The Lost Art of Gratitude

Alexander McCall Smith is a master storyteller and this is another great installment in the series about Isabel Dalhousie and her life and adventures in Edinburgh. I love this series partly because it takes place in Edinburgh. I love Scotland, although I prefer the Highlands and the Isle of Skye. I have only been to one other island in Scotland and would love to go to more! These are great stories about a woman who tries her best to always do the right thing. She is a strong character and has a lot of great adventures. This one is no exception. All are well written and interesting. My only complaint is they are not long enough! But then, I am a Gabaldon fan and I think she could shorten hers! Two extremes for sure! I like the characters in this series and cannot wait for a new one to come out.

I won\’t bother recounting the plot of this book, because that is not what grabbed me. Rather, it was the stream-of-consciousness style of the author\’s narrative. This is a man writing about a woman\’s experience–which always makes me a little skeptical–but he seems to have found a \”true enough\” voice here. His heroine is the good-natured Isabel Dalhousie: 40 years old, a divorced Ph.D., mother of an 18-month-old son, newly the fiancé of her toddler\’s much-younger father, aunt to an edgy niece who used to date her fiancé, and the owner and publisher of a journal on moral philosophy who works from home. She seems a kindly sort, prone out of some instinct of goodness to want to insert herself helpfully into the business of others. No secret here, that instinct can get her in trouble. She calls Edinburgh her home, and McCall weaves local Scottish color into his plot line. But the book, whose happenings pass over just a few days, is spelled out in terms of Isabel\’s thought process. While I found it similar to my own and therefore liked it, most novels are rendered in terms of dialogue. This one has dialogue, of course, but the reader is also privy to all of Isabel\’s thoughts between her utterances and those of her associates. It took some getting used to that, perhaps the first 100 pages or so. But the thread hangs together, and so in the end did not bog down as I was afraid it might. I would call it a unique writing style, and in the end it held personal resonance for me. (Beware, however, if you are afraid of \”thought broadcasting.\”)

My misgivings came from the title. I could not reconcile the \”series/mystery\” aspect with the title \”the lost art of gratitude\” or the comments left by other readers! (I\’m not a fan of mystery novels). So, I read a sample and I was enchanted from the very beginning. For one thing, it\’s like a free trip to Edinburgh. I have been there only once, briefly, and I loved finding myself there again. So to speak. I also enjoyed the writing, witty and fluid, and I felt I was really \”inside\” Isabel\’s mind by following her philosophical meanderings (mind you, we\’re not talking about references to Kant or Nietzsche here : it\’s more like following the ideas of a person more open and intent on doing the right thing than your average person). It gave an intimacy to Isabel\’s character tantamount to using the first person. As for the \”mysteries\”: there is an underlying story or two about a certain manipulative lady… One also gets acquainted with Isabel\’s baby and partner, and rather wild niece. The beauty of it is that the story stays intriguing enough to hold the reader\’s interest (I\’ll admit I am easily bored) even though on the surface, only rather minor things happen. I am delighted I gave the book a chance – I will check out the others of the series!

The Isabel Dalhousie series is another of Alexander McCall Smith’s great book series. I love reading these books because he evokes the Edinburg setting so well that you feel you are there and the characters are well developed and interesting. I don’t always agree with Isabel but she always makes me think!

You have to believe that author Alexander McCall Smith has a special fondness for his main character in \”The Sunday Philosophy Club\” series, Isabel Dalhousie, for he has created for her a seamlessly agreeable life. She is intelligent, well-educated, well-to-do and beautiful. She has a handsome, sensitive and younger fiance, who has fathered her beautiful and well-behaved son. Isabel loves her \”job\” as a moral philosopher and editor of a scholarly journal and lives in a historic mansion in Edinburgh, a city that fits her like a glove. So without the frisson and stress, how does \”The Lost Art of Gratitude\” (and others in the series) grab the reader\’s attention and hold it? It may well be that the very stresslessness of living is what makes her story so interesting and enjoyable to the reader. You know that nothing terrible will ever really happen to Isabel and to the ones she loves. Who doesn\’t fantasize about a world where we are surrounded by beauty and intelligence that will never end? Where babies don\’t ever have to have their diapers changed nor do they ever get colic or throw tantrums. Where your SO, in addition to being beautiful/handsome and talented, respects you and intuitively connects with your every thought and impulse. And is always yin to your yang. McCall Smith does provide a few gray clouds for his heroine in \”The Lost Art…\” in the form of a couple of Isabel\’s old adversaries–Minty Aucterlonie and Christopher Dove, but they have both been vanquished by Isabel in the past, and there is no doubt that she will prevail against them again. Ultimately, the greatest pleasure from the book for this reader, was the time and space that Isabel Dalhousie is given to ruminate about the human condition and the interactions of people in ordinary day-to-day situations. This isn\’t peace in the Middle East or the answer to world poverty, but it is important reflection on how we behave toward each other as residents of shared communities. Hypocrisy and greed are two of the main identified enemies for Isabel, but all human folly is grist for her consideration. Respect and charity are always her goals. McCall Smith\’s paragon does have interesting flaws–she is overly considerate and reasonable and therefore unable, at times, to correctly read the baser actions of others. These misunderstandings and her occasional outright cluelessness give the story needed zing and interest. \”The Lost Art of Gratitude\” is another gentle and sweet installment in a series that you have to hope will hold McCall Smith\’s interest and enterprise for many years to come.

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