This book follows the 44 Scotland Street, #1 book. It picks off exactly where the last one ends.Life continues to move for all the residents. Bertie has few victories and few disastrous rebellious phases, his father comes to his rescue in this book.His mother, Irene has things to deal with herself.There is Domenica who is fleetingly present in the book as compared to the last, the most entertaining however are her conversations with Agnus while Cyril ( the dog) watches on.Bruce has set out on a new adventure , the ups and downs of which do not prick his self-image.Matthew’s father is in the picture this book which adds a new flavour to his part of the story. Big Lou also appears at the fringes. Pat has the most interesting life of them all, since she is involved in almost everyone’s story and last but not the least, we have pompous Ramsey Dunbarton who is busy reciting his cherished memoirs to his ( semi) interested wife.
All these small incidents tie up to show the different way interpersonal relationships work.This book focuses on conversation, confrontations between different people in the same families. That seems to be the underlying theme which carries this book. A very intelligent read by any standard.
New words I stumbled on:
- Scatalogical:
1 : interest in or treatment of obscene matters especially in literature.
2 : the biologically oriented study of excrement (as for taxonomic purposes or for the determination of diet)
- Meretricious: apparently attractive but having no real value.
Past books of this series reviewed:
- Sunshine on Scotland Street (44 Scotland Street, #8) – McCall Smith, Alexander
- Bertie’s Guide to Life and Mothers (44 Scotland Street, #9) by Alexander McCall Smith
I recently got approved for a few new advanced reader copies of new books! There will definitely be more reviews to come this month.
