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Unbearable Lightness of Scones

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Unbearable Lightness of Scones

Written by: Alexander McCall Smith
Narrated by: Robert Ian MacKenzie
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About this listen

New York Times best-selling, award-winning author Alexander McCall Smith delivers the fifth entertaining novel from his 44 Scotland Street series.

Precocious six-year-old Bertie joins the scouts to escape his mother, Matthew learns to handle the challenges of marriage, and Domenica deals with loneliness. Even four-legged Cyril gets in on the action, finding himself a bit of canine romance.

©2009 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Mystery Fiction

What the critics say

"It is impossible to come away from an Alexander McCall Smith novel without a smile on the lips and warm fuzzies in the heart." ( Chicago Sun-Times)
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Most Relevant
While I thoroughly enjoyed reading McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, I cannot say the same of his 44 Scotland series.
Through Angus Lordie, McCall Smith scarcely bothers to disguise the character's constant digressions on Scotland the mother ? father ? -land. These are intrusive, have little or usually nothing to do with the matters in hand, and become grating after the first 1/2 dozen. They contribute neither to the deveopment of character nor to the enhancement of story situations . What they do achieve is to provide him with a constant springboard from fiction to politics. I have always been an enthusiastic supporter of the independence of Scotland (surname Gordon ? what would you expect ? ). However, McCall Smith actually succeeded in making me question seriously how wrong the last, lost referendum was.
In 44 Scotland people seem to be only caricatures : weak wimps, manipulative Machiavellis, big and big hearted or small and vicious as badgers. I don't need or want to read about such sterotypes : all I have to do is listen to the news. Writers can use such types to satirize society, but I cannot detect any such effort on McCall Smith's part. He excells at creating people who are easy to dislike, even detest -- but he Does nothing with them. He uses every opportunity to launch into the political-verbal equivalent of Scotland the Brave.
Please Mr McCall Smith, do yourself and your readers a favour and cease and desist such low practices. Or read Maeve Binchy of Erin and learn from -- gasp ! horror of horrors ! -- a woman.

Politics or Polemic ? Stories or Springboard ?

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