Females and Football

One day I happened to be watching a television program on the ABC (Spicks and Specks I think) when an ad for a new show, "The Number One Ladies Detective Agency" came on. I don't really know what it was the drew me to the show or what is was about the ad that enticed me but I knew straight away that I wanted to watch that show. It probably had something to do with the fact that I've had a small obsession with going to Africa ever since I was 9 and went to the Dubbo Zoo in NSW for the first time (if you've never been to the Dubbo Zoo, it's basically like going on safari). So I got my mum to record it (I was young, bed time was at 8pm) and then watched it the next day. Now whilst I can say that I loved the show and continued to watch every episode, I am ashamed to say that I watched the TV show before reading the books. Normally, with nearly every other movie or TV show that has been based on a book, I have read the book first. So I recently decided to read the books, just to see how accurately the screenwriters had stayed to the original text.

The book that I am choosing to review today is "Tea Time For The Traditionally Built" by Alexander McCall Smith.

Like all the other "No. 1 Ladies..." novels, this one is similarly set in the Botswana capital city of Gaborone. For those who don't know, or who can't guess, the books follow the only lady detective in all of Botswana, Precious Ramotswe, a large or "traditionally built" African woman. Along with her assistant detective/secretary Grace Makutsi, they solve all the problems and crimes that you would expect to read about in any other crime novel. However, there is something surprisingly refreshing about these novels. Whilst the crime may be similar to that of an American detective story, such as the old classic of the cheating husband/wife, the African spin given to it, through the characters dialogue and the traditional African custom elements that are woven into the text, manage to keep a reader enthralled throughout, from beginning to end.

This particular novel, book number 10 in the series, follows Precious and Grace as they try to solve the problems of a traitor within a football team, which is causing the team to continually lose, and the effects that a scantily clad, sexy woman, or a Jezebel, is having on Grace's fiancé Phuti. Combining the two, McCall Smith allows us to see how a different cultural understanding of the sexes and indeed what constitutes what a gender should do and shouldn't do is very refreshing to see. Whilst Precious does tend to philosophise about this difference quite a deal and at some points it does appear to be very drawn out, nonetheless the basic gist of what McCall Smith is trying to share with us is that this difference can hinder ones actions in a lot of cases. For me, as a Westerner, a lot of what the Jezebel, Violet was doing was obvious and how I would have handle it would have indeed been very different from how it was handled in the book and I think that is what I liked about it.

And to be honest, I did indeed sit down with a nice, hot cup of tea to read this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. As far as hard core literature goes it wasn't very strenuous to read. The text and plot flowed well and I could easily follow the three different threads of the three different cases within. Also the fact that I made it to the 10th book in the series bodes well for the series itself. I don't keep reading a series just because I liked the first one (I have yet to read the second and third Hunger Games books).

So overall I would definitely recommend this book to those who like a Sunday afternoon read with their cup of tea and the sun beating gently on their face. I give this book a 4/5.

If you like the sound of this book then definitely head out and read the entire series. Alexander McCall Smith is also the author of the 44 Scotland Street series and The 2 and a half Pillars of Wisdom series which I aspire to read one day perhaps.

If crime is your kind of genre, pick up an Agatha Christie novel. They are great reads.

Happy reviewing everyone!

Image 1 available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tea-time-for-the-traditionally-built.jpg 
Image 2 available: http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/books/44-scotland-street/44-scotland-street/