The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel | Alexander Mccall Smith

The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel | Alexander Mccall Smith | Dalhousie

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The Careful Use of...

	The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel Alexander Mccall Smith Pantheon, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Motherhood and philosophy...

This book is quite the page-turner. The story focuses on a few main points: Isabel as a mother, Cat and Isabel's strained relationship, a painting which appears a fraud, and Isabel's editorial position which has always seemed a certainty and now suddenly disappears. Everything seems finely meshed together in this story--with change being the overall theme. How we react to and recover from major changes in our lives...this is what Isabel does--react and recover. The relationship that Isabel has with Jamie seems perfectly portrayed here as one in which neither person says exactly what they mean or truly trusts the other fully enough to be honest in a situation where there is a question as to why one remains. Their conversations go from seemingly flowing to almost painful, especially when their discussion involves Cat. This book is fascinating and the author really does a fine job of fleshing out this character. She questions everything...herself, the life she has chosen, big debates and little moments of pondering...Isabel is ever the philosopher and just when I think I fully understand her she does something that amazes me and explains it all away until I see all sides to every issue brought up. That's the wonder of these books. There is never a clear cut black and white issue. We may be on one side or another but everything is weighed and weighted...it's really extraordinary and as always a fascinating read!

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Dalhousie

I love his writing..I have read all the series of Ladies Detective Agency and was eager to read the followup on Dalhousie. His writing is so descriptive, you want to go there.

A Quiet Brilliance

This Alexander McCall Smith series is smart, quirky, and, like his "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series, is what I like to call "quiet brilliance". There's no flashy action or steamy sex, just a great story anchored by strong characters. The plot unfolds at the pace of McCall's wonderful prose, bright corners of words that describe more than they say.

I think of these stories as a sort of brain-tonic; clean, without being preachy or boring. They are like what pastorals are to classical music, a combination of both strength and whimsy.

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The series gets back on track

"The Careful Use of Compliments" is the fourth and latest book in the Sunday Philosophy Club series. It picks up a year after "The Right Attitude to Rain". Isabel and Jamie now have a 3 month old son, Charlie - although they are still living in separate residences and are not necessarily committed to one another. Isabel's relationship with her niece Cat has been strained by the double whammy of the hook up with Jamie and arrival of Charlie.

Like the other books in the series, there is a mystery afoot. Isabel becomes intrigued by a painting which may or may not be a forgery. The artist died in an apparent suicide several years previously and she starts to wonder if his death was as straightforward as it seems. However this mystery only really takes over in the latter half of the book. The first part is very much about Isabel's relationships with Jamie, Charlie and Cat, as well as her scheming to retain her position as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics.

The thing I particularly like about the Isabel Dalhousie books is Isabel's lovely observations about life, and this book is rich in that regard. I love the way she gets me to think about everyday things in a way that I never have before: what is meant by everyday expressions, or how dentists are unappreciated by society, or the significance of the stamps that we use on our correspondance.

I felt that the series lost its way with the third book, but "The Careful Use of Compliments" brings it back on track. If you haven't read the others in the series, this is probably not a good place to start as it relies on knowing what has gone before. But if you are a fan of the series - as I am - you will find this is a very pleasing addition.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7

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