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: Hail to Espresso Tales!
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the things I most admire about Alexander McCall Smith is his ability to show his readers exactly who his characters are, and to do it so convincingly. This demonstrates no small degree of talent. This talent is enhanced by McCall Smith's real working knowledge of the worlds in which he, himself, has lived. An example of one of McCall Smith's best drawn characters (and my favorite) in this series is young Bertie Pollock. Bertie is a very bright young chap, though stifled to the point of almost total exasperation (for the reader, at least) by his excruciatingly rigid, controlling, neurotic mother (one expects the six-year-old to explode at any moment into full blown rebellion). Bertie appears able to interpret (though not always correctly) the events going on about him and this reader, at least, looks forward to the moment when Bertie is able to successfully extract himself from his mother's clutches. It's agony to `watch' the youngster work things out mentally, and, yet, be unable to break free from his invisible restraints. One of the clever ways McCall Smith demonstrates the dysfunctional state of the Pollock family is the fact that they have somehow managed to misplace their car. Can you imagine that?!
All the residents of 44 Scotland Street are interesting characters to read about, from narcissistic Bruce to wise Domenica to thoughtful Pat, even to Irene Pollock's detached statistician husband, Stuart. It is the human foibles and antics of these folks in the Scotland Street flat in Edinburgh's fair city who keep us readers enthralled in this series. We care about each of them to one extent or another and want to know what's going to happen to each of them. That is, after all, what good storytelling is about. This author completely and totally draws us in.
As the proud owner of all of McCall Smith's books, I expect to read them many times over during the years ahead. I do hope that one day (soon?) we will have the opportunity to learn more about those quirky folks in the sausage dog stories. I adore the humor, however opaque, in each of them. There are none others like them anywhere in literature.
Carolyn Rowe Hill
Book Review: A Complete Delight!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you don't find this book laugh-out-loud funny, then you will have altogether missed the point! Every bit as delightful as 44 Scotland Street, the parody of Edinburgh characters continues in the author's usual witty fashion, with scenes of the ridiculous (but often not altogether impossible) and individual personality traits highlighted to the greatest degree. It's a superb comment upon the ridiculous... In fact, do we even realise how ridiculous our society can potentially be!?
Get back in touch with old friends from 44 Scotland Street. There's Pat, the young 20-something soon-to-be student... should she go to the nudist party at Moray Place? She's still working in the Art Gallery for Matthew & it's now turning a profit... can Matthew find some confidence? The erstwhile narcissistic Bruce had decided upon the wine trade as his latest venture, having recently been fired from his career as a chartered surveyor... of course, it doesn't bother him in the slightest that he knows nothing at all about wine! Pat's neighbour and friend Domenica is still there with her insightful comments upon humankind. So too, Angus & his faithful friend, Cyril. But more to the point, this book focuses most of all upon little Bertie (now 6) and his insufferably pushy mother, Irene. Can Stuart stand up to Irene and let Bertie be a little boy? Bertie is finding his way, having just started school, he is now tentatively trying to make friends & "fit in". But this is difficult for Bertie with his pink dungarees, his pink bedroom, his yoga classes, and Italian lessons, the sessions with the psychotherapist & his Grade 7 saxophone. Bertie wants to love mummy all the time... but is finding it very difficult...
Just as its predecessor the book is written with short pithy chapters (over 100 of them), each presenting a mini-story & social commentary of their own. Some reviewers have found the political chapters boring, but that IS totally the point - read them & you'll see why & don't worry, they're short! I loved every bit of this book & everyone with a good sense of humour should find something to enjoy.
Book Review: It's all about Bertie
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading 44 Scotland Street I was left with one burning question: what about Bertie? Will he ever get out from under his mother's stifling influence? Will he get to play Rugby? How will he deal with his oblivious psychiatrist? All the characters of the series are interesting to one degree or another, but as I picked up this book it was Bertie's story I really wanted to know.
Fortunately, Smith delivered. In this volume we get to see the world through Bertie's hyper-intelligent but still immature eyes. And I was thrilled that rather than simply playing the situation for laughs, as "44 Scotland Street" had done, in these stories Bertie gets to break out of his routine, have a series of adventures, and achieve the sort of semi-definitive conclusion that was only afforded to Pat in the previous volume.
That's not to say that the stories of the rest of the characters are not interesting. I found the evolution of Bruce, the thick headed narcissistic roommate, to be particularly satisfying. It helps that Pat had, in the first book, already gotten over her crush on Bruce, which was so obviously unwise that you couldn't help but expect disaster on every page.
The only false note in this collection is the Ramsey Dunbarton storyline. A grand old gentleman who seems to have done nothing much with his life, and yet talks about it incessantly, his chapters were simply boring. Perhaps if I were Scottish I would be able to see all sort of subtle in jokes that would turn him from boring to charming, but as it is I'm glad he only shows up from time to time.
But that is only a blemish on a great collection. I'll be reading the next one as soon as I can get my hands on it!
Book Review: Edinburgh great and small
Summary: 3 Stars
Espresso Tales is the sequel to 44 Scotland Street, featuring the inhabitants of a multifamily house at that address in Edinburgh, Scotland. The form of both books is rambling and linear, forgivably so in this case as they were originally released in serial form in the Scotsman newspaper.
In 44 Scotland Street, the main character was clearly Pat, a college-age young woman who was a little adrift in her life. Her encounters with her neighbors and at work formed the context for the stories in the book. In Espresso Tales, Pat is much less the main character. The book's focus shifts aimlessly between Pat, Bertie, the gifted kindergartener and his family, and other characters. Pat and Bertie's stories engage me more than others and I was impatient at times waiting for their turn in the spotlight.
A great part of the charm derives from the immense amount of detail provided of daily life in Edinburgh. This information is provided not in an encyclopedic way but in loving detail the way a portrait miniature would be painted. The characters are "types", but not stereotypes. Big Lou, the rough-spoken woman who runs the coffee shop has been reading philosophy on her own, and bristles when her intellectual customers patronize her. Not only does she "ken well" who Sisyphus was, she's read the Camus book about him, which is more than her educated customer can say.
If you enjoy Scotland, or enjoy the gentle charm of McCall Smith's writing, you'll enjoy this series. But start with 44 Scotland Street or you'll have trouble catching up.
Book Review: This Series Rivals No. 1 Ladies'
Summary: 5 Stars
Once again, McCall Smith takes us to visit with the 44 Scotland Street neighborhood. This time, we learn much more about Bertie - the extremely precocious 6-year old - and his conflicts with his incredibly clingy mother Irene. And, we actually hear his father speak up and do something other than read the newspaper. The meetings with Bertie's psychiatrist are again entertaining as is the doctor's attempt to reach catharsis with his most famous patient.
And, we hear Domenica speak about globalization. Matthew shows us he can do something right, and then we meet his father and his potential nuptial mate. Cyrus' dog bites the people who deserve it. Cyrus gives a great party at the end. Pat, after two gap years, decides to attend university. Bruce as a failed person fails in business - or does he? And more.
But, McCall Smith tells us he wrote this book to find closure from the previous book "44 Scotland Street." Here he failed. And, failed miserably. And, thank our lucky stars he is such a failure.
This group of eccentrics is fast making books which rival his beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. At the end, we ask for more. What is going to happen to Domenica in her quest to seek pirates? Or, what will happen to Bruce in London? Or, how is Pat going to handle her first year at university after not one, but two, gap years? And, will Matthew accept his father's new bride, if there is to even be one?
If you are thinking of reading this book, do so. But, I highly recommend that you first read "44 Scotland Street" so as to acquaint yourself to the characters and their surroundings.