Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 I wish I knew the People that live at 44 Scotland Street... June 9, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
...if nothing else they are entertaining. This is the second in Alexander McCall Smiths 44 Scotland Street series. I absolutely loved the first one, and this didn't disappoint either. The stories of the characters we met first in 44 Scotland street are continued. I especially love the 6 year old prodigy Bertie, and his awful mother. Although I must admit to wanting to hit Bruce - hard! I do enjoy the way Alexander McCall Smith writes, there is real feel good factor to his novels. It won't be long before I read the third of this series which I have tucked away waiting to be read.
A Complete Delight! May 31, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
 More a yummy frappuccino January 1, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If anyone takes this book seriously, they're making a mistake. I've just finished Espresso Tales and from reading 44 Scotland Street I knew I was in for a light read and had to suspend belief if only to enjoy it.
Look at the signals from the previous book - a Conservative Party dinner that only has six people - a five year old boy suspended from nursery for writing rude Italian graffiti on the toilet walls - a surveyor who is so vain and self centered no-one in Edinburgh would likely give him a job [I wouldn't]. It wasn't likely, but it was funny.
This time it's even less believable, but even funnier. It's the ridiculous, almost surreal quality in Bertie's story that makes it so funny.
The Ramsay chapters ARE boring, but that's the point. The man has worked away at his life and his high points are hardly more interesting than the day to day of Pat, Domenica and Bruce. Read the chapters [and they are mercifully short] as a comment on how boring it might be to be a solicitor in Edinburgh. The law is such a big deal in Edinburgh and most of us that live here just ignore it.
It's great to read about places you know and to share in Bertie's trials and tribulations. If you only read one strand of the book, read about Bertie. Psycho-babble aside it does raise questions of how children are pushed by their parents and how some people stand by and let it happen.
we don't get to hear more about Stuart and Irene at the end of the story and how they deal with the new circumstances that they find themselves in. McCall Smith has ended some story arcs and let others peter out. This is a bit like real life, but it does make you wonder whether he can manage to pull it together in the third book. According to the reviews, it seems he has.
 McYawn! December 7, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Well, I loved the first book, tube travel has never been such a pleasure! On more than one occasion I contemplated sitting on the Northern Line all the way to High Barent - it was just such a fun book to read.
I was really looking forward to Espresso Tales and couldn't wait to take the slow train to Leeds to make a good 2 hour dent in the book!
Although a enjoyed reading it I feel it lacked the passion and humour of the first in the series. I have to agree with other reviewers the Ramsey chapters left me yawning!
I would recommend reading all of McCall Smith's books although I felt this was the poorer it was still a good read.
I just hope the 3rds better than the first!
44 Scotland Street Gets A Kick September 17, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Well, it looks as though the commute is doing its job because suddenly I am falling behind in my blogging, as opposed to my reading. I've finished two books in the past week and, thus far, haven't found time to write about them. Therefore there might be a kind of double feature thing going on here.. that is, if I don't fall asleep first (hey, I have to get up early!).
I know I said I would try to wait to read Alexander McCall Smith's Espresso Tales until a trip to Edinburgh was on the horizon. But with a new job and no holiday time in sight, as well as a fairly depleted bank balance, I decided to take the plunge.
To give the author his due, when I saw the novel sitting in WH Smith, I really couldn't resist buying it. I've compared McCall Smith to J.K. Rowling previously, and the way I felt when I saw Espresso Tales can only be related to the way I feel when I catch sight of the new Harry Potter on the shelves--I felt like I was getting my friends back (yup, pretty pathetic).
Anyway, it was great to see what Pat, Bruce and the gang from 44 Scotland Street were up to. As well as the old favourites, McCall Smith introduced some new characters--namely a nudist love interest for Pat, and a Glasgow con artist whom child prodigy Bertie beats at cards.
Although I enjoyed the book and will undoubtedly read the third (and most likely last, according to McCall Smith) installment to The Scotsman serialisation, I felt that the novel was missing something. The plot antics seemed too desperate and exaggerated, and there were some characters (i.e. Ramsey Dunbarton) I could've done without knowing more about.
Nonetheless, there were parts of the book that were absolutely laugh-out-loud funny, and the characterisation was, as always, flawless. Sitting on the Tube in the baking heat, there really is no better place than 44 Scotland Street.
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