The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall SmithMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
So, I did something I don't normally do -- I read a serial book out of order. I'm saying this upfront because I think it was a bit of a disservice to the book, but also, at the same time, it speaks well of the book that about halfway through, it didn't really matter any more.
So I had read Espresso Tales quite some time ago, without reading the first in the series and I can't really remember what impact that had on me. However, it does seem that my exposure to the characters in Volume 13 (The Peppermint Tea Chronicles) was less-than because I hadn't read 11 other volumes. I had relatively little interest in Bertie and his selfish mother, Matthew and Elspeth and their male au pair, or Angus and Domenica. However, I stuck with it and the characters who instantly drew me in were Big Lou and Ranald Braveheart Macpherson (maybe I have a bias for interesting names?). Of course I enjoyed the dry whimsy of Alexander McCall Smith's writing from the first pages, but it took me a bit to truly care.
But I'm glad I did--care, that is. For if I had not, I might have missed the stunning bits of subtext and commentary on our modern times. From Stuart's Portuguese shoes to a startling but overt reference to affirmative action polemics and class hierarchy in Chapter 58, I truly appreciated how McCall Smith creates figures that are representatives of something bigger than the story itself. Perhaps my biggest praise of this volume is that it has made it seem obvious and necessary that I must go back and read volumes 1-12. That is the best of all possible worlds for a book in a series.
On a side note, I would love to know more about the author's shoe...fixation? fascination? From Mma Makutsi in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series to Stuart in 44 Scotland Street series, it feels like there may be fodder for a deeper exploration of shoes-as-trope in the author's oeuvre.
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