The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall SmithMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The character's in "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive" are so well developed. They could easily fill more than the nine books this series allowed. This series being "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series." The meat of this story isn't in what the character's do, it is in who they are. Who they are dictates how they do everything they do. Especially the main character, Mma Ramotswe, who is moral, loving, respectful to everyone, in all ways. The little things in life mean the most to
her, as does her country, Botswana, which she takes pride in. Mma Ramotswe sees things others don't. She is not blinded by ego, selfishness, greed, or impatience. She is kind.
I love the soothing tempo of life lived by Mma Ramotswe. On page 118 we read, "Mma Ramotswe made the brief drive out to Mochudi; forty minutes if one rushed, an hour if one meandered. And she meandered, slowing down to look at some cattle who had strayed onto the verge of the road."
In this, the eighth book of the series, her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, decides he wants to do some detective work. Mma Ramotswe indulges him to do so, afterwhich he decides he will stick with being a mechanic. And, Mma Makutsi quits her job at the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, only to return by the afternoon of the first day of her unemployment. (Whew! I couldn't have handled reading on without her!) Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni also losses an employee/apprentice, Charlie, only to have him return after wrecking the Mercedes-Benz Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni had sold him for a taxi business Charlie aptly called The No. 1 Ladies Taxi Service. Mma Ramotswe was approached by a cousin, Tati Monyena, requesting her services, requesting to become a paying client regardless that Botswanan custom inferred you don't charge cousins for your services. The case involved some unexplained deaths at the hospital in Mochudi. I will not spoil the story, but, the last few pages illustrates Mma Ramotswe's exemplary character with these two lines, "Now he [Tati Monyena] knew what her grace had meant, and he wanted to say something about that, to thank her for her mercy, but he could not talk. He expressed his relief in tears, which he mopped at......" I was mopping at my own tears while reading the last few pages. Need I say, I am a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith's books. Great read!
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