Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 The ongoing life and times of the residents of 44 Scotland Street... August 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
OK... So now I'm up-to-date with all the 44 Scotland Street novels since I completed Love Over Scotland last night. Alexander McCall Smith weaves together the lives of the occupants at 44 Scotland Street with all their charm and quirkiness. The best part is I'm already on hold at the library for the next installment due out in the next month. :)
When we last left the residents of 44 Scotland Street, things were not well in terms of them all keeping in touch. Bruce was leaving for London, Domenica was leaving to study pirates, and Pat was moving out since Bruce was selling the flat. Here we continue on with the life and times of the crew. Bruce is completely missing in action here. Unless he makes a reappearance in the next installment, his character is gone. Bertie is still being smothered by Mummy and analyzed by the therapist (who Bertie thinks is absolutely crazy). All he wants is to live the life of a normal six year old, but that's not Irene's plan. She has him auditioning for the Edinburgh teen symphony. Bertie's attempt at sabotage goes awry, however, and that leads to a few adventures that no one counted on. Pat is smitten by a boy she hardly knows from college, but there's a problem. His girlfriend happens to be Pat's flatmate at the new house, and she's rather possessive of Wolf. Matthew, Pat's boss at the art gallery, wants desperately to connect with Pat, but Pat wants nothing more than friendship... or so she thinks.
Angus is mourning the loss of Domenica to the Malacca Straits and her pirate study. Domenica's friend moves into the flat to watch it while Domenica is gone, and Angus is not quite sure how he feels about this new "friend". He also has a minor crisis of his own when Cyrus, his faithful four-legged companion, is dog-napped. Add in a few more side stories involving Big Lou and Bertie's dad (and the "recovered" car), and things are as strange as ever on 44 Scotland Street.
If you've read the other two installments and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one too. There's a bit less activity at the building itself, but all the characters continue to evolve and grow (except as noted for Bruce). If you're coming into the series without that prior background, you'll probably wonder what's going on. As with the first two books, there's no real "beginning" and "end" to the story. It's just a slice of life with room for another installment at the end. Personally, 44 Scotland Street has now become a home away from home, and I look forward to the ongoing adventures of the group.
 Still a Bertie fan August 2, 2008
It's painful to witness everything Bertie suffers at his mother's hands, but I really like him and I can't stop reading about him. I loved his time in Paris, and my favorite part of the book was his (extremely premature) audition for the Edinburgh Teenage Orchestra. Poor Bertie. I hope good things are in store for him, and I hope they happen soon.
Fun Stuff April 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
True, this book is light reading but if you need something to lighten your mood I highly recommend this series. The ability to write seemingly effortless fiction is a gift that I don't disparage just because it isn't Hamlet. There is a need for all kinds of writing and humorous fiction is a type of writing that few do well.
Love Over Scotland is the best of the three books so far and I found the adventures of Bertie to be hilarious. Admittedly, Bertie is a bit over the top but any insistence on believability would just ruin the fun. I look forward to more adventures...
 Treading lightly... April 7, 2008
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
Wow! After reading all the other reviews, almost all 5 star for this book, I better tread lightly! I guess I better begin by stating that my family thoroughly enjoyed listening to No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series on tape and I was ready to love another McCall Smith read. That said, I found Love Over Scotland very easy reading, great for light, mindless, relaxing reading- and the chapters are really short making it possible to read a snatch here and there and come to a good stopping point every time.
However, some of the characters were most unbelievable. Come on, Bertie?? A six year old doing and saying and thinking all that he does? I understand precocious but this is absurd. A six year old traveling about Paris on his own and discussing philosophy with students from Sorbonne? It was disturbing to imagine him as a six year old.
Domenica traveling off to Malacca to live among pirates as an anthropologist and getting on just splendidly; it sounds entertaining and exciting but she was a bore.
The boring people, Matthew, Pat, Big Lou were, as characters, much more exciting for the believability factor.
I think McCall Smith has a following who will continue to read his books no matter, and he should be very thankful.
"Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing" April 5, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
McCall Smith gives us a very interesting look at life and love as he waxes eloquently in this third book of the "44 Scotland Street" series. The vicissitudes of loves and life are truly illuminated in this book. The search for love and the various forms that it takes are at the heart of each of the character's adventures in this installment in the series.
Not all of the loves are successful. Some end tragically. Some never get off the ground. And most, as is true of love and life, come when least expected. As always, Smith seems to capture human behavior in his unique and insightful manner. Yet he could not have picked a more difficult topic. For many of us, we wonder what love really is anyway. Are we in love? How do we decide? How do we go about attaining it, if we don't have it? How do we deal with it when it ends? All these questions are touched on and illustrated by Smith in his inimitable manner.
What truly makes this book a wonderful piece of work by Smith is its intense realism. While perhaps more of the loves work out in his book than they do in life, not all of them do, and in that way, Smith describes a hugely important piece of behavioral science, the sociology of love. Of all the books in the "44 Scotland Street" series, this book is perhaps the best. Smith has developed most of these characters in his first two books and thus, they are ripe for tackling a subject as complex as love. The montage effect he achieves because of his short chapters that are serialized, allows for a variety of information and material constantly flowing past the reader as Smith develops the concepts that people use to deal with and evaluate and find love in their lives. The book is truly another wonderful creation by McCall Smith, who just seems to get more impressive as he continues to be more prolific. It is highly recommended to all readers of Smith and all seekers of love.
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