Blog assignment 3

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
by Alexander McCall Smith
ISBN 978-0-349-11773-7

This book is the eighth title in a series about The No.1 Ladies’ detective Agency, written by Alexander McCall Smith. I have read the first seven already, but there are still a few titles left for me to read.

The stories take place in Botswana. The central character is Mma Ramotswe, who one day decides to start her own detective agency. Her starting capital is the cattle she inherited from her late father. Through her stories you can follow how her life goes on. She gets married and divorced, later married again. She decides to sell her beloved house and moves into the house already owned by her second husband describing lots of situation such a change can bring about. You can also follow the development of her company as, her working methods well as her employees situations of life and experiences .

I got a tip, from a male dinner partner a few years ago, to read this series of books in English. At that time I was quite inexperienced in reading books in English language so I decided to make a try. He thought the books were written in a way that made them easy to read and enjoy, especially if you are not used to read in English language. I agree with his conclusion.
When I now decided to read this book, I have tried to focus on what reflections I make when I read.

First of all I realize that I read the book smiling. The story gets me in a very nice and calm mood. The tempo is low through the story, and Mma Ramotswe always express her thoughts and reflections in different situations described in the book. Maybe is this way of writing the explanation to why I as a reader experience the books so nice and relaxing to read.

Another reflection I have made is how the surroundings, the people and the country are described. I have made my own pictures of the characters and the facilities of The No.1 Ladies’ detective Agency. Several descriptions are very detailed and give the reader information on shape, smell, colors and sounds. Let me give you one example from page 49 in this book:

“They left his office and walked down a green-painted corridor. There was a hospital smell in the air, that mixture of humanity and disinfectant and, in the background, the sound that seemed to go so well with that smell – voices somewhere, the sound of a child crying, the noise of wheels being pushed……”

This short text give me as a reader quite a clear picture in my mind of how it could look like, sound like and smell.

The typical choice of book for me is a detective story, but the ones I usually read differs a lot from this one. The next challenge for me will be to read a more traditional detective story or a thriller in English.