St Florence > Home > Clubs & Societies > Book Club > Previously Discussed > Number One Ladies Detective Agency of Botsuana
| September
2005 |
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Number
One Ladies Detective Agency of |
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Botsuana
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byby Alexander McCall Smith | |
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Wayward daughters. Missing Husbands. Philandering partners. Curious conmen. If you've got a problem, and no one else can help you, then pay a visit to Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only - and finest - female private detective. Her methods may not be conventional, and her manner not exactly Miss Marple, but she's got warmth, wit and canny intuition on her side, not to mention Mr J.L.B. Maketoni, the charming proprietor of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. And Precious is going to need them all as she sets out on the trail of a missing child, a case that tumbles our heroine into a hotbed of strange situations and more than a little danger ...Delightfully different, THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY offers a captivating glimpse of an unusual world. |
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Find
an extract from this book in the FILES section of SFBC
ONLINE |
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Discussed
at Rock House on 30 June 2005 |
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Gaynor
has prepared and sent the review of The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency. However,
it has been 'lost' somewhere in the system. As Gaynor is away in India for 6 weeks
we have prepared an 'interim' review of the book. |
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| Angela |
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| The
group, which met at Denise's house in September, all agreed that we had enjoyed
Alexander McCall Smith's book 'The No 1 Ladies' Detective agency'. The character
of Mma Precious Ramotswe is very different from the usual stereotype European
or American private detective. Picture instead a large black woman with a laid
back style, great sense of humour, canny intuition, who races around Botswana
in a little white van. A number of us felt that the descriptive passages about the Botswana countryside brought Africa alive to us. An amusing and easy read. Just one question, what exactly is Bush Tea? |
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| When I saw this book advertised last winter, I just had to get it - my favourite subjects, time travel, and love. But what a disappointment of a book. I became increasingly bored by the prose, confused and just couldn't feel any sympathy for the characters. Maybe I'll try it again now that "Richard and Judy" have been raving about it - or maybe I just can't muster the energy. Beverley | I couldn't put the book down & have forced my book discussion group to read it for Feb. Most of them don't like sci fi, so it was a hard sell. Hope they like it as much as I did!!! Linda Musall |
| Sometimes a bit too sentimental, sometimes a bit too commercial, but gosh what a great story has this writer managed to invent- powerful imaginative and tragic, an unforgettable tale about the strenght of love (life) and the greatest pain of all: its loss and death. Anna | The best best best book I have read in years, and trust me, I read around 50 a year. Please, grab your girlfriends, have a book club get together, get a bottle of wine, and discuss this book together. The time of your life. Debbie |
| This was a compulsory 'Book Club' read - I found it annoying, frustrating and thoroughly depressing - it was a total mission to stay focused on such a pointless and going nowhere read - fairyland without a decent fairytale. Jacquie | A gripping love story, made all the more emotional by the shortness of time and the problems tthey have to surmount. A book that I want to have there, that I can dip into again and again. Andrea Niffenberger is so clever in the way she is able to bring it all together, highlighting the difficulties we can experience ourselves with time passing as we look back on our lives.Clare was complete because of her relationship with Henry despite all the difficulties that his "illness" created. The best book I have read this year. Tash Hurst |
| oh sigh... This book was truely amazing. It was such a powerful novel with the characters turing into your bestfriends. I read and reread this book before passing it off to some of my closest friends. It was the perfect 'new love story.' also viewed as an allegory it can be seen in a whole new light. The only thing that has bothered me is the casting choices for the movie. Lain | |
| an amazing book that made me laught out loud and cry so hard. don't miss it! Norma | |
| This book is simply wonderful! I don't like to re read books but I would this one again and again! Lisa | |
| I found this book to be both thought provoking and entertaining, two things which are incredibley hard to make synonimous. I have an eye for the details and subtleties of a love story and therefore, found great relief in Niffeneggers ability to by pass the urge of flowery romantics. Her visuals were quite stern, the image of Clare wrapping her legs and arms around Henry, as if she was trying to anchor him to her and the imagery of him disappearing as they kissed, breathtaking. Poor Clare, always waiting for him, even when he is there she is still expecting him to disappear. I can't say enough good about his book, and whatever flaws it holds are completely secondary to this brilliant commentary on love. The twist of Henry's disease, instead of being an annoying destraction, serves to magnify their love story. Well done. I really hope that the producers who purchased this story do it justice in movie form. Jennifer Nye | |
| I have never read a book that good that I didn't force a friend to read it as soon as I was done. I have to go back and reread now!! I definitely can see this as a movie. Amy Evans | |
| An amazing read, it's hard to know who I felt sorrier for, Henry who at least had the experiences which although harrowing at times were always an adventure or Clare who had to wait and had waited since she was six years old. I loved the twist of their daughter although the difficulties getting her reduced me to tears. This book is so well written it was a pleasure to read and one I know I will go back to. Carol Hare | |
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Look
up the song "100 Years" by Five for Fighting. It is the perfect companion
for "The Time Traveler's Wife". Anne Allan |
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