Customer Reviews

THE COMFORT OF SATURDAYS (ISABEL DALHOUSIE 5)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've always liked Isabel Dalhousie. In the beginning of the series, she is everything she is now except one: she wasn't insecure. Even getting together with Jamie, she took charge. It was great to read. I love strong women.

However, the last book and this one, she has degenerated into a really insecure person. And her infatuation with Jamie is a bit disturbing. Very little is written about his good heart, but every few pages we get a description of how good-looking he is, of how he is hers, and how proud she is of his good looks and flat belly, and on and on an on. It got really irritating.

And sadly, her son, seems to be incidental. There are no description of strong feelings for him. It's a tepid relationship at best. Jamie is the obsession. Again, disturbing.

That and the sad lack of plot. What the heck is with Nick? I'll still keep reading though. I love McCall Smith's novels.

The Comfort of Saturdays is the fifth book in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series, which feature Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and occasional amateur sleuth. I should say at the outset that I adore this series. Isabel is a very likeable character with lovely little observations about life and its everyday moral dilemmas. But having said that, this is the book that I have liked least in the series to date. It felt like Isabel spent too much time thinking and not enough doing, to the detriment of the book's momentum.

The story picks up a year after "The Careful Use of Compliments". Isabel and Jamie's son Charlie is now 15 months old. One thing that felt wrong to me as a mother was Isabel's relationship with Charlie, which seemed very functional. She spends so many hours fretting about Jamie - does Jamie love her? is he happy? is she at risk of losing him? how can someone so beautiful want to be with her? - while she seems far less interested in her own son.

The book opens well. Isabel is asked to investigate the circumstances behind a doctor's disgrace over a medical scandal. At the same time, Jamie has developed a friendship with a mysterious composer by the name of Nick Smart. However it felt like McCall Smith lost interest in both of these storylines, which get pushed to the back and never get fully resolved. Instead we spend a lot of time with Isabel and her insecurities. For the first time we see sides of Isabel which are not very appealing: for example she harbors a grudge over a loan that she has made and is quick to pass judgment on Eddie's girlfriend based on the way she looks.

Despite all of this, McCall Smith is still a lovely writer. I always feel a little lighter in spirit after reading his books. The Edinburgh settings are captivating and Isabel has an original and refreshing take on life.

I love Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series. From the very first book, The Sunday Philosophy Club, reading them is like entering a special world. His settings and characterizations are nearly flawless, and the human touch, the joys and sorrows of life, are handled beautifully. After reading this latest book, filled with bits of poetry and music, intelligent ideas and musings of the human heart, I felt that if I ever had to chose a few dozen books as favorites, this one and the four that preceded it would be among them.

This is a fabulous book for any kind of day, as are all McCall Smith's novels - and readers in the USA might want to know that you can read his new online novel at www.telegraph.co.uk and read a new chapter every day. How many authors have the extraordinary breadth of a McCall Smith - Botswana lady detectives, Edinburgh lady philosophers, hilariously funny stories of German academics and people in an Edinburgh house, and now a wonderful online novel of people living in a socially mixed part of London. Ten cheers for McCall Smith, the Charles Dickens of our time. Christopher Catherwood (author of A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST)

An amusing addition to this series, but without any substance to speak of. The characters are as lovable as always, and as predictable. One is given further insights into McCall-Smith"s Edinburgh, but I feel the author has an ability and an intellect which is capable of much more. I find this series to be good bed-time reading, as the chapters are short, and nothing there to give bad dreams. ...nor to provoke further thought.

Unfortunately the new 44Scotland Street novel only can be described as pleasant. Isabel is somewhat tedious in this story and is becomoing obcessive about her younger lover. It is not the best of the series, altough a "plesant" and easy read.

This one will keep you up all night turning pages, even if you are not already hooked on Isabel Dalhousie and company.

McCall's extended portrait of life in Edinburgh is both thought-provoking and emotionally delicious as we follow Isabel's ups and downs and find ourselves strangely comforted by the humanity and vulnerability of her life.

Will her beloved Jamie be enticed by an American composer to leave Edinburgh to further his career as a concert bassoonist? Did the doctor do it? Why does Grace claim Isabel's baby boy Charlie is her own son? Will Cat ever figure out why she chooses the wrong men? Do people, even nice Edinburgh people, actually go about telling lies every day?

Curl up with a cup of strong black tea with cream and plenty of sugar as you get to know Isabel a little better.

You won't regret it.

Alexander McCall Smith is one of my favorite authors. This book, though, is a little heavy on the philosophical musings and a little light on plot. I have always liked the main character, Isabel, the editor of a publication titled "Review of Applied Ethics" because she is a cerebral person; because she raises and attempts to answer an assortment of ethical, historical, and philosophical questions; and because she is an independent sort. But there are so many "asides" here - so many quips and quotes and intellectual musings, that they become a distraction and disrupt the flow of the story.

As one of the reviewers said, McCall Smith's books are addictive. I haven't given up reading his books. Just not a big fan of this one.

This book is the 5th book in the Isabel Dalhousie series and it takes us for some interesting twists and turns. Much less time is spent on the mystery of the story than usual, and much more time is spent on the development of character, particularly Isabel's character here than is the normal fair from Smith. Her relationship with Jamie is especially questioned and answered.

Throughout the book, the centerpiece of the discussions revolves around the insecurity that is ever present apparently in Isabel's mind with respect to her relationship with Jamie and how fragile she conceives it to be. There are several incidents of jealousy that are displayed. Each of which turns out to be needless and misinterpreted. Jamie considers himself committed to the relationship and outright tells Isabel this fact in at least one occasion. In the others, he just debunks her concerns.

The mystery revolves around a Dr. who was discredited for his work on a drug study for a new pharmaceutical. While the plot line of the mystery has some interesting elements, the full force and effect of the book is clearly focused on relationships, insecurity and misinterpretation and not on the mystery which is clearly background in this story.

Nonetheless, McCall Smith does his usual wonderful job of portraying people and their character. Insecurity, especially about relationships is for some people almost a `full time job.' Smith tries to convey the concept that the more one worries about the security of their relationship, the more likely it will become insecure. People should assume, for the most part, that their significant other is committed and only some serious breach of faith or betrayal should be the cause for them to wonder whether it will continue. In this story, no such breach of faith has occurred which makes the insecurity only a matter of misinterpretation. The book is highly recommended for all readers of McCall Smith and for all people interested in the interaction of people in relationships and how they can best tend to the stability of their bond.

If you haven't read any of the earlier books in this series, don't start with this one. Without the entire back story, many of the subtleties in the story will be lost.

Alexander McCall Smith continues his thoughtful investigation of the social contract and doing the right thing to others in a moral sense. Isabel Dalhousie, being portrayed as a mere human who knows ethics, struggles on behalf of us all with jealousy, regret, sloth, and concern for the hurting. How should we react?

In this story, Isabel finds that her worries about losing Jamie seem to be growing. She continues to keep barriers between them while wanting to take the barriers down. Social engagements with people her age are particularly uncomfortable. She feels particularly threatened by Jamie's new friendship with a young composer, Nick Smart.

Isabel is shocked to find that her old foe, Christopher Dove, is trying to manipulate her into publishing an article in the Journal of Applied Ethics. She grits her teeth at the effort required to treat Dove fairly.

After a dinner party, Isabel is approached by the wife of a disgraced medical researcher to see if Isabel will try to find some way to rehabilitate the researcher's reputation. Isabel is no Miss Marple, and her efforts lead her in an unexpected direction.

Between the major plot lines, Isabel takes great pleasure in her son, Charlie, her peaceful life, helping Cat out while she visits Sri Lanka, and looking to help those in need without hurting anyone's feelings. That last challenge is more difficult than she imagines.

As always, the story exudes joie de vivre, affection for Edinburgh, pleasure in the company of others, and happiness in trying to do the right thing. It's a nice recipe for brightening up your day . . . so that even a rainy Saturday can look like heaven on Earth.

Enjoy your life!