The Kalahari Typing School For Men (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
It's always nice to return to this world where everyone is blunt and honest and all the bad stuff happens because of Western influence or men. This installment is quite simple, even as these books go. There's a rival private investigator who opens up, then he closes. Mma Ramotswe has to find someone for a man, and she finds them! As usual, Mma Makutsi's plot is the most interesting one. She decides to open the Kalahari Typing School for Men, capitalizing on men's need to not let women get better than them at anything. It allows for a couple of branching storylines, like Mma Makutsi's date with an adulterer and gives us one of the best chapter titles ever: "The Kalahari Typing School for Men Throws Opens Its Doors (To Men)." The beginning of the book has some funny scenes, like Mma Ramotswe pretending to be consumed by her sins to get out of a ridiculous church service, she fantasizes about kicking one of the Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentices, and the other apprentice has found Jesus and suggests Mma Makutsi open a driving school: "We could call it Learn to Drive with Jesus."Mma Ramotswe's honesty and integrity is tested in the latter portions of the book, though, when she finds out Mma Makutsi's date is an adulterer. She makes some questionable choices, but everything, of course, works out well in the end. Considering most of her dilemma is the result of her wanting to meddle in Mma Makutsi's life anyway, it doesn't really matter. I like that I can read these books in about a day as a palate cleanser between more challenging novels. Some extra wisdom: "This clerk was not bright, and people like that could show a remarkable tenacity when it came to rules. Because they could not distinguish between meritorious and unmeritorious requests, they could refuse to budge from the letter of the regulations.""'Be accurate' is a good motto for every walk of life, would you not think?"
Mma Ramotswe is back, and this time she is being challenged by a new detective agency in Gaborone. The new detective is a gentleman who claims that the fact that he was trained by the CDI in South Africa, has experience working in New York, and has lots of streets of smarts amkes his agency far superior than the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. It is frustrating to hear such sexist advertising, but our hero is never one to let that kind of thing get her down. She continues to pursue her cases to a successful conclusion.Her assistant Mma Mikutsi gets her first opportunity to really shine as she decides that being an assistant manager of a garage and an assistant detective are not enough to keep her busy or help build up her savings after she sends money home to help her family. She decides that it might be a good idea to start a business of her own. She knows that it can be done thanks to the wonderful example Mma Ramotswe has provided. After much thought, Mma Mikutsi decides she is going to start a typing school for men. Many men need to improve their typing skills because of the demands placed on them to work with computers. She is hoping her school would provide a niche for men who want to learn, but who are ashamed to do so in a class full of women who might do better than them. It turns out to be a good idea, and she finds out that it might provide more than money.Mma Ramotswe and her fiance, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, are still going forward with no plans for a wedding date, but they are finding much happiness with the two children they are fostering. It is quickly becoming clear they are becoming a real family.Once again Smith has build a great tale filled with humor, the beauty of Africa, and a sense of the quality of a simplified life. The characters are the true strength of the series, and they continue to grow and develop with each volume.
What do You think about The Kalahari Typing School For Men (2004)?
A light and comfortable read. I wish someone like Precious Ramotswe or Mr J.L.B. Matekoni lived next to me. They are such lovely people. In fact I'd vote for them to be my MP, any day. At least you could be sure they'd do their best, and not fiddle their expenses.Thing is, I know zilch about Botswana, so in my mind it's a sort of proxy Camelot, where most people don't have much, but are generally very happy together. I wonder if it's really like that? I do hope so.I've read a few of the books in this series. They all seem to be broadly the same. Nothing really terrible happens, and everything gets sorted. Nice, simple prose with description that gives you a feel for the setting, and makes you want to visit Botswana one day, if not actually live there.
—Brian
In this book, Mma Makutsi, is becoming a better defined character. She is always looking for a way to use her training at secretarial school and her extraordinary 97% score. She decides that men need to know how to type in this computer age and thinks that they are reluctant to study with females in their class because they have come lately to a skill that has been associated with women in the past. She begins her school and is delighted to find that it is very successful. Mma Patience Ramotswe meets her new competition with poise and grace and triumphs because of her compassionate in insightful nature. Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni seems reluctant to set a date for the wedding after his depression and that is of some concern, but it all works out in the end.This book, like the rest, is not about the crime solving. Most of the problems are typical, but not necessarily easily solved. They are mainly used as a vehicle to participate in the characters lives. Again and again loyal readers come back to check on our friends lives and enjoy visiting and drinking bush tea.
—Anne Hawn Smith
Just as with all the other books in the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series, this one evokes a clear sense of place and characters. Simply put, it makes me want to be in Botswana right now. One of the things I like best about Alexander McCall Smith's writing is the way he develops his characters through their lives and actions and not much in the way of a narrator's analysis. The author seems to feel a great deal of affection for his characters even when they make unwise choices. These books are fresh, unpredictable, and plain ol' addictive. I actually read this one but have listened to the previous ones in the series on audio CD. I'd recommend listening to at least one title in this series to hear the cadence of the names and places.
—Rhonda
