The Full Cupboard of Life: More From the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

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Summary: The title says it all. Life is a very "full cupboard" here.
Review: In his fifth novel about the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, run by Mma Precious Ramotswe, author Alexander McCall Smith presents the full cupboard of Botswana life in all its richness. For Mma Ramotswe, people and their relationships are paramount, and she believes that these relationships are facilitated by Botswana's traditional code of behavior, with its customs of greetings, sitting down together, drinking bush tea, and casually talking around a subject, rather than addressing it aggressively. Life is a rich, full, and happy experience for Mma Ramotswe, who can find out everything she wants to know from her broad network of family and friends. Engaged to the good-hearted Mr. J.L.B. Matakone, who has not yet set a date for a wedding, she helps him surreptitiously with his problems and cooks and cares for the two orphans he has taken into his home.

In this novel, full of gentle humor and wisdom, Mma Ramotswe and her friends face several "difficult" problems: A woman who has made a fortune establishing hair-braiding salons hires Mma Ramotswe to find out whether her suitors want to marry her for her money. Mr. J.L.B. Matakone finds himself tricked into "volunteering" to do a parachute jump, in order to raise money for the Orphan Farm run by the intrepid Mma Potokwane, who refuses to take no for an answer. He is also disturbed to discover that First Class Motors, a rival garage, has sold improper parts and failed to service a classic old Range Rover correctly, and he has been procrastinating about confronting the garage owner or reporting him to authorities. Mma Makutsi, the assistant at the detective agency, has been so successful running the Kalahari Typing School for Men at night, that her dream of renting her own house has now come true, and Mma Ramotswe is helping her to furnish all two rooms.

With an obvious lack of exciting plot lines, the reader focuses completely on the characters-- beautifully drawn, sometimes flawed, and always forgiven their faults. In a pace as leisurely as life in Botswana, McCall Smith recreates the colorful everyday lives of these ordinary people, who treasure friendships, treat each other with respect, and possess inherent good sense. Honoring the values that contemporary readers sometimes do not take the time to preserve, McCall Smith portrays complex social relationships in very simple and direct prose. Warm, gently humorous, and loving, McCall Smith creates a kind of vicarious nostalgia for this way of life, a nostalgia which readers will continue to indulge and treasure as the series continues. Mary Whipple

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Summary: People Are People All Over The World!
Review: In Smith's 5th book in the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series, he again concentrates on many of his recurring themes. Smith uses the detective agency as a backdrop, to discuss the morality and ethics of Botswana, as a microcosm of the whole world.

Because Botswana is a relatively small country, much of it being desert, the Botswanians tend to know each other, all over the country. This intimacy of course is less in the urban environments than in the more traditional rural areas. Nonetheless, by American standards, even the urban life is rather suburban if not rural in appearance.

The issues that Smith concentrates on are the feelings that are universal in virtually every society. While there are specific nuances in each country, and within a country, in each region, still, there are certain things, that are common to all. Men will always seek the love of women. Women will always be more selective than men in choosing their mate.

In Botswana, the meeting of the traditional versus the contemporary is deeply explored. The role of women in the Botswanian society is investigated and parsed. There are many types of women in Botswana, as there are many types of women in any part of the world.

But Smith also finds, that there are similarities between men and women, and that these similarities are universal and accepted by almost all societies. By using Botswana, as a developing third world nation, Smith allows the reader to look back at the early days of his/her own country, and then see how far their country has come, from inception, to today. While the detective plots lend an interesting backdrop to Smith's message, the real concentration in all of Smith's books in this series are the way in which people do treat others, and the way in which they should treat others. The book provides another wonderful view of cross-cultural interactions and perspectives.

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Summary: WIT AND WISDOM ON EVERY PAGE
Review: Life is good. Precious Ramotswe is back. Of traditional build and generous heart she's the indefatigable, irresistible proprietress of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

Fifth in the highly acclaimed series by Alexander McCall Smith "The Full Cupboard Of Life" finds Mma Ramotswe disconcerted by her long engagement to Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, a true gentleman and the best mechanic in Botswana. She wonders if she will forever be an engaged lady, "a status somewhere between spinsterhood and marriage."

Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni is also distracted.. His two apprentices are disappointments, apparently unable or unwilling to comprehend the high standards required of them in such trustworthy positions. He fears that their lackadaisical work will cause "great sadness among the cars of Botswana." He also faces a frightening parachute jump, the brainchild of Mma Potokwani.

Orphan farm matron Mma Potokwani is formidable. She, too, is of generous proportions, a state that only hinders when she attempts to bend over - a minor inconvenience since she is aware that "Men wanted women whose shape reminded them of good things on the table."

So, blessed with self-esteem and grit that matches her girth she presses on. Using a sweet cake wreathed with raisins as enticement she coaxes Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni into agreeing to jump from a plane as a fund-raiser for the orphans. Thus, the honest, gentle mechanic is reminded again that women are more clever than men. He yearns to disabuse her of this dangerous plan. Yet he fully realizes the difficulty in standing up to women - "it appeared to make little difference."

Mma Potokwani also tackles Botswana's's longest engagement, urging Mma Ramotswe to set a wedding date. When Mma Ramotswe demurs, explaining that Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni likes to consider things for long periods of time, Mma Potokwani counters with, "That is a weakness......there are some men who need to be organized by women."

Mma Ramotswe agrees with this logic much to the distress of her assistant, Mma Makutsi, who views the orphan home matron as the kind of forceful woman who would exploit a man's gentle nature.

Of course, Mma Makutsi would never have the temerity to voice disapproval, even though she is the successful head of a school (engagingly chronicled in "The Kalahari Typing School For Men,"). In addition, her thoughts are occupied by the purchase of a home. No longer must she perform her daily ablutions at an outdoor tap.

Her mind also turns to the Agency's latest client who has a problem she envies - four suitors. Mma Holonga is a wealthy woman who made a fortune through hair styling salons and a mixture called Special Girl Hair Braiding Preparation. While Mma Holonga may be adept at hair braiding she knows little about men. She asks Mma Ramotswe to investigate and discover which men are interested in her money and which are interested in her. A challenge, indeed.

Botswana is a place where all worries wash away with a steaming cup of bush tea, where it's a pleasure to sit in the sun and talk. "The Full Cupboard of Life" offers wit and wisdom on every page. Read it and you will find yourself very much like Botswanans on happy occasions - ululating with pleasure.

- Gail Cooke