Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations

By Alexander McCall Smith and ©2003 Alexander McCall Smith

Book Overview

A New York Times Bestselling Author From the creator of The No. 1 "Ladies' Detective Agency" comes a hilarious and heartwarming collection of stories about the trials, tribulations, and delights of dating. These varied tales teem with more of the exotic settings, vivid characters, irresistible imagination and delicious insightfulness into the human condition that have become McCall Smith's trademark.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1841954667
• ISBN13: 9781841954660
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Well written and thought provoking

These tales might seem out of character for readers familiar with The No. 1 Ladies Detective series. Smith imitates being an author of genre fiction by being accessible yet belies this superficial role by provoking thought in those who wish to think. There are very few writers who do this as successfully. When Smith writes outside the bounds of genre fiction his devotees, who read him for his superb ability to write genre fiction, are going to be confused. The story Pretty Nice Date will be the most confusing. But I found it bizarre yet ultimately moral. The closing sequence shows the adult's concern about the boy's health, revealing his obliviousness to the boys spiritual and moral well being. Unsettling to be sure but certainly not morally neutral. One has to be willing to ponder some of these stories to get the meaning. Additionally, genre fiction readers tend to confuse the character a writer creates with the writer himself, a mistake that in this case is sure to provoke criticism of Smith. But it is a pretty silly mistake. I hope Smith feels free to explore more diverse themes in future collections. He's a great writer and will reveal his best work if unfettered by undue consciousness of popular success.

Excellent--but don't expect Precious redux

This collection of short stories shows Mr. Smith to be a master of the form. Further, it shows the influence of his "day job" --ethics worm their way into every tale. As might be expected, the moral land of gray makes for wonderful explorations of character, human behavior and reader satisfaction. Mr. Smith's writing is clear, concise and perhaps even formal in tone; perfect. These are not tales written by a lightweight. I see many negative reviews: it's because these stores are neither lighthearted nor "easy" and they were not meant to be. But they are well-crafted and wonderful, something like dark chocolate!

Not for the light of humor

If the only thing you have ever read and loved by Alexander McCall Smith is his #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, then I would caution you about buying this book. The stories are wonderfully written, as is everything that he writes. But these stories are not light and cute, some of them are actually very dark. Even the ones that are funny are comedic like a Chekhov play. If you really want to branch out from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, then try reading the Portuguese Irregular Verbs trilogy first. They are a little more satirical, a little drier, and sometimes ever-so-slightly darker, but not anywhere near as dark as Heavenly Date can be.

Modern Day Immaculate Conception

Alexander McCall Smith is recently best known for his "Ladies No. 1 Detective Series" which takes place in Botswana. And true to those roots, his showcase story, "Bulawayo" does take place in Botswana, but since it is set in 1951, he uses the old name, Rhodesia.This book is truly masterfully crafted. Smith describes 9 'dates' that men and woman have, and mostly, the problems they encounter in the dating. Only 2 of his stories end 'happily' if you will. The others are virtual disasters. But the beauty of the construction of the book is how the complexity of the dating gets more complicated and the story Smith tells about each has a somewhat different character, although a certain dryness of style that Smith uses is unmistakably done intentionally.Smith's wonderfully "Freudian" story "Intimate Accounts" is just like reading out of "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" by Freud himself. And in his final date,"A Heavenly Date" he describes what seems to be, a modern day story of an immaculate conception. Yet there are other explanations, as there are for the Biblical event, the feeling of ethereality is truly entrancing.The book shows the great talent that Smith possesses for understanding and communicating the thoughts and actions of people. And once again, shows that no matter what culture you are in, the human problems are always much the same, whether they are spoken in English, French, German or Setswana, they are still the same types of problems.

These stories are as good as those in Botswana - buy it!

These stories are not set in Botswana, but they are funny, delightful, occasionally sad (McCall Smith is naturally one of the funniest men you could ever meet but he can't be funny ALL the time) and well worth reading for seeing how he writes good stories in different parts of the world. Christmas is coming - be sure to buy all your friends plenty of copies of this delightful series of tales! Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)