A flat of characters (44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith)

Member Name: blackviolets

Product:	44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith
Date:	01/08/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to read, good characters.quite funny

Disadvantages: n/a

I'm not the worlds biggest crime reader. Police officers, and tired out detectives aren't usually featured on my books to read list. The closest this book came to approaching some kind of crime was a shop being broken into, and even then it was only worth about 2 pages. Yet for some unknown reason without even reading or picking it up I thought that it involved all kinds of criminal activity. Anyhow I was stuck for something to read, saw this on the shelf and whad'ya know I was pleasantly surprised!

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe and was educated there before moving to Scotland, studying law at the University of Edinburgh. Since becoming a Professor of medical law he has gone onto writing over 30 novels, ranging from childrens storys, academic works, short stories and books for older readers.

44 Scotland Street is book number one of a series and was first published in a magazine over a period of several weeks. Turned into a paperback edition in 2005 it has gained popularity over the years, explaining why a one off novel managed to create 4 other books surrounding the characters.

The book starts off with being introduced to Pat, in her 20s she is now on her second gap year and has decided to break away from her parents and move out. Managing to secure herself a job in a gallery, working alongside a rich but pretty useless man who knows nothing about art isn't exactly ideal but discovering what one of her flatmates is like is a lot less appealing.

This book isn't all featured on Pat though, it's based on the other tennants of the building as well, revealing little parts of their lives and what they like to keep hidden behind closed doors. Parents who are obsessed with having their 5 year old son not enjoy the things which little boys would normally like to take part in. A man who lives in the basement, never showing his face. A woman who lives alone but has a lot to share with anyone who'll listen and then Bruce, Pats narcissistic, self loving, rugy playing flatmate.

There isn't really any underlying plot behind this book as it features little bits of the buildings tennants lives which don't tend to mingle with anybody elses. It's more of a collection of short stories all pulled together because of the flat.

In total there are 14 characters to contend with, although 6 of them are only minor roles there is enough mention of them to make you a bit confused as to who they are and what they have to do with anybody. This includes a winking dog with a gold tooth which belongs to a man who doesn't come into the story till right near the end.

It has been described as being 'a book of gentle yet comic genius' which I suppose I can agree with. When novels say somewhere on the cover at how laugh out loud, and side splittingly funny it is usually I turn away. In the majority of cases these are just words which mean nothing, where the book struggles to reach any amount of humour whatsoever. In this case though it produced a worthy amount of smiling which is worth pointing out as I rarely find books funny

It was interesting because it was able for me to look at a character and then be reminded of somebody I knew who seemed to show the same type of personality, something which doesn't happen all that often.

Containing small signs of romance, the gaining of friendships which you might not of expected and the loss of things which you discover are nothing of value are just some of the storylines which are involved.

It would be difficult for me to put this under some kind of catagory. It is neither a romantic fiction nor a comedy. Nothing to do with crime or that of mystery or fantasy. In this rare occassion it is just a good book.

It took me the best part of 2 days to fully read this and it is one that I shall look at again. I haven't gotten round to reading the 4 other books which are included in this series but I do intend to as I have gotten quite attatched to Domenica MacDonald, a neighbour who has a lot to say about everything!

For me this is a great story and gives a valid amount of enjoyment to fill in an hour or so when you have nothing else to do but don't feel like watching the telly. The events which happen are all things which could happen in real life but Alexander McCall Smith has managed to write it in a way which makes you to not want it to stop.

It would cost you £6.99 from WHSmiths but just under £5 from Amazon. A book which you should definetly invest in.

If you liked The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency you may also enjoy this book.

Summary: .