Tuesday, November 4, 2014

The Importance of Being Seven (44 Scotland Street #6), by Alexander McCall Smith (author), Robert Ian Mackenzie (narrator)

Recorded Books, August 2012

We return to 44 Scotland Street, and Bertie Pollock is longing to be seven. He believes he'll be treated with more respect and have more autonomy. Meanwhile, he continues to cope with his well-meaning but overbearing, pompous mother, and the endless round of therapy visits, yoga, Italian classes, and saxophone lessons.

His father, Stuart, though, is starting to assert himself, and take small but crucial actions to give Bertie opportunities to just be a six-year-old boy.

Our other friends are back, and art dealer Matthew and new wife, Bertie's former teacher, Elspeth Harmony, get some startling news about their future. Artist Angus Lordie and anthropologist Domenica Macdonald, along with Angus' dog Cyril, cope with the interference and romantic intentions of Antonia.

This is an episodic novel, written as a newspaper serial, and it is light and entertaining. There is no major, overarching plot; it's a series of visits with old friends we've gotten to know over the course of the earlier 44 Scotland Street novels. If you are all about the plot, this book is not for you. If you enjoy character sketches and upbeat, gentle storytelling, this is definitely your book.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

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