[on Alexander McCall Smith]
Sunday, August 1, 2010
“I love Alexander McCall Smith’s books. His early novels are minimalist tales about ordinary people. The simplicity of language gives the stories a poetic, dreamy quality. Over time, his books have become more complicated, but no less beautiful.
La’s Orchestra Saves the World may be my favorite yet. Although only 294 pages, it is denser than the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels. McCall Smith retains his finely tuned sense of place and time as he tells the life story of Lavender, known as La. Somehow, by focusing on this one woman in a small town in England, he manages to convey a sense of life’s wonders without ignoring its tragedies.
Reading La’s Orchestra, one feels that not one single word is out of place. I would be happy to be able to write half as well.”
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