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Summary: Not just a detective story
Review: I bought this book on a whim, having gone into the bookstore with the intention of buying a completely different book. I put that book back and bought No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency instead. I'm not a detective or mystery fan at all. I visited Kenya a few years ago and I hoped this book would bring memories of Africa back.
I can't even say how much I enjoyed this book. Particularly the opening chapters are very good. It's very simple, powerful, very funny too. It gives a view of Southern Africa that only someone who has lived there all his life can give.
My only criticism is a kind of inexperience or clumsiness by McCall Smith towards the end of the book. Foreshadowing which doesn't really deliver. The ending might be a little pat. But there is so much so good about this book that I plan to get the other two in the series and can't wait for the new one next spring!
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Summary: Precious Reads
Review: In Precious Ramotswe, Alexander McCall Smith creates a beguiling character. Precious is a detective, the first female detective in Botswana and owner of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Precious is a middle aged woman with a prominent posterior, whose self image and poetic praise of the simple things in life - like a dish of cooked pumpkin - are arresting to a reader surrounded by urban materialism and Western notions of attractiveness. Through Precious, the reader is willingly enticed into a love affair with the landscape and values and people of Botswana. But Precious is far from a simple woman. The stories about the tragic life of her beloved father, her own disastrous marriage and move into the detective business are all enlivened by her capacity to find lessons from each painful experience. It therefore comes as no surprise that she is a very successful detective. Helped along by her handy and hilarious "how to" text, her undeniable intellect and talent for nosiness, she is soon finding answers where others have not. There are three books in this series and they are all wonderful. Each left me with a smile on my face and a desire to reread some of Precious' wry observations (favourites include those about the sad weaknesses of men and a number about the inferiority of neighbouring African countries) or her poetic descriptions of the world around her. The mysteries - plus their solutions - are also satisfying.
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Summary: Great book, simple summer reading.
Review: Removes you from the bustle of American life and transports you to the dust of Botswana. A simple morality play and clever who-dun-it with each chapter. The simplicity of the language makes it shine.
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Summary: Like taking a mini vacation!
Review: The title of this book called my attention so much, I bought the book in the spot. What a wonderful surprise it was. I immersed myself in this story. Precious Ramotswe is a charming character that will take you for a trip you won't forget. This is one of those unique books that let you really feel the characters and the culture where they live, just by the way they act and think on their every day life. I went into the internet and researched the country of Botswana, so I could enjoy the book even better. Mc Call Smith has a wonderful way with words. I marked two or three pages during the reading of the story and found myself going back to reread them. Only this kind of writer can make one truly enjoy reading something as simple as a character waking up in the middle of the night to have a glass of water. Wonderfully written to the smallest detail and with so much good humor too! Is a detective story so of course most of the mysteries are resolved in a satisfactory way, and if they aren't be ready for a good laugh. Definitely recommend this book and can't wait to read the next one in the series.
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Summary: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Review: The Number One Ladies? Detective Agency, the number one installment in Alexander McCall Smith?s Precious Ramotswe series (okay, I know that I just said a lot but it is better to be done with all that at once rather than having to subject the reader to an attempt at constructing an urbane and cohesive first several sentences that incorporate all of the aforementioned information), introduces the reader to the lady detective and her number one lady agency at its inception.
McCall Smith?s lucid, fluid prose adds remarkable depth and ease of reading to this already fine story. Ramotswe?s Botswana is a land of tradition dealing with ineveitable arrival of modernization. Unlike some more hardened detectives, however, Ramotswe does not seek to raze one opposite in favor of the other but to preserve the better qualities of each in the midst of a world that continually brings the two into conflict. The seemingly arbitrary progression of the novel can be a bit annoying at times but the individual episodes stand to reinforce each other. This reader gives this first Ramotswe mystery a fine score of seven and two-thirds thumbs up (out of a possible ten).
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Summary: Africa, Africa
Review: History, memory, and place all play central roles in Smith's beautifully crafted detective novel. "We don't forget," protagonist Mma Ramotswe muses. "Our heads may be small, but they are as full of memories as the sky may sometimes be full of swarming bees, thousands and thousands of memories, of smells, of places, of little things that happened to us and which come back, unexpectedly, to remind us who we are." This quote is indicative of the manner in which "Precious" Ramotswe solves the mysteries that she confronts - she reaches deep into her own identity, her country of Botswana, her family, and her experiences to feel her way through various investigations. Ramotswe accepts Africa, with its blemishes, its various problems. Perhaps her intention to open a "Ladies' Detective Agency" has at its root an essential desire to address the roots of these problems from a uniquely African angle. Ramotswe realizes that, in her detective efforts, she is more successful when she relies upon her instincts and her knowledge of her country than upon any Western standards of detection. Similarly, her Detective Agency is a demonstration that Africa's future need not rely upon Western standards; Botswana can travel a parallel path to Western culture, and Africa should not be judged by Western ideals. Ultimately, the parallel between Ramotswe and Africa results in a declaration of the beauty of both; Precious is "mother, Africa, wisdom, understanding, good things to eat, pumpkins, chicken, the smell of sweet cattle breath, the white sky across the endless, endless bush, and the giraffe that cried, giving its tears for women to daub on their baskets." Trevor's descriptions of Africa are superb and his female detective is bound for great things.
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Summary: "She was a good detective, and a good woman" (2)
Review: When Mma Romotwe's father dies leaving her his cattle to sell in order to open a business, she decides to go against recommendations of a butchery or some other regular business to open the first detective agency in her country. She feels it is her "duty to help [people] solve the mysteries in their lives" (2). A series of moral tales with a focus on honesty and doing the right thing range from the case where a doctor does difficult procedures one day and is completely incompetent the next, to wives who want to know if their husbands are cheating, to a woman who is unsure if the man who claims he is her father is really just using her. The best tale gives hope of the country progressing to allow women to use their intellectual potential and independence freely when an overprotective father hires Mma Romostwe to find out if his daughter has a boyfriend, but she relates and befriends the little girl, Nandira, who displays traits of Mma Romostwe herself. Woven throughout these smaller cases is a more sinister and bigger case involving the taboo witchcraft circles in Africa where young boys' bones are used for certain medicines. Mma Romotswe's intellect, which she learned early from hard work and simple things like counting trees, always prevails and her intuition ("the eyes allowed you to see right into a person, to penetrate their very essence" (5) ) proves correct. A beautiful and uplifting read, this unconventional detective novel is much more than solving a few mysteries. Also, while tackling everyone else's mysteries, Mma Romotswe still finds time to learn about, fight, and sometimes love both snakes and men as her private history of independence and love unfolds. At the end of the day, Mma Romotswe focuses on the little things: "you could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin" (81).
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Summary: Double Duty
Review: Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a passionate tale of a love affair with Africa alongside a poignant tale of a struggle for gender equality. Precious Ramotswe, a private detective, sets up her first business venture in the African country of Botswana with her inheritance from her father's death. Coupled with Precious' desire to honor her father's cherished memory, this rotund detective is driven to make a solid place for herself in the male-dominated professional world. Social commentary abounds throughout the text through small details. For instance, the success that Precious meets in her detective endeavors stems not from her trusty "Detective Guide" written by a male but from following her own female intuition. Also, the author's passion and respect for an independently governed Africa shine through as peaceful Botswana is continually juxtaposed with the apartheid-ridden South Africa. Readers will enjoy the adventures and risks that Precious Ramotswe encounters through this fun, unique, and socially challenging first novel of the series.
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Summary: The Lighter Side of Detection
Review: Political upheaval, false appearances, and a variety of complicated parental and male/female relationships are expertly crafted into the plot of Alexander McCall Smith?s, The No. 1 Ladies Detective. Alexander McCall Smith places Precious Ramotswe in an environment that responds suspiciously towards women who reject the culturally accepted maternal role. Precious is presented as a successful detective not because of her educational background but instead because of her intuition, common sense, and easy was of interacting with people. Precious Ramotswe handles clients and criminals effectively using a light and sometimes comical manner. Through her work, she enables herself and other women to question their role as women in this society and within the traditional family structure. Precious helps support several of her clients as they stand up to tyrannical male figures. Ramotswe appears most entertaining when interacting with more traditional male characters. Her understanding of the traditional male view of her life and their assumptions of her intelligence allow her to create situations in which the male characters demonstrate their own stupidity. Precious Ramotswe?s life and role in the novel allow her to witness and explore a variety of relationships between male and female characters. Ramotswe seems most admirable for her personal strength and her knowledge of what she wants from her own relationships. These characteristics identify her as a powerful figure who is capable of setting her own guidelines concerning her role in this community and in her intimate relationships.
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Summary: twist on detective fiction
Review: Set in rural Botswana, Alexander McCall Smith's novel adds a twist to the conventional detective mystery. The striking feature in Smith's story is not a captivating crime with clues that keep the reader guessing. Rather, the life of detective heroine Mma. Ramotswe governs the novel's focus. Readers will more often find themselves chuckling at Mma. Ramostwe's dry humor than piecing together a compelling mystery. Described as a heavy-set, middle-aged woman, Mma. Ramotswe relates to characters and readers at a basic, human level. For instance, after a frustrating day at work, the novel tells how she returns to the comfort of her home and routine pumpkin dinner, something that "brought you down to earth ... [and] gave you reason for going on" (81). Furthermore, Mma. Ramostwe often serves as a counselor to her clients. In several instances Smith likens her position to a priest or doctor and calls her a "fixer of lives." Mma. Ramostwe discovers techniques in professional detective manuals prove less effective than her intuition and listening skills. Smith does an excellent job developing Mma. Ramotswe's character outside of her detective work sphere. The first several chapters are devoted to telling about Mma. Ramotswe's father and her family. To a reader eager to dive into hunting clues, this background detail can seem laborious and tedious; however, learning about her family history is essential in seeing Mma. Ramotswe as more than a one-dimensional Sherlock Holmes detective. Knowing about parts of Mma. Ramostwe's personal life, such as her deceased father and failed marriage, enables readers to understand the motives behind Mma. Ramostwe's detective agency and her attitude toward gender and domestic issues. Mma. Ramostwe never attempts to unearth a mass murderer or serial killer; instead, she works mainly on domestic cases involving cheating husbands and disobedient daughters. Readers may be frustrated that no common thread seems to tie Mma. Ramostwe's seemingly unrelated cases together. However, the lackluster and somewhat random nature of her cases enhances Mma. Ramostwe's character and parallels a realistic detective agency, in which investigators aren't constantly putting their life on the line to unearth a sensational crime. Mma. Ramostwe struggles with issues common to many independent agencies, such as making ends meet and cooperating with her secretary and various clients. Placing Mma. Ramostwe as the central feature of his novel allows Smith to reveal a humanistic side to detection that sensational murder mysteries and traditional Sherlock Holmes novels lack.
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