The Kalahari Typing School for Men

Rating:
Summary: Three cheers for McCall Smith and his fabulous book!
Review: Western writers usually enter Africa by way of a protagonist who belongs to their own culture (missionary, functionary, explorer, soldier, mail-order bride) and is venturing into unknown territory. So it is one of the mysteries --- and miracles --- of recent fiction that a Scotsman named Alexander McCall Smith should have created a character like Precious Ramotswe, the full-bodied, clear-headed, absolutely captivating investigator who inhabits all four of his Botswana novels: THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY, TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE, MORALITY FOR BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, and now, THE KALAHARI TYPING SCHOOL FOR MEN.

Mma Ramotswe (in traditional Botswana culture, honorifics are always used; it seems rude not to do so in the review as well) has had a tough life: married to an abusive jazz musician, she loses her baby and then her beloved father. But she finds her vocation: she sets up the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and is soon attracting clients. She also acquires a fiancé, garage owner Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, two orphans, and a sidekick, Mma Makutsi, who received a grade of 97 percent on her exams at the Botswana Secretarial College. You don't have to be familiar with the first three books to follow the action in KALAHARI --- McCall Smith is careful to supply context for the first-time reader --- but I think it's better to discover them in order. Not only do you gradually develop a sense of Mma Ramotswe and her life on Zebra Drive (yep, that's the name of her street), but you also become deeply fond of Botswana (this is important since, to the average Westerner, Africa is still a "dark" --- that is, unknown --- continent). These wise, charming books leave you feeling washed clean and peaceful, with an expanded sense of humanity.

Although KALAHARI and the other books are technically mysteries, plot is not the main thing here. There are interlocking events --- a man across town opens a new detective agency; Mma Makutsi starts a typing school for men; Mma Ramotswe solves a case or two --- but there is little real tension or suspense. What keeps you reading is the wonderful writing: pure, economical, funny, utterly lacking in condescension. The evocation of Botswana is often lyrical (its quiet roads, its ubiquitous cattle). Sometimes the stories seem fable-like, as if McCall Smith is telling them around a campfire in the deep African night. This impression is reinforced by the repetition of certain phrases. Mma Ramotswe has a "tiny white van" and is "traditionally built." She believes in "the old Botswana morality" --- a phrase that covers everything from knocking and calling out "Ko Ko" before you enter someone's house to the deeper sense of courtesy and integrity that is being overwhelmed by modern life.

It is one of the many ironies of this wonderful book that Mma Ramotswe and her cohorts, despite their professed yearning for traditional values, are actually the smartest, most progressive people around. Because they are authentic and honest and guided by common sense rather than greed or pride, they make phony modernists like the proprietor of the rival Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency look like idiots (the scene in which Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi pay him a visit is priceless). Indeed, THE KALAHARI TYPING SCHOOL FOR MEN, more than the others in the series, is very much occupied with gender; it has a feminist streak a mile wide.

Consider the characters McCall Smith gives us: the entrepreneurial Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi; the imposing head of the orphan farm, Mma Potokwani, who wangles free products and services from everyone ("It would take a degree of courage that few possessed to turn [her] down"); Mma Tsolamosese, whose daughter has died of AIDS and who is caring for her doomed grandchild with dignity and compassion; and Mma Boko, who is head of a local branch of the Botswana Rural Women's Association but refuses to run for office because "all [men] do is talk about money and roads and things like that. ... We women have more important things to talk about."

With sly humor and wry tolerance, the novel captures that conspiratorial sense among women --- in any culture --- that men are not quite up to their standards (Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni being the exception, of course): "The trouble with men," muses Mma Ramotswe, "was that they went about with their eyes half closed for much of the time. ... That was why women were so good at tasks which required attention to the way people felt. Being a private detective, for example. ..." Or Mma Makutsi, commenting on the essays written by her typing-school students: "All of life seemed to be laid out before her: mothers, wives, football teams, ambitions at work, cherished motor cars; everything that men liked." And when Mma Ramotswe says her foster son is going through "a difficult patch," a friend replies dryly: "Boys do go through times like that. It can last for fifty years."

McCall Smith, it turns out, was born in what is now Zimbabwe (then called Southern Rhodesia) and taught law at the University of Botswana, but those facts alone hardly explain his astounding ability to enter the soul of a woman as well as the soul of Africa. He, like Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, must be one of the exceptions, a good man. He is certainly an imaginative and observant one. Somehow he manages to communicate the specific feel and spirit of Botswana while also creating characters that transcend the barriers of geography, culture, and gender.

McCall Smith is writing a fifth Precious Ramotswe book, according to his publisher, and has started a new series featuring another lady detective, Isabel Dalhousie (Scottish father, American mother). I can't wait.

--- Reviewed by Kathy Weissman

Rating:
Summary: Tales of Karmic Debts and Spiritual Healing
Review: The Kalahari Typing School for Men continues as the fourth installment in the fine series about Botswana's first lady detective, Mma. Precious Ramotswe, which was begun in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and followed by Tears of the Giraffe and Morality for Beautiful Girls. Alexander McCall Smith does a fine job of providing the background from the first three novels in the opening of this one, and the book is almost as stand-alone as The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The Kalahari Typing School for Men continues several themes in the prior books including the superiority of women over men, the importance of being organized and diligent, following your heart and spirit to do the right thing . . . in the right way, and intriguing questions about what is moral behavior in complex situations.

The book continues its humorous backdrop as Precious finds herself up against an experienced male competitor who opens the Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency. The competitor proves to be very annoying to Precious, and she struggles to maintain her optimism in the face of this new trial.

With Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni back working energetically at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mma. Makutsi finds herself dissatisfied. She's really operating as a secretary to both companies rather than as an assistant detective and acting manager, as she had done before. When a new client shows up and insists on speaking with Precious alone, Mma. Makutsi's unhappiness grows. But she shakes herself off, and finds a new opportunity in establishing The Kalahari Typing School for Men, the most unique educational establishment you will probably ever read about.

Precious deals with two client cases . . . neither of which is really a mystery in the normal literary sense. But deciding how to represent her clients' best interests provides weighty challenges of Biblical proportions.

I was a little disappointed in the book, though. Unlike the earlier three books, it lacks the powerful presence of wild Africa to add character and spice. Increasingly, I felt like I was reading just another comic novel about a woman who is trying to juggle all of the balls at once without dropping one. While that is certainly entertaining, this book lacked the uniqueness that made the other books such continuing and pleasant surprises.

As I finished the book, I thought about the special relationship between novelists and their readers. When a novelist establishes a character and a setting for a series of novels, readers expect that what makes that character and setting precious to them will continue. When a book attempts to go off in a new direction, readers should be glad of the author's willingness to experiment. But I do think that the author should provide a valuable substitute if precious elements are left behind. For example, if this novel had been set in an intriguing new locale because Precious had to move, the pleasure of learning about that locale would have made the book's switch in direction worthwhile.

Novelists, keep your implicit promises to your readers!

Rating:
Summary: A hugely popular cozy mystery series
Review: Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana is faced with several problems in this, the fourth and latest volume of the international best-selling series by Mr. Smith. First of all, Mma. Ramotswe has competition when another detective agency comes into town run by a man who feels women are second rate. His credentials are a bit suspect. I.e.. He claims to have had detective training in some large cities including New York. Second, her assistant, Mma. Makutsi, has started a typing school for men and has met a wonderful man who claims to love her. The question is who is he and is he trustworthy. These problems will all be solved prior to the ending of this delightful little novel.
The term "cozy" was made for this type of book. There is no bloodletting or violence of any kind. It is purely character driven and what charming and polite characters they are! The books are slight enough that we get to know the characters, the problems they must solve, and the resolution before the book ends in a length perfect for one sitting. I fully understand the popularity of these books. They remind the reader of the Golden Age of mystery fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Ten used typewriters for bait
Review: The Detective Agency is in a bind. Income from clients isn't matching costs of operations. Even the merging of facilities by moving the Agency to the site of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors and elevating Mma Grace Makutsi to Assistant Manager [along with her already being Assistant Detective] hasn't increased the cash flow. Now, in the midst of business and personal crises, a new detective agency is established in Gaborone. It's run, of course, by [shudder!] a man! And what a man! Cephas Buthelezi is a name commanding respect. Whether this man is an inheritor of Zulu traditional power and deserves deference remains to be seen. Will he corral all of the Ladies' Detective Agency's potential clients?

Compounding the business stress are the personal issues. Precious Ramotswe, founder of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, has become a foster parent of two orphans. The girl, confined to a wheelchair, has been subjected to schoolmate taunting. Her brother has developed new and disturbing behaviour, typified by the killing of a hoopoe bird, unheard of in Botswana. Beyond the children's problems is the ongoing, but not fulfilled, engagement of Precious and Mr J.L.B. Matekone. Will they ever wed?

More to the point of this tale is Mma Makutsi's spinsterhood. As the highest scoring graduate of her typing school, McCall Smith makes her more intellectual than desirable. Yet these very attributes should make her a prime catch for men following Botswanan tradition. And in Mma Makutsi the author shows how these traditions should be respected. Although her "typing school for men" [using ten used typewriters] is created to help the issue of cash flow, is there a more subliminal motive? As it happens, much of the story pivots on this question.

There is, as there must be, a "case" to be solved. As with all McCall Smith's tales of Mma Ramotswe's business, it departs from any typical mystery novel. A hesitant man calls on her services with a special requirement. There was a crime, perhaps two, but it was long ago. The victims may not be alive or perhaps far away. Precious is charged with finding them for a unique resolution to long distant events. As always, she rises to challenge with common sense, a bit of personality manipulation, and effective negotiation. As always, she does it all with tact, forbearance and skill, leaving none hurt or regretful.

McCall Smith's narrative skills in weaving events and characters have few peers. Although it's doubtful Precious Ramotswe is a "typical" Botswanan, she's a character worth emulating. The author follows the modern pattern of making men either arrogant or weak, but that, unfortunately, drives sales these days. Perhaps when Mr J.L.B. Matekone emerges from his doldrums, McCall Smith will be able to restore some balance. One hopes it doesn't take too many books to achieve that. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Rating:
Summary: Another Wonderful Book in the Series
Review: Even though this book is the fourth in the series about the No. 1 Ladies' Detection Agency, it could easily be picked up and read, not having read the previous three books. The reason is that the author starts the book by giving a good summary, in several pages, of the most important points of the previous books. As good as each book in the series has been, it seems as if every new book is even better!

This book imparts the wisdom of experience through the characters. I actually cried with the characters when they cried. This book finds Precious Ramotswe still unmarried, and Mma Makutsi starting a typing school, and with a boyfriend. The cases taken on are as interesting as always, and their resolutions impart wisdom to the reader. This book left me immediately eager to pick up the fifth book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Fortunately, NOT the Last in the Series! MORE! MORE!
Review: Alexander McCall Smith has written over 50 books from specialized works as The Criminal Law of Botswana, Forensic
Aspects of Sleep to Children's books. He currently is a Professor of Medical Law at Edinburgh University

The Kalahari Typing School For Men
Now that The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (UNTIL NOW, the only detective agency for ladies and others in Botswana) is established, its founder, Precious Ramotswe, can look upon her life with pride: she's reached her late thirties ("the finest age to be"), has a house, two children, a good fiancé -- Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni -- and many satisfied customers. But life is never without its problems. It turns out that her adopted son is responsible for the dead hoopoe bird in the garden; her assistant, Mma Makutsi, wants a husband and needs help with her idea to open the Kalahari Typing School for Men; yet Mma Ramotswe's sexist rival has no trouble opening his Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency across town. Will Precious Ramotswe's delightfully cunning and profoundly moral methods save the day? Follow the continuing story of Botswana's first lady detective in the irresistible "Kalahari Typing School for Men".
Readers who haven't yet discovered Mma Ramotswe will enjoy discovering how her quiet humor, understated observations on life, and resolutely intuitive approach to detection promise to put Botswana on the sleuthing map for good.
IF there is a downside to this excellent series of enchanting mysteries, it is that it takes several years after a books initial release overseas to appear in US publication. Readers who are hooked on the lovable characters, beautiful setting and imaginative plots will be glad to know that The Full Cupboard of Life (the 5th in the series, is to be published by Polygon UK May 2003). And in a recent interview Alexander McCall Smith forsees even more books in the series! When will Mma Ramotswe and Mr J.L.B. Metekoni tie the knot (is that the correct phrase for getting married in Botswana?). What further adventures and Life's lessons will the group encounter and share with their readers? I for one CAN'T WAIT!!!

The Full Cupboard of Life (the 5th in the series, is to be published by Polygon UK May 2003)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for it's unique and likable characters and exotic setting. The uniqueness of the mysteries
reflect a simpler lifestyle than many of us live and especially expect in a "mystery". TOTAL ENJOYMENT!
John Row

Rating:
Summary: Another Little Gem
Review: This is the fourth installment in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series and once again Mr. Smith gives us a dose of African pleasure.

Precious Ramotswe finds a cure for her fiance Mr. J.L.B. Maketoni's depression and they are back on track. Her assistant Mma Makutsi starts her own typing class for men and falls in love. We get to know the apprentist mechanics a bit better and meet a few more interesting characters in search of mystery solutions from the detective agency. A few scenes are laugh out loud funny. Another enjoyable and easy read from Alexander McCall Smith.

I rated this book one star less than the others in this series because of the fact that I felt portions of this book were repeats of the prior ones. I wish that author's who write a series would just allow the books to stand on their own without feeling the need to explain over and over again who and what the characters are. If a reader picks up the fourth book in a series without reading the first three.....isn't that the readers problem. I would have prefered more character's searching for answers than answers to questions that were already provided.

Rating:
Summary: Listen to the book!
Review: There is something about these books that really resonates with some readers. After reading the first novel, I did not really jump on the collective Botswana Bandwagon... I thought the books were nice, but found nothing exceptional about them. I am glad that I decided to continue with Book 2 though (that was my favorite so far in the series!) I decided to pick up the other books, starting with book 2, on Audio CD. I am much happier with the Audio CD versions than I was with reading the book. I found that reading the stories was a little tedious for me: The writing is very simplistic, and oftentimes the stories are very predictable. While these do show up in the Audio CD, I do not find myself as distracted by them as I did when I read the first two in the series. The reader, Lisette Lecat is absolutely superb. She is a native South African, and spent a number of years in Botswana. She knows the rhythm patterns and speech patterns of the people, and she distinguishes each character with a certain voice. This skill makes the dialogues much more interesting than reading them on the page, and her general narration really make the stories come alive for me. If it were not for her reading the books, I do not know if I would have stuck with this series.

The story of _Kalahari Typing School for Men_ was much like its immediate predecessor, _Morality for Beautiful Girls_. The novel focuses a great amount on the development of some characters, and leaves others "out to dry", and ultimately strays away from the things that made books 1 and 2 of the series so good: the cases, the interactions, and the values of the Botswana people. That is not to say that this book does not have any detective cases, but I find the novels have shifted from their original focus. However, one thing that I did like about this book is the increased role and development of Mma Makutsi. She is a great characters, and until book 3, Mma Makutsi existed in the shadows. I look forward to seeing her develop more in the next books.

I plan to LISTEN to book 5 very soon.

Rating:
Summary: Old and New Affairs
Review: "The Kalahari Typing School for Men" is Alexander McCall Smith's fourth novel in the detective series that began with "The Ladies' Number 1 Detective Agency." In this new installment, the detective cases are not so much crime stories as social and personal situations for private investigator Precious Ramotswe to resolve with her psychological insight and bold maneuvering.

The plot component that gives the novel its name concerns the effort of Mma Makutsi, the Agency's skillful office assistant, to found her own business, with unexpected personal consequences. Another new entrepreneur is not so welcome by the ladies - a flashy and contemptuous outsider who sets up a competing detective agency in Gaborone. In the novel's most serious subplot, an important client hires Mma Ramotswe to help him redress some wrongs in his past. The resolution of that case depends upon Mma Ramotswe's wise sense of justice and compassion.

In author Smith's charming series, the environment and culture of Botswana, as embodied in Mma Ramotswe and her friends and associates, is as compelling as the mystery. That is especially true of this volume. I like these books as much for their portrayal of Mma Ramotswe, for their evocation of Botswana and Africa, for their moral authority and psychological delicacy, for their depictions of community (with its strengths and weaknesses), for their generous humanity and genuine convictions, as for their detection. These books have heart. I especially like the narrative voice and prose style, deceptively simple in service of portraying its subjects, and often imbued with poetic lyricism about the landscapes of Africa.

Rating:
Summary: The Kalahari Tying School for Men
Review: I am admiring the main character, Mms Ramotswe, so much. She has such a wonderful insight into human behavior. The head of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency can handle good people and not so nice people with just the right amount of tact and sincerity. I really enjoyed this deep thinking but not complex read.