The Charming Quirks of Others – Book Review

The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
By Alexander McCall Smith
Reviewed by Cathy Newland
Reviewing the seventh book in a series might be an unusual choice.  But then again, this is an unusual series.  Unusual – meaning extraordinary.  How can a male author give us this “long look into the beautiful mind of a thinking woman?”   But it isn’t the first time this author has effectively given the reader an insightful view of the female psyche.
 
McCall Smith may be better known for the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.  While Mma Ramotswe, the lady detective who lives in Botswana, meditates and moralizes, Isabel Dalhousie, the lady philosopher of Edinburgh, takes it to another level.  She is, after all, the editor of a professional journal, The Review of Applied Ethics.
 
It is difficult to keep from revealing too much with this review.  After all, some readers may want to begin with the first in the series, The Sunday Philosophy Club, rather than starting with the seventh.  Let’s just say that once again Isabel poked her nose into places it doesn’t really belong – never mind that she was asked to do so – and she contemplated, philosophized, analyzed and, once again, came up with the wrong end of the stick. 
 
It is really fun to read Isabel’s thoughts and her rationalizations and recognize at the same time she does that she got it wrong.  Even Isabel realizes that others understand and appreciate life even though they are not philosophers.  “. . . she knew the technical terms for life; [Eddie] knew how life was when you suffered from it.”  She knew that just living can lead to insight.
 
The reader appreciates the view of Edinburgh, its inhabitants and the environs, through Isabel’s eyes.  Isabel consistently refers to the city as a village, a “not particularly big pond,” where everyone knows everyone else [those “charming quirks”] and what they doing.  Isabel loves her country.  She loves it because “it is soft and green and the sky is a theatre of white and grey and is so heartbreakingly beautiful in all its moods.”  And because of “its people, who are frustrating and interesting and full of joy and sorrow, in equal amounts perhaps; who plot and scheme and yet find time to love one another and make songs and music and plant rhododendrons and write poetry and talk Gaelic and catch fish.”  Isabel loves her country for all that and we learn to love it too.
 
McCall Smith has written five series, several stand-alones and numerous children’s books.  I have kept up with three of the series and these things are apparent in all his writings – his interest in the human condition, his penchant for looking at life’s issues philosophically and ethically, his sense of humor and his lovely way with words – beautiful prose.
 
McCall Smith’s website is a great place to visit – http://www.alexandermccallsmith.com/.   Once you are there, you can choose the US site or the UK site.  I think the US site is more fun but suggest you visit both.