A review by katebelt
Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith

3.0

I liked the book. I’d tried a few of the author’s other novels couldn’t get into them. In this story, the writing style, characters, and observations about social life, customs, and politics reminds me of Armistead Maupin’s series, Tales of the City. It was hard to put down, but at first it seemed like the book was very anti-female; nearly all of the females, young & old, had nasty streaks. However, my final assessment is there were very strong and very flawed individuals of both genders. I didn’t see any gender fluidity in this book ... maybe it’s there in others from the series. I am tempted to read the entire series to see what happens to those I liked in the book. It’s like a soap opera.