The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5) [Paperback]

Alexander Mccall Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: 44 Scotland Street | Publication Date: January 12, 2010

The witty and utterly delightful new novel in the national bestselling 44 Scotland Street series.

Featuring all the quirky characters we have come to know and love, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, finds Bertie, the precocious six-year-old, still troubled by his rather overbearing mother, Irene, but seeking his escape in the Cub Scouts. Matthew is rising to the challenge of married life with newfound strength and resolve, while Domenica epitomizes the loneliness of the long-distance intellectual. Cyril, the gold-toothed star of the whole show, succumbs to the kind of romantic temptation that no dog can resist and creates a small problem, or rather six of them, for his friend and owner Angus Lordie.
 
With his customary deftness, Alexander McCall Smith once again brings us an absorbing and entertaining tale of some of Scotland's most quirky and beloved characters--all set in the beautiful, stoic city of Edinburgh.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Fans of bestseller Smith's two mystery series set in Botswana and Edinburgh will find the same understanding, affectionate look at human frailties and foibles in this sunny series about the adventures and misadventures of a precocious six-year-old, Bertie Pollock, and a host of other folks in contemporary Edinburgh. In the superlative fifth entry (after The World According to Bertie), Bertie's parents engage in a Wodehousian power struggle about how their young child should be raised, wondering whether his desire to become a scout is a good thing. The neatly interwoven story lines include the travails of a young, newly married couple and an artist who finds himself saddled with too many dogs. One character's scheme to recover a Spode tea cup that her neighbor has permanently appropriated is particularly evocative of P.G. Wodehouse, though Smith's characters are less broadly drawn and more multidimensional than, say, Jeeves and Wooster. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* There’s much ado at Edinburgh’s 44 Scotland Street, the fictional residence in McCall Smith’s whimsical series. This fifth installment (after The World according to Bertie, 2008) finds more angst for six-year-old genius Bertie, who desperately wants to join the Cub Scouts. Irene, his excruciatingly overbearing mother, dismisses such desires as uncivilized. (Aren’t the young lad’s yoga and Italian lessons stimulating enough?) Meanwhile, milquetoast gallery-owner Matthew brushes with death while on honeymoon in Australia, vain and vacuous Bruce ponders a plum modeling assignment, and lonely intellectual Domenica suspects her neighbor Antonia of dealing drugs. (The woman did steal a blue Spode teacup after all; could more dire crimes be far behind?) Domenica and portrait painter Angus Lordie consider ways to expose Antonia’s illegal activities, while Angus’ perceptive canine Cyril looks on. (Cyril has been engaged in some roguish behavior of his own, fathering a litter of six playful pups.) In the book’s preface, McCall Smith wryly insists that his tale is “entirely true, or almost.” While the actual Scotland Street doesn’t quite reach 44, one can easily imagine the likes of Bertie wearily marching off to the psychiatrist, Bruce preening before every available mirror, and Cyril epitomizing the old adage about man’s best friend. Who wouldn’t want to live among this endlessly lively crew? --Allison Block

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1 edition (January 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307454703
• ISBN-13: 978-0307454706
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,768 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

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The dog has the best lines, January 19, 2010

By 

Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5) (Paperback)

Whimsy reaches new heights in McCall-Smith's latest installment of the "44 Scotland Street" series. If you are a fan of this author (I am), you'll enjoy this one as much as its predecessors. From the title to the poetic ending, human foibles, animal wisdom, the precarious condition of childhood, and the charms of Scotland are examined in detail through McCall-Smith's kaleidoscopic lens.

The trials and tributations of six-year old Bertie Pollock continue as he joins the Cub Scouts and his nutcase, yuppy mother seethes on the sidelines. Some darker issues are brewing for the Pollock family and that doubtless will appear in future installments. The narcissistic Bruce Anderson is back in Edinburgh and runs a gauntlet of come-upnesses until personal redemption is found through moisterizer. (Don't ask).

Angus Lordie, painter of portraits, and his faithful and patient dog, Cyril, have star billing in "The Unbearable..." and take on some vexing moral issues. These involve the possible theft of an important painting, the actual theft of a teacup and whether to bite the ankles of a friend. SPOILER--dog lovers may be very disappointed by McCall-Smith's cavalier treatment of a dilemma involving six puppies that Cyril has helped to spawn.

The long and the short of it is that "The Unbearable Lightness of Scones" is a very amusing ramble through the lives of some of McCall-Smith's funniest characters where he wields a rather sharp ironic scalpel at times. Be prepared to laugh out loud and to inflict readings of the funniest lines on the person sitting closest to you at the moment.

Great fun and recommended.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightfully bearable "Unbearable Lightness", January 22, 2010

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Sharon Isch (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5) (Paperback)

This is volume 5 of a serial novel that began life in the "Scotsman" newspaper. Please don't start reading it until you've read the previous four volumes. They are, in order: "44 Scotland Street," "Espresso Tales," "Love Over Scotland, " and "The World According to Bertie."

Now that I'm speaking only to the choir, I should assure you that all the series regulars are back except for Pat, who, as you'll recall, left Edinburgh in the previous installment to move back home with her family. So what else is new? Here are a few things to whet your reading appetite:

1. A new psychotherapist arrives on the scene and his first reaction to Irene and Bertie is that the poor boy doesn't have a mother, he has a personal trainer. Will the new shrink set Bertie free?
2. Did you know that when Scotsmen get together they talk about the merits of moisturizers? Me neither, but they do here.
3. Somebody dies.
4. Somebody else almost dies but is saved by a nonhuman.
5. A major character fathers sextuplets.
6. A key character undergoes a major transformation.
7. A famous real-life Edinburgh writer gets shot and Bertie knows whodunnit.

Will there be a volume 6? Will Angus Lordie's closing poem lead to something McCall Smith's been hinting at all along? Will the puppies be okay? I don't know. I hope so, as I suspect you will too.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unbearably heavy, August 22, 2010

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Carolyn "Author of Every Little Step She Take... (Sherrill's Ford, NC USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5) (Paperback)

I've read all the other books in this series, but The Unbearable Lightness of Scones just didn't hold up for me. Although even in the previous books, so many of the story lines tend to build excitement and then die away into non-events, this episode seemed to do that even more quickly. But mostly, the storyline with Bertie just has worn me out. He was my favorite character but now his storyline has turned into a case of watching someone be slowly tortured to death. It's not funny any more. Unless Irene begins to get some come-uppance, I just can't keep reading. The book depressed me.