Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Answer hatred with love and little miracles come to pass, 20 Mar 2008
In the ninth instalment of Alexander McCall Smith's excellent series, The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Mma Precious Ramotswe, owner of the only ladies' detective agency in Botswana (indeed, the only private detective agency there at all) continues, as she puts it, to solve the problems in people's lives. As ever, not so very much has changed in her world at the end of the book, but, on balance, people's lives have been made better, and often not in quite the way that Mma Ramotswe and the reader might have expected.
In "The Miracle at Speedy Motors" Mma Ramotswe, her associate detective Mma Makutsi and their occasional assistants deal with threatening letters, missing relatives and the good and bad consequences of the rainy season. Answering hatred with love is one of the themes that McCall Smith explores in the book. Initial results are mixed, but in the end Mma Ramotswe and McCall Smith convince us that it is a better strategy than the normal one. The miracles achieved are not the big one hoped for, but they make a difference all the same.
This is a gentle, life-affirming commentary on the human condition, written in a light and entertaining way. It's not crime fiction, it's not a thriller, but this book, the others in the series and indeed those other of McCall Smith's books that I have read are a welcome break from faster paced, or more overtly serious, reading. If you haven't read it yet, give it a try (though I'd start with the first in the series). If you have, then this is as good as any. Thoroughly recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Heart-Warming Vignettes About Caring for One Another, 2 May 2008
My favorite books in this series are filled with authentic stories of Africa and her people. As the series has developed, it's often reading more like people anywhere rather than Africans.
The Miracle at Speedy Motors examines the themes of marital love, parental responsibility, honesty, jealousy, commitment, bonding, handling mistakes, and friendship. In keeping with the detective focus of the series, there are cases to be solved. A woman wants to find an unidentified person. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi receive threatening letters. A landlord wants to get rid of a tenant.
The focus of the book, however, is on the relationships among the continuing characters, especially Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and Mma Ramotswe, Mr. Phuti Radiphuti and Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramotswe and Mr. Polopetsi, and Mma Makutsi and Charlie in the garage. You also get to read more about Mma Potokwane and Motholeli than in most of the other books.
What made the book special to me were the heart-felt commitments that some of the characters made towards doing the right thing, no matter what. Alexander McCall Smith loves people and when he expresses that love through his characters it feels great just to be alive.
I found Mma Makutsi more annoying than usual in this book, and not nearly as funny in her foolish scenes. Otherwise, I would have graded the book at five stars. I hope that the next book will focus more on Precious and her family.
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