44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith

44 Scotland Street is a rather unique offering by Alexander McCall Smith of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency fame. Born in Zimbabwe, the author completed a portion of his education in Scotland and is in fact married to a Scot. In his quite delightful Preface he explains how the novel was the result of mouthing off about the death of the serialised novel in a Scottish newspaper. "The Scotsman" editorial staff took up his challenge and Alexander McCall Smith was forced to put his money where his pen was. "44 Scotland Street" was the result, published in daily portions.

The novel explores the lives of the residence of "44 Scotland Street", located in Edinburgh's New Town. The threads of each resident weave together to form a glimpse into a place and time in Edinburgh and result in more of a look at human nature than an overly developed plot. It is McCall Smith's ability to bring characters to life that is highlighted in this particular novel with the action taking a backseat.

A novel that succeeds or fails based on its characters can be slightly difficult to get into. I found myself picking the novel up, reading a few of the very brief chapters (there are 110 chapters in the 326 page novel) and then putting it back down. This is partially because there were so many characters that I strongly disliked at the start, particularly Bruce, the narcissistic, rugby-fan. Bruce is a distasteful character, but is treated fairly and we are reassured by one character that he is not a psychopath as he would never be cruel to animals. The "heroine" of the story, Pat, decides to let a room in Bruce's apartment and promptly falls in love with him. Such was my dislike of Bruce that I'm afraid I became quite annoyed at poor Pat as well.

It was only when I reached the second half of the book that I felt I knew the characters well enough to be really invested in the novel. The stories of five-year-old Bertie's attempts to punish his parents in order to be allowed to cease his pursuit of becoming a child-prodigy and just play with his trains is delightful and McCall Smith's running theme of the family's missing car is quite amusing. Another resident of the building, Domenica acts as an eccentric mentor to young Pat and one cannot help but becoming very attached to her. There do seem to be some peripheral characters, such as the daughter of Bertie's boss, who are introduced but not explored in enough depth for them to sit comfortably. Perhaps it was in fact the intent of the author to leave one feeling slightly off balance as the characters themselves find their lives slightly unstable.

Art and literature are both themes in the novel and are additionally used to explore the concept of class mentality. Pat's second gap year finds her working in an art gallery for the hapless heir to a fortune, Matthew. The two might have found a work by a well known Scottish artist but struggle to hold onto it. Lou, the proprietor of the café/pub that Matthew frequents rather than actually working, found herself the owner of the contents of an entire used bookstore which she is in fact reading her way through. She provides commentaries on Proust, which reminded me that I've never managed to get through more than a paragraph or two by the man myself. Pat finds herself befriended by an eccentric (There are a lot of eccentric characters so I'm overusing that word. Perhaps Edinburgh is a particularly eccentric place) art restorer and amateur poet, Angus Lordie. There is even a delightful cameo (if such a thing can happen in a book) by Ian Rankin.

In the end it is the individuals who make the novel. This book is more conversation than action which means it's not the most thrilling read and if you're hoping for some huge revelation at the end you are likely to be disappointed. Life goes on one way or the other, on Scotland Street or any other.

Also published on dooyoo as waterlilly