Tears Of The Giraffe (Book)

by Alexander McCall Smith

Tears of the Giraffe is the second book in Alexander McCall Smith’s, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I wrote a review for the first book a few months back, and was pretty positive about the book with the one caveat that even though it was billed as a mystery, it was actually pretty skimpy with the mystery aspects of the book. I speculated that this was a result of it being the first book in the series and that in future books this would probably be less of a problem.

I have to report that I was wrong. The depth of the mystery in this book is only slightly greater then that of the original book. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Tears of the Giraffe is an absolutely wonderful book; far better then the first, and what it lacks in mystery, it makes up in color and character.

The story centers about Precious Ramotswe, owner of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and her life in Botswana. As in the first book, she is hired to solve a number of cases. One case is brought to her by a mother searching for her long lost son and a second by a man who is wondering about some strange behavior involving his wife. Both stories are left unresolved for pretty much the full duration of the book and really serve only as glue to hold the rest of the book together.

The majority of the action in the book, revolves around the engagement of Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni and the events leading up to their marriage. It seems that Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni has done something huge that will effect both him and Mma Ramotswe for the rest of their lives and he is having a tough time getting up the courage to tell her about it.

Alexander McCall Smith is a master at creating characters. All of the people in these books come alive and seem absolutely real. Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni are portrayed as good people, who love their country but are having a tough time accepting the changes that are taking place in their society. Both of them are warm and caring, simple people, but instead of just coming out and stating this, Smith slowly builds their characters throughout the book. I know this seem like pretty basic writing technique, but I only mention it here because Smith does it so well. If you are an aspiring author, these books are wonderful studies in the intricacy of character development.

Another side benefit of reading (or listening to) Tears of the Giraffe is that you’ll come away from it feeling great. The story is uplifting and positive and the simple happiness of the characters in it is infectious.

I read the first book in the series, but for Tears of the Giraffe, I downloaded the audiobook from Audible. The book is narrated by Lisette Lecat, who takes the already great reading material to the next level. Her delivery is about the finest I’ve ever heard for any audiobook and the sound of her voice fits the series perfectly. Very often a great book is ruined by poor narration, but this is a case of a great book being enhanced by good narration. I was very happy to hear that Ms. Lecat is the narrator for all of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and I’ve already downloaded the sequel.

I can’t recommend this book more highly. This book is a real treat and unless you have a heart of stone, you will like it too.

10 out of 10 Stars

Posted by Al on 01/11/10 at 05:26 PM in Books