A “different” kind of detective novel, alright!
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
Book on Amazon | My review on Amazon
3 out of 5 stars
Reviewed August 23, 2009
It’s a mild sort of book, rambling along on a sunny, slow African day. Though you get a few glimpses of that leisurely Africa (Botswana) that the author wants to portray, its moral high ground is off-putting.
The style is a little too contrived in its quaintness. Also the lack of intensity in the prose, makes this style somewhat boring for me. For a detective novel, the pace is too slow. It can possibly grow on you, but that hasn’t happened to me yet – this is my second Mma Ramotswe book, the first one being “In the Company of Cheerful Ladies”.
I see a lot of other reviews here finding the characters delightful, so I must be missing something. But I could not particularly relate to or even like any of the characters.
It’s not the sort of book I’d prefer to buy or take on a travel, but if it’s lying around, I can pick it up and read to the finish.
