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Book Description
* The new Isabel Dalhousie novel
--This text refers to the
Perfect Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur solver of other people's problems, meets an old foe, Minty Auchterlonie, at a birthday party attended by their young children. Ambitious Minty, now the head of a small investment bank, is in trouble with her shareholders. Isabel becomes involved, and is drawn into a murky world of financial concealment. Minty is not the only high-flier in Isabel's life; her niece Cat has just become engaged to a tightrope-walking stuntman. Isabel fears his next job - and the engagement - could end in disaster. Meanwhile, her own boyfriend Jamie has marriage in mind too ...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the sixth novel in The Sunday Philosophy Club Series that follows the life and work of Isabel Dalhousie. It was this series that first introduced me to McCall Smith's books and I'm now a fan of this and the 44 Scotland Street books. The Lost Art of Gratitude starts at the point that ended the previous novel with Isabel living with Jamie and their 18 month old son, Charlie. She still works at home as the editor of a philosophical journal and the story is full of her musings over moral issues and how they are tackled by philosophical analysis. I'm not a fan of philosophy as a discipline, but the author brings the subject to life and meaning for me by using real-life dilemmas experienced by Isabel in these novels. This more esoteric aspect of the novels is woven in a natural way into the day-to-day happenings in her life: a life full of love, happiness and kindness. McCall Smith writes with great charm, sensitivity and understanding of human feelings and has a gift for describing the feelings of women.
As with the other novels in this series the domestic idyll of a comfortable life in a nice area of Edinburgh are enlivened by Isabel being asked to solve a serious problem for someone else. The "problem" in this novel leads to some twists and turns as to who is the villain.
There's an added pleasure in these books if you're familiar with the streets, shops and social structure of Edinburgh that form the back-drop to the books.
Each book stands alone as a good read, but I think there is added enjoyment if you follow the chronological sequence and follow the lives of all the characters from book to book:
Book 1: The Sunday Philosophy Club
Book 2: Friends. Lovers, Chocolate
Book 3: The Right Attitude to ain
Book 4: The Careful Use of Compliments
Book 5: The Comfort of Saturdays
As with the other novels in this series the domestic idyll of a comfortable life in a nice area of Edinburgh are enlivened by Isabel being asked to solve a serious problem for someone else. The "problem" in this novel leads to some twists and turns as to who is the villain.
There's an added pleasure in these books if you're familiar with the streets, shops and social structure of Edinburgh that form the back-drop to the books.
Each book stands alone as a good read, but I think there is added enjoyment if you follow the chronological sequence and follow the lives of all the characters from book to book:
Book 1: The Sunday Philosophy Club
Book 2: Friends. Lovers, Chocolate
Book 3: The Right Attitude to ain
Book 4: The Careful Use of Compliments
Book 5: The Comfort of Saturdays
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Lost Art of Gratitude is the 6th novel in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series by Alexander McCall Smith, which centre on philosopher and occasional amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie. The book picks up only 2-3 months after "The Comfort of Saturdays" - Isabel and Jamie's son Charlie now being 18 months old.
If you've read the other books in the series you'll know that they feature an assortment of storylines, most of which seem to take a backseat to Isabel's musings on everyday matters. This book is no different. Minty Auchterlonie asks Isabel to help her with a troublesome problem, Isabel's niece Cat has a new and unsuitable fiance, Brother Fox is injured and needs medical attention and Christopher Dove is scheming to force Isabel to resign as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics.
I truly love this series, but I was so disappointed by this book which felt like it was written "by numbers". One of the things that I like most is Isabel's musings on life and ethics. However this time round they felt forced: formulaic rather than intriguing. Also, McCall Smith seemed to have only limited interest in the plotlines. Cat's relationship felt like it was tucked in as an afterthought ("must involve Cat - oh let's give her another problematic boyfriend and we can just wrap it up by Isabel hearing about what happened"). The Minty storyline was given more prominence but then again it felt like he got bored with it in the end.
If you've loved this series as I do, you should still read the book - while disappointing, it's not completely dreadful. However I'd wait for the paperback. If you're new to the series, don't start here! Start with "The Sunday Philosophy Club". It's a series best read in order.
If you've read the other books in the series you'll know that they feature an assortment of storylines, most of which seem to take a backseat to Isabel's musings on everyday matters. This book is no different. Minty Auchterlonie asks Isabel to help her with a troublesome problem, Isabel's niece Cat has a new and unsuitable fiance, Brother Fox is injured and needs medical attention and Christopher Dove is scheming to force Isabel to resign as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics.
I truly love this series, but I was so disappointed by this book which felt like it was written "by numbers". One of the things that I like most is Isabel's musings on life and ethics. However this time round they felt forced: formulaic rather than intriguing. Also, McCall Smith seemed to have only limited interest in the plotlines. Cat's relationship felt like it was tucked in as an afterthought ("must involve Cat - oh let's give her another problematic boyfriend and we can just wrap it up by Isabel hearing about what happened"). The Minty storyline was given more prominence but then again it felt like he got bored with it in the end.
If you've loved this series as I do, you should still read the book - while disappointing, it's not completely dreadful. However I'd wait for the paperback. If you're new to the series, don't start here! Start with "The Sunday Philosophy Club". It's a series best read in order.
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I really enjoyed all the previous Sunday Philosophy Club books, and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, but have been a little disappointed by the latest episodes in both series. In this latest instalment of Isabel Dalhousie's life all the usual ingredients are present: Cat has a new unsuitable boy-friend; Isabel interferes (this time on behalf of someone we met in the first novel in the series - Minty Auchterlonie); Isabel defeats the latest machinations of Christopher Dove; and, as ever, Isabel's mind frequently wanders off into philosophical speculation at the oddest of moments. But there is nothing really new, and I'm beginning to feel that I'm reading books that are being written to fulfil a contractual obligation rather than because the writer has something to say. This is still a well-written book - and perhaps if this had been only the second or third in the series I'd have given it four stars, but I feel something is lacking: reading this I was struck that I had no idea what time of year it was supposed to be, and also by how unbelievably cosy Isabel's life is: I'm not after EastEnders (one of the things I like best about Alexander McCall Smith's books is how people do generally manage to sort out their problems with one another peacefully), but it wouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility for Isabel to have to deal with the occasional disagreement with Jamie, or a tantrum from Charlie, or for Grace the house-keeper to need some time off work (or maybe some of Isabel's wealth could have disappeared in the credit crunch). Isabel would be a more interesting character if she wasn't so darn reasonable all the time.
One of the characters in this book is a tight-rope walker. I'm sure any writer who returns to the same characters again and again must find it hard to strike the right balance between livening up a series (and risk alienating readers) by disrupting the world he has created in earlier books, and sticking to a winning formula so long that it becomes stale. I'm afraid Alexander McCall Smith seems to be very much in danger of the latter. Perhaps he hasn't quite fallen off the rope in this book, but I feel he needs to take some risks in the next novel in this series if he wants the Sunday Philosophy Club series to remain interesting.
One of the characters in this book is a tight-rope walker. I'm sure any writer who returns to the same characters again and again must find it hard to strike the right balance between livening up a series (and risk alienating readers) by disrupting the world he has created in earlier books, and sticking to a winning formula so long that it becomes stale. I'm afraid Alexander McCall Smith seems to be very much in danger of the latter. Perhaps he hasn't quite fallen off the rope in this book, but I feel he needs to take some risks in the next novel in this series if he wants the Sunday Philosophy Club series to remain interesting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Far too little substance
I am a great fan of A McC S but I'm afraid I found this book rather hard going. A problem with McCall Smith's writing, in this series, is the incessant philosophical musing of... Read more
Published 23 days ago by P. R. Luck
Truly Delightful!
The Lost Art of Gratitude is the 6th novel in the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Cloggie Downunder
The Lost Art of Gratitude
This book arrived in record time and is helping me build my Alexander McCall Smith collection. Look forward to reading it.
Published 5 months ago by Fran
An enviable life
You have to believe that author Alexander McCall Smith has a special fondness for his main character in "The Sunday Philosophy Club" series, Isabel Dalhousie, for he has created... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Blue in Washington
The fine art of writing about nothing much.
This is the first book by AMS that I've read except for the very enjoyable No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Read more
Published 6 months ago by John Williams
I agree with the other 3 star reviews!!
Not a lot happens in any of these novels, but the content has dropped to almost zero in this one. It becomes hard not to skim read after a while. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mrs Norris
Just what you would expect
Well, here we are again. Yet another Alexander McCall Smith, yet another Elisabeth Dalhousie. How does he keep it up? Read more
Published 8 months ago by vennfam
Thin on plot
As with some of the books in this series this book is very thin on plot, nothing really happens. The fact that Jamie and Isabel become engaged is not that exciting either. Read more
Published 14 months ago by BooBoo
Just crawl up under a blanket and enjoy!
I loved the book. Nothing really major happens but it's through and through cozy. Once again, Isabel Dalhousie gets problems with two schemers from the past that once tried to get... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Luthien Arnatuile
not up to usual standard
I have read most of Alexander McCall Smith's novels and have always thoroughly enjoyed them. They are always light hearted, funny and well written, however, I found with this one... Read more
Published 16 months ago by nessy
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