Corduroy Mansions [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Abacus
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0349122393
• ISBN-13: 978-0349122397
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alexander McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is now Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including a number of specialist titles, but is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has achieved bestseller status on four continents. In 2004 he was awarded British Book Awards Author of the Year and Booksellers Association Author of the Year. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

141 of 156 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McCall Smith: the Dickens of the 21st Century, July 15, 2009

By 

C. Catherwood "writer" (Cambridge UK and Richmond VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Corduroy Mansions (Corduroy Mansions 1) (Hardcover)

Whenever I tried on Wikipedia to say that Alexander McCall Smith was the Dickens of the 21st century, some officious editor would complain and say that McCall Smith is no Dickens. Well, in a way that is true: CORDUROY MANSIONS is far more fun to read and not even remotely depressing, which Dickens can often be.

And even the most fastidious Wiki editor had to admit that McCall Smith has revived the serial novel, the form that Dickens made so famous in the 19th century. First we had the magnificent series set in Edinburgh (44 Scotland Street) and now we have the equally wonderful and totally enjoyable CORDUROY MANSIONS.

The characters are as brilliantly drawn as always and are just as funny, poignant, thoughtful and superbly observed as ever. We have got to know a lot of wonderful new people through the serialization in the Daily Telegraph and now we have it in permanent book form.

(And some of the characters are real people, as at least one chapter shows....)

One final thing: ALL McCall Smith's novels are as good as each other: this really ought to have the same sales as the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, as it is every bit as enjoyable and fun to read.

I will be buying several copies of this and giving them to friends - why not do the same? Summer is coming, and this is the ideal summer present to have as holiday reading.

Christopher Catherwood (author of WINSTON CHURCHILL: THE FLAWED GENIUS OF WORLD WAR II)

90 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars McCall Smith's formula is still good, but a bit stale: 3.5 stars, August 15, 2009

By 

S. McGee (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Corduroy Mansions (Corduroy Mansions 1) (Hardcover)

What I relished in the 44 Scotland Street series of 'serial novels' published by Alexander McCall Smith was the uniqueness and quirkiness of his characters and the gentle pace of the narration, where life simply happens, the way most of us experience it in fact (as opposed to the frenetic pace of thrillers or the intense drama of romantic novels.) But after four or five volumes of that series, the formula had already begun to wear thin. Ultimately, I like anything I read -- fiction or fiction -- to have some kind of point (the eggheads refer to it as a narrative arc) and there simply isn't one here. It's not impossible to achieve this in a serial novel (after all, Dickens managed it with aplomb), but McCall Smith is flagging.

This book simply transplants the 44 Scotland Street formula to the streets of London; specifically a particular street in Pimlico, where stands a house transformed into a block of flats that is known to one and all as Corduroy mansions. Anyone who has already read McCall Smith's other serial novels (which I expect will be 95% of the potential readers for this book) knows what happens: the building's various inhabitants interact with each other and with those outside its walls. (For instance, one of the girls sharing one of the flats is the personal assistant to the only nasty Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, rejoicing in the name of Oedipus Snark; one subplot involves what happens to Oedipus's mother and her brother, who rejoices in the name of Terence Moongrove; another follows his girlfriend, Barbara Ragg, after their breakup.)

But the plotlines stutter along at best, leaving the reader dangling. For instance, we learn that Barbara's new lover has a traumatic event in his past -- he tells her half of the story but the book ends without the other half, while Oedipus's mother discusses the nature of her literary plans but that's about it. Ultimately the number of loose ends of that kind, combined with the frequent digressions (one of Barbara's co-workers is discussing a real plot-related element with his wife, and suddenly the two start pondering the nature of crimes against others and forgiveness -- "Mr. Blair said sorry to Ireland, but he was the first British leader to find it possible to do that") become increasingly irritating. The philosophical musings that work in McCall Smith's series of serial-style novels featuring Isabel Dalhousie work because the nature of her profession is philosophy; these lofty internal monologues and ramblings don't work, particularly when the extend for pages on end.

I've rated this 3.5 stars, because McCall Smith has an eye for a goofy character and because I think it's great to have this approach to storytelling still around. (He's also, at heart, a good writer with an ear for dialogue.) But while writing about Botswana in this manner can work for readers simply because most of us aren't familiar with daily life there (see his Number One Ladies Detective Agency series), the same isn't true of writing about daily life in London. His characters have begun to feel precious and neither they or their various predicaments felt real to me; when that happens, I don't care about what happens to them or the story as a whole. I began the book with hopes that by shifting his geographic focus, McCall Smith had rediscovered his storytelling prowess, but within the first few dozen pages, hope was the only thing that kept me turning the pages. When feel relief rather than sadness on finishing a book, I know that it's at best a three-star read.

Recommended only for the author's die-hard fans. After this one, I'll be getting his books in paperback or from the library.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 44 Scotland Street moves south of the border, October 24, 2009

By 

Kerry Raymond "twin parrots" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Corduroy Mansions (Corduroy Mansions 1) (Hardcover)

Corduroy Mansions appears to be the start of a new London-based serial story, similar to McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series (based in Edinborough).

Once again we are introduced to a group of interesting characters who live in the various households of the building and their loves and lives both within and beyond the building. Well, sort of. Some of the residents get very little attention and remain very shadowy characters in the book. Some get better fleshed out, but really much of the book is devoted to the loves and lives of people who don't have any connection to Corduroy Mansions.

Much of the book is actually about the remarkably named Liberal Democrat MP Oedipus Snark (whose personal assistant lives at Corduroy Masions so there is some conection) along with Snark's mother, Snark's uncle, Snark's girlfiend and Snark's ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, whose connection to Corduroy Masions is quite unclear. Perhaps in subsequent books these characters will become more enmeshed into the world of Corduroy Masions, but at the moment, it feels almost like two novels in the one book - "Corduroy Mansions" and "The Relatives and Friends Of Oedipus Snark".

If you are already an Alexander McCall fan, by all means read this book. If you are new to Alexander McCall fan, try 44 Scotland Street first and wait and see if this new Corduroy Mansions series develops better than it started.