Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Comfortably entertaining September 9, 2008
I enjoyed the first book in the 44 Scotland Street series and wanted to know more about the varied Edinburgh residents introduced therein. I wasn't disappointed and will read the books that followed Expresso Tales. The series is really an up-market soap-opera that is particularly appealing, I think, to those of us who know Edinburgh well. There are some in-jokes and mild satire about the prejudices and foibles particular to residents of different districts of the city. The mutual distrust between Edinburgh and Glasgow is humorously described. These books make comfortable bedtime reading that will make you laugh but won't keep you awake at night.
Not quite a double shot of Espresso August 23, 2008
This is the second instalment from Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street.
As a reader I was transported back to the lives of Bertie and his infernal mother, Irene, Bruce, Pat, Big Lou, Matthew and Domenica. As well as other new (and older) characters which were given more written word space than in the first book.
For the reason that I am not a resident or visitor to Edinburgh the `in' references are somewhat lost on me, as they were in the first book. However I have created an image of the area myself and I feel that this suffices just enough. In fact isn't that what reading is all about?
What I enjoyed about this book is the thought that certain key characters were going to get their comeuppance. Irene, Bertie's neurotic mother who continues to run the `Bertie Project' with defiant passion, sees her own life unravel. Dr Fairbairn answers back stating that she is the problem and her weak willed husband, Stuart decides to gain his son's boyhood back and assertively takes a stand and a paintbrush against all he disagrees with.
Bruce is the character that even the author suggests should get some sort of retribution but does he? The infuriating thing is as the reader you know whatever happens he will always come up smelling of roses.
Pat still seems to be a rather flat and wishy-washy character who I feel McCall Smith uses as the vehicle to introduce the other more flamboyant (Domenica), odd (Peter the nudist) and disastrous (Matthew) characters.
The element of humour is still within and I did find myself chuckling about everything that happens around Bertie. This is what drew me back to this series of books and will continue to do so. There is great satisfaction in the unravelling of Irene and the mystery of the missing Red Volvo that comes back with new door knobs and a missing gear! Are these people so self involved that they do not know where they left their car or is that the mystery?
The ending (if there is such a thing as an ending in this tale) leaves so much open that a third book was obvious and I will add that to my ever growing books to read.
A good book to dip in and out but you need the prior knowledge of book one to really get to grips with all the threads of the storyline.
 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
8 out of 8 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.
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