Sonderbooks Book Review of Tears of the Giraffe

Reviewed June 17, 2003.
Anchor Books (Random House), New York, 2002. Originally published in Scotland in 2000. 227 pages.
A Sonderbooks’ Stand-out of 2003: #1, Mystery and Adventure
Available at Sembach Library (F MCC).

My wonderful husband bought me this sequel to The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency while he was in America. It was slightly less wonderful than the first book, mainly because, in this book, Precious Ramotswe’s cases are solved more by intuition and luck than by clever outmaneuvering of the criminals. However, this is still a thoroughly delightful book.

I love Alexander McCall Smith’s simple style, using mostly simple declarative sentences. I also love the glimpses into the way life is lived by the people of Botswana, so different from how we view life in America. As one example, Precious Ramotswe is seen as a fine woman partly because she is so fat.

This book deals less with the detective agency’s cases and more with Precious Ramotswe’s impending marriage. Both she and her fiancé know that their lives will change, but her fiancé, in something of a stupor at his good luck, takes on some rather drastic changes.

This is a delightful series, light reading, but not fluff.

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*****Tears of the Giraffe*

by Alexander McCall Smith

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