gets thrown into a complete tizzy when his father announces that he's dating someone who he intends to marry. Matthew's convinced that Janis is just out to get his father's money, and makes his objections pretty clear. But all is not as it seems, and he's in for a few surprises along the way.
And for the fans of Angus and Big Lou, they have their own adventures also...
Although I'm not a fan of "reality TV", I do enjoy the occasional book that goes down that path. The characters of 44 Scotland Street are so engaging and quirky that it's hard not to want to watch their lives unfold. Along the way, you see reality that's obvious to everyone except the person who's living it. Makes you wonder how much of that is in our own lives. I'm in possession of the 3rd installment, and I'm looking forward to starting it. The way this book ends makes you wonder how this cast of characters will be able to stay together...
Book Review: Sublime improvisation - perhaps more classical than jazz!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the second of the Scotland Street serial which has run daily in the Edinburgh newspaper, The Scotsman, and it betrays its origins more obviously than the first of the series (44 Scotland Street). 44 Scotland forms a near-miraculous whole - astonishing in a kind of writing which is very much like improvisation in that one cannot possibly know at the beginning how, or if, the ending will round out satisfactorily. I want to revise my earlier opinion to say that as I've reflected on Espresso Tales, it also has many threads which are tied into a satisfactory conclusion, and one in particular which MUST be resolved in Love Over Scotland! It does have more "slow spots" than 44 (notably the 8 mercifully brief Ramsey Dunbarton sections, which dragged a bit for me). But that is a small matter, all things considered.
Amazing things happen! Bertie escapes (but not in the chapter so titled)! Stuart asserts himself! Pat makes several important decisions. Bruce...is nearly wiped out but Lands On His Feet Again, as Bruce is wont to do. Matthew grows up rather a lot! Cyril the dog Bites An Important Ankle (To Rounds of Applause)! Big Lou stands up to a charming intellectual snob, and gets an important letter. I feel like I am writing the weekly soap opera summary!
But these books rise far above that level. On the first read, they are so entertaining that one does not always notice the deeper layers that emerge on re-reading.
For example, without introducing a spoiler, I can say that Big Lou's moral philosophizing with Matthew and Angus offers important insight into Matthew's relationship with his dad, and ultimately with his dad's girlfriend Janis. Matthew's change in his view of Janis is an important part of his growing up - but he still has further to go, and we shall see in Love Over Scotland how his suspicions about "gold-digging women" turn out to affect his own life.
If you enjoyed 44 Scotland, you must read this one...even though improvisations are not always perfect, they are like juggling, and it's amazing how many of the balls are caught in this continuing McCall Smith act. He wanted to stop after this one, but Edinburgh dwellers persuaded him to continue for at least one more book. I can't wait! As I think more deeply about this book as a whole, and the connections beneath the surface, I must give it 5 stars, despite my earlier reservations. (now why can't I change that from the Edit page? gr)
Book Review: More Adventures on Scotland Street
Summary: 5 Stars
The characters that first charmed us in 44 Scotland Street: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (1)are back and even better as we learn more about their everyday lives. The author has given us a pair of virtual binoculars and lets us unobtrusively watch their lives unfold in a parade of human foibles, love, desire, and moral issues. The short chapters are quick and clever, the writing fast-paced and fun.
The most likeable character is Bertie, the precocious six-year-old whose mother has turned her little genius into an Italian-speaking, saxophone-playing , yoga-exercising mess. All he wants to do is be a little boy and his very wise insights and struggles to achieve normalcy will warm your heart. His over-bearing mother Irene and milquetoast father Stuart are also back and finally have a long-overdue confrontation about Bertie's upbringing.
The narcissistic Bruce is fired as a surveyor and, in the moments he is not admiring himself in the mirror, he embarks haphazardly on a career as a wine merchant. Pat is still sharing his flat and she herself finally makes a big step by ending her second gap year and enrolling at Edinburgh University. Domenica, the well-travelled neighbor, finds a boyfriend for Pat and continues to extemporize on world affairs. But it is Ramsey Dunbarton, a non-resident of the townhouse, and his wife who provide the bulk of the humor as Ramsey reads from his memoirs and tells us more than he realizes about himself. Also peripheral to the story are the coffee-shop owner Lou who reveals a lost love, gallery owner Matthew who confronts his father, and the therapist Dr. Fairbairn who attempts to right a wrong and gets unexpected results.
Will Bertie ever be able to wear jeans and not strawberry dungarees? Will a case of Petrus wine be Bruce's key to success? Will Pat become a nudist to please her new boyfriend? Will a train ride with his son be enough to make Bruce stand up to Irene? Will Mrs. Dunbarton ever wake up?
More heart-warming moments and laugh-out-loud ones make this a most enjoyable addition to the totally delightful Scotland Street series. As for this reader, I eagerly anticipate my next trip to Scotland Street.
Book Review: A Sequel That Tops 44 Scotland Street!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you haven't yet read 44 Scotland Street, I recommend that you read it first before Espresso Tales. Although Alexander McCall Smith does an excellent job of sneaking in the back story in Espresso Tales, some of the delicious humor won't fully tickle you if you haven't read the origins of the hilarious situations that have been set up for this book.
If you don't know the background of this series, you should be aware that this novel was written on a daily basis as a serial in The Scotsman newspaper. That means that the story is broken up into 105 two to three page segments . . . almost all of which have a cliff hanger element to them. Many of the segments are illustrated with black and white drawings that enlarge the story.
If you haven't read 44 Scotland Street yet, please read no more of this review.
Espresso Tales is a looser story with more extreme situations and humor. I found myself holding my sides laughing so hard that I was in pain in several places.
Here are brief updates on some of the main characters:
Bertie takes matters into his own hands in terms of trying to get free of his overbearing mother. Bertie's father awakens to the idea of helping Bertie enjoy being a little boy of six. What happens to Irene's vision of her perfect son? You'll love the answers. The visit to Glasgow is one of the finest pieces of humorous writing that I've ever read. Enjoy it!
Dr. Fairbairn comes up against his repressed past in a most revealing episode.
Pat decides to go to Edinburgh University, which pleases her father. She also meets an intriguing new man . . . with a most unusual pastime.
Domenica finds a new purpose for her life.
Big Lou has a large surprise in her life.
Matthew's life is turned upside down when he father becomes interested in a younger woman, Janis.
Bruce rouses himself from his depression over losing his job to find a partner and goes into business for himself.
Each story is, of course, much more complicated than that. Alexander McCall Smith is the master of irony and understatement. So the endings are often not quite what you might expect. Be ready for a tsunami of giggles!