leumasn

I’m reading a book called”In the Company of Cheerful Ladies”. This book was written by an author named Alexander McCall Smith. Alexander is known for his books about a woman named Precious Ramotswe, who lives in Botswana (an African nation). Her father left money for her when he passed away, which she has invested in a detective agency. She’s the first lady detective in Botswana and you will follow her daily life as a detective at the streets of Gaborone, capital of Botswana.

The name of the series is “The NO.1 ladies’ detective agency”. I’m starting with the sixth book, as above called “In the Company of Cheerful Ladies”. I’ve already read the books 1-5, some in Swedish and some in English.   

Here are some thoughts about chapter one, “Honesty, Tea, and Things in the Kitchen:

After reading several of McCall Smith’s books I know he’s a very brave author. He’s not one of these authors who just write to get a story. It seems to me like he put a lot of heart in his books. You’ll get a lot more than a story, because it’s like a hidden message, or there could be more than one.

The chapter starts in Mme Ramotswes mind. She sits on a café one Saturday, in front of a big market, drinking bush tea.  She thinks of the old Botswana, where there were no crimes, no jealousy and everybody was happy. Everybody knew each other. It’s like this now as well, but not in the same way.

Now, the braveness I wrote above. He’s very brave here. Because, in every book, he presents the main characters that you will follow in different ways. So you don’t necessary have to read the other books before starting with this. And not to make it to monotonous, he presents the persons different every time. In this case, by explaining how the characters are being seen by the people in Gaborone. Example: Mme Ramotswe is seen as a detective who is married to Mr. JLB. Matekoni. He in his turn owns Gaborones best workshop for cars and has employed two younger trainees to work with him.

Then he goes on by explaining one after another so you have some knowledge about the characters. After this is done, some things happen and the books get a bit more exciting for every new page. Until the main thing happens in the end of the chapter when she discovers a break-in and the story continues..

I don’t know what it is but, I just get stuck in his books. I like to read about different cultures and different places, that plus McCall Smith’s writing skills might be it for me to read on. He’s very good at describing, not just the environment but also the characters and their feelings. You get a really good picture of where it all takes place. And you could never ever know what will happen next.

For some people it can be hard to get to know the book and his type of writing, but he’s just got to write like this in the first chapter because it’s after all an independent book. So it’s important to the readers to get to know the book and the characters. So for me I can’t say much about what I think of the book by just reading chapter one. If it had been my first time reading this series it might have been easier to have an opinion about the first chapter. But when you’re in it, you won’t be able to get away from it.