Espresso Tales: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (2) by Alexander McCall Smith Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Espresso Tales: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (2)
Book Review: Espresso Tales
Summary: 5 Stars
Fascinating read. McCall Smith brought all the characters to life. I found myself on the edge of my seat most of the time wondering what would happen to Pat and Matthew, would Stewart help Bertie live like a normal little boy...? Just plain good stuff. I can't wait for the next one.
Book Review: Good second novel but not as good as the first!
Summary: 3 Stars
The old characters are back! Pat, Bruce, Matthew, Domenica, Little Bertie and his parents are great in this series.
I know a lot of reviewers are raving about Ramsey Dunbarton and his appearances in the second book. I enjoyed him in the first novel. I think the reason why I enjoyed him in the first novel was because you were given a little bit of him in doses. In this sequel you get a lot of him! He was funny in the first book because of his ramblings but in the second one he is talking about his memoirs. These memoirs sections are so boring! He isn't funny anymore to me because he is going on and on for pages at a time about his life. The funny parts of the memoirs are usually his wife who has to sit and listen to them and some little bits of his life that make him look like a git!
The rest of the book regarding Pat and the rest of the gang on Scotland street is just as good as the first book, if not better! Pat meets a guy that has a interesting hobby. Bruce, and his god-likeness, starts a wine store even though he doesn't really know muchragarding wine. You can see how the characters have grown and Bertie and his father get more of a back bone regarding Irene, the overbearing mother.
Book Review: Gordon Introduces His Girlfriend
Summary: 4 Stars
Espresso Tales (2005) is the second novel in this series, following 44 Scotland Street. In the previous volume, Bertie lost a new friend and Bruce lost his job. Matthew lost a Peploe and gained an abstract Vettriano. Pat convinced herself that she had lost her obsession with Bruce.
In this novel, Pat Macgregor is the daughter of an Edinburgh psychiatrist. She is working at Something Special Gallery, an art shop owned by Matthew.
Bruce Anderson is a narcissist young man who owns a flat at 44 Scotland Street. Pat lives in room within this flat.
Matthew Duncan is a young business man. His gallery has actually made a profit during the last quarter with Pat working there. It probably has to do with Pat's knack for selling art.
Gordon Duncan is Matthew's father. He had set up the business for Matthew after deciding that his son was a failure at business. At least, it gave Matthew a place to go during the working day.
Domenica MacDonald is an older lady with an eventful past and a lot of friends. She had lived in India as the wife of the owner of a private electric company. She now lives at 44 Scotland Street on the same floor as Bruce and Pat.
Irene Pollock is the wife of Stuart and the mother of Bertie. She knows that her son is quite brilliant, but he was suspended from nursery school due to writing graffiti in the restroom. They live on the floor below Pat and Bruce at 44 Scotland Street.
Lou Brown is the owner of The Morning After coffee shop. It is near the gallery and Matthew likes to stop in there to talk to Big Lou and his other friends there.
Angus Lordie is an Edinburgh artist. He is an older man and a friend of Domenica. Angus has a dog named Cyril, who likes to wink at the ladies.
In this story, Pat has decided not to attend St. Andrews, but to attend the University of Edinburgh. The university has agreed to accept her, so she can continue to live with her friends in and around 44 Scotland Street. Her father is only relieved that she is not going back to Australia.
On her way back to the house, Pat runs into Domenica. They watch a performer swallow a sword and then walk toward home. But they decide to stop for coffee at Glass and Thompson.
Domenica tells some interesting stories, but pauses to give her order. Pat is interested in the waiter and Domenica discovers that he is an English major at the university. She offers to lend him a book of poems by Rupert Brooke. Pat is upset with the blatant attempt to lure him to the house.
Bruce goes back to work after the angry words from his boss, only to find a note on his desk saying that he will be paid through the end of the month and to see the cashier about his final check. He thinks about it a few minutes and then walks in on his boss. He says a few things, but his boss has the final word.
Bruce has been sleeping in since his firing from the job. He is considering a career as a wine merchant. He knows so much about the kind of wines that young people like.
Bruce convinces an longtime acquaintance to invest in the wineshop. He rents a store at a good rate and cleans up the place. Then he meets with a friend from the rugby club and gets a good deal on a special kind of wine. Afterward, Bruce stocks the rest of the store with wines from another distributor.
Irene and Stuart finally decide which bus to take to go to the Steiner School. The No. 27 goes the closest to the school, but it is a bit rough sometimes. The No. 10 would take them by the nursery school, where Bertie would be reminded of his suspension. The No. 23 is very middle class, but it is probably the best option.
One day Bertie is asked by his psychotherapist to list the things wrong with his life and then to draw an arrow from each problem to the source of the difficulty. So he lists several items and draws a fancy arrow from each to point to "Mother" on the other side. After thinking about the list and talking with Bertie, Dr. Fairbairn decides to drop the matter and to go on to dream interpretation.
Meanwhile, Bertie is planning his escape from his mother's future. He decides to try out George Watson primary school, but has to overcome a few problems. He finally gets to attend to that school -- on the sly -- and plays rugby during recess. His potential friend Jack is also in the game.
Gordon drops by to see Matthew one day. After talking a bit, Gordon announces that he has a woman that he would like Matthew to know. They agree to meet for dinner. Matthew decides that Janis is a golddigger out to get his father's money.
Big Lou enjoys having Matthew drop by for coffee. She was not sure of Angus and his dog Cyril, but soon grew to like them. She has a certain fondness for dogs, even those who wink at the ladies.
One morning Matthew comes in when Lou is alone in the shop. They talk about her family and then he mentions that his mother had died when he was nineteen. He has just brought up Janis when Angus comes in and changes the subject to the war.
This tale leads the reader through all kinds of discussions. It also presents the reader with many complications, including Matthew liking Pat, but Pat being unwilling to mix business and pleasure. Beside, she thinks that he is indecisive. Pat does think that Matthew would be better off with a girlfriend and is certain that some woman would like him.
In some respects, nothing much happens in this novel, but the details are interesting. The next volume -- Love Over Scotland -- continues these stories. Read and enjoy!
Recommended for McCall Smith fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of ordinary lives, commonplace people, and one brilliant child.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Book Review: Hail to Espresso Tales!
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the things I most admire about Alexander McCall Smith is his ability to show his readers exactly who his characters are, and to do it so convincingly. This demonstrates no small degree of talent. This talent is enhanced by McCall Smith's real working knowledge of the worlds in which he, himself, has lived. An example of one of McCall Smith's best drawn characters (and my favorite) in this series is young Bertie Pollock. Bertie is a very bright young chap, though stifled to the point of almost total exasperation (for the reader, at least) by his excruciatingly rigid, controlling, neurotic mother (one expects the six-year-old to explode at any moment into full blown rebellion). Bertie appears able to interpret (though not always correctly) the events going on about him and this reader, at least, looks forward to the moment when Bertie is able to successfully extract himself from his mother's clutches. It's agony to `watch' the youngster work things out mentally, and, yet, be unable to break free from his invisible restraints. One of the clever ways McCall Smith demonstrates the dysfunctional state of the Pollock family is the fact that they have somehow managed to misplace their car. Can you imagine that?!
All the residents of 44 Scotland Street are interesting characters to read about, from narcissistic Bruce to wise Domenica to thoughtful Pat, even to Irene Pollock's detached statistician husband, Stuart. It is the human foibles and antics of these folks in the Scotland Street flat in Edinburgh's fair city who keep us readers enthralled in this series. We care about each of them to one extent or another and want to know what's going to happen to each of them. That is, after all, what good storytelling is about. This author completely and totally draws us in.
As the proud owner of all of McCall Smith's books, I expect to read them many times over during the years ahead. I do hope that one day (soon?) we will have the opportunity to learn more about those quirky folks in the sausage dog stories. I adore the humor, however opaque, in each of them. There are none others like them anywhere in literature.
Carolyn Rowe Hill
Book Review: I Love This Series
Summary: 5 Stars
There is one problem with Smith's '44 Scotland Stree' series...and that is that you don't want the books to end. I am pacing myself reading 'Espresso Tales' to make the pleasure last. I'm an avid reader, and I know no other author who mixes pure entertainment with deep insights--and humor--and does it in such a gentle way. The fact that Smith wrote these stories for continuing newspaper publication--sometimes on the fly--just illustrates what a master he is. When does the next book in this series arrive?