The art of the Dicken- and Austin-inspired serial novel - where an installation appears each week in some worhty publication - has been reinvigorated by Alexander McCall Smith in the Daily Scotsman of Edinburgh over the past five years. I am so delighted!
The result is the 44 Scotland Street Series - now in four volumes. The title series is the first book, then Espresso Tales, Love over Scotland and the latest, The World According to Bertie.
My friend Deb and I have been sharing these books since the first volume was published in book form. I love them. Because they appear in the newspaper each week, every chapter is written in 500 words or so, and has to contain its own mini-plot, in addition to being part of the whole. The result is that things move pretty slowly, but that is sometimes a nice pace. These books are like having conversations with a friend - sometimes funny, sometimes thought provoking, sometimes brilliant, often banal. But they are comforting, and the characters are likable (or if not, wonderfully distasteful!) and real. Oh, to be a neighbor at 44 Scotland Street~ To laugh and love and think big thoughts along with the cast of these books.
I saw McCall Smith speak at the Cooper Union here in New York last year and he really did show up in a kilt. He's totally charming and funny. Writing serial novels is hard, and yet, it's all he does. He is masterful at character creation and development. Many times we finish a novel and wonder, what happens next? Especially when the character lives with me for a few days or weeks. With McCall Smith's work, the novels are written to be continued. So he takes his sweet time exploring tangents and building side stories - all of which contribute to the overall breadth and depth of the tale.
I devoured The World According to Bertie. If you've read any of these novels, don't you think it's funny that Bertie has miraculously stayed six years old while others around him celebrate year after year? And in the end, poor Bertie remains stuck in the prison of his mother's making. That woman is so arrogant and dis-illusionsed she makes my skin crawl - but at the same time she's so annoyingly hilarious that you hope she stays in the stories forever! Poor Bertie!
I'm sending this down to Deb and look forward to laughing over some of the scenes with her when she's had a chance to read it. These books make great plane reading, too. I was finishing it on my way to Charlotte this week and laughed out loud so often that the flight attendant asked me for the title so she could get it, too! Good job.
Thank you thank you Alexander McCall Smith! His website is here, and you can buy the book here. Start at the beginning with 44 Scotland Street if you can.
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