Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Stellar!, Jun 20 2006
Alexander McCall Smith's fourth installment of his popular No. 1 Ladies Detective Agencies continues the story of Mma. Ramotswe, her fiance Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, her agency's assistant, Mma. Makutsi. For a while, Mma. Ramotswe's detective agency was the only agency in town until another agency owned by a man who had CID experience in Johannesburg and New York showed up and threathened their business. At the same time, a rich businessman showed up at the agency hoping to get Mma. Ramotswe's help to track down some people that he had wronged in the past. In addition, Mma. Makutsi, hoping to earn extra money set up the Kalahari Typing School for Men, which became a hit. I have enjoyed the other books in this series and this was equally delightful. The author focused more on the main characters' daily lives and their problems as opposed to actual cases. It's great that the readers get to learn more about the characters but at the same time, it would be better if the author had provided more cases for Mma. Ramotswe and her assistant to solve. Nevetheless, this is still a great book; it's easy to read, the characters are likeable and it's basically a fun read.
Also recommended: KATZENJAMMER by McCrae
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A nice read, April 7 2005
The Kalahari Typing School for Men is an extremely interesting story. McCall made a combination of a great concept and an outstanding execution to come up with a story like this which deserves all the applause that it has been given. I greatly enjoyed the book and recommend it to readers interested in McCall's stories or interesting books about Africa.Recommended along with: The Usurper and other Stories, Graceland, Disciples of Fortune
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Listen to the book!, May 24 2004
There is something about these books that really resonates with some readers. After reading the first novel, I did not really jump on the collective Botswana Bandwagon... I thought the books were nice, but found nothing exceptional about them. I am glad that I decided to continue with Book 2 though (that was my favorite so far in the series!) I decided to pick up the other books, starting with book 2, on Audio CD. I am much happier with the Audio CD versions than I was with reading the book. I found that reading the stories was a little tedious for me: The writing is very simplistic, and oftentimes the stories are very predictable. While these do show up in the Audio CD, I do not find myself as distracted by them as I did when I read the first two in the series. The reader, Lisette Lecat is absolutely superb. She is a native South African, and spent a number of years in Botswana. She knows the rhythm patterns and speech patterns of the people, and she distinguishes each character with a certain voice. This skill makes the dialogues much more interesting than reading them on the page, and her general narration really make the stories come alive for me. If it were not for her reading the books, I do not know if I would have stuck with this series.The story of _Kalahari Typing School for Men_ was much like its immediate predecessor, _Morality for Beautiful Girls_. The novel focuses a great amount on the development of some characters, and leaves others "out to dry", and ultimately strays away from the things that made books 1 and 2 of the series so good: the cases, the interactions, and the values of the Botswana people. That is not to say that this book does not have any detective cases, but I find the novels have shifted from their original focus. However, one thing that I did like about this book is the increased role and development of Mma Makutsi. She is a great characters, and until book 3, Mma Makutsi existed in the shadows. I look forward to seeing her develop more in the next books. I plan to LISTEN to book 5 very soon.
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Most recent customer reviews
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by Alexander Mccall Smith
by Alexander Mccall Smith
by Alexander Mccall Smith
