44 Scotland Street (edition 2005)

This was my first book by Alexander McCall Smith.
Have so many of his other series on my bookshelves, must must get to them soon.
There was nothing exciting about this when I started reading, but didn't take long to become invested in the characters. Will read the complete series.
Read in 2008. ( )

I can usually call a book by a quarter of the way in. And at one-quarter, I wasn't particularly enjoying this one. I'm not sure why I kept reading, but I did. At half-way, I still wasn't thrilled. But I kept reading. And by three-quarters, magic happened and I couldn't put the book down. So my imagined two stars has materialized as four, and this is why.

Alexander McCall Smith has the gifts of keen social observation and witty, dry delivery that trump the relative uneventfullness of the book's plot. At first the story meandered along, describing the experiences of the residents of 44 Scotland Street as they went about their lives, with no particular direction apparent. I waited for a plot to reveal itself, reading impatiently until I realized that the fun was in the characters and their foibles and interactions. And what fun it turned out to be! And even better, McCall Smith finally worked in a little dollop of plot-- like clotted cream on an already delicious scone-- in the form of a hunt for a missing painting and romantic tension between two characters.

I can't wait to see what the residents of Scotland Street are up to in the next series installment! ( )

This was mostly okay - not his best, because his best is class and not his worst because his worst is clearly written by someone else, someone boring and published under his name. ( )

This book, by Alexander McCall Smith, turned out to be much better than those of 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series.

This books was first published as a serialized novel in the newspaper 'The Scotsman'. This ensure the story is eventful as eventfulness is essential to engage interest in a serial. Also, you have to leave the reader looking forward for more in the next chapter.

This is an out and out Scottish novel - characters live in 44 Scotland Street. Pat is a twenty year old in her second year who shares her apartment with narcissistic Bruce, a surveyor by profession and who is, as he puts it, between girlfriends. Then there is Bruce's boss Todd who has a daughter Lizzy who is almost anti-social and seems to hate almost everyone, chiefly her parents.

Pat doesn't like Bruce, yet seems to be falling for him. Her only friend seems to be an elderly anthropologist lady Domenica McDonald who always has interesting stories to tell. Her boss Mathew, a drifter himself, seems to be falling for her too.

At the end of the book, most characters are at crossroads and it is next book that'll reveal their destinies.

Interesting, informative and amusing. Look forward to read second.

P.S: Btw, Ian Rakin features as himself in the book.
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Des personnages succulents mais une sensation étrange d'éparpillement et d'inachevé au sortir de ce livre. Trop de personnages, des situations incomplètes... dommage car j'aimais bien l'idée. ( )