44 Scotland Street review: The Importance Of Being Seven

Published on 22/02/2013 17:10

Readers of The Scotsman will know all about Bertie McCullough. Although

Alexander McCall Smith’s daily novel in this newspaper is largely an ensemble piece,

there’s no doubt about its real star. In many ways Bertie is a remarkably complex

character: an Italian speaker of some fluency, a saxophonist of at least busker

standard, he is no stranger to the psychiatrist’s chair. He also has one other important,

simplifying, characteristic. He’s only six.

The Importance Of Being Seven

By Alexander McCall Smith

Polygon, 311pp, 16.99

Six, not seven. At seven, as McCall Smith notes in his introduction, Bertie might

stand a chance of wising up to the wiles of the world. He might grow petulant at the

way in which his frightful mother Irene dominates his life so completely. He might

even - although he’s such a well-mannered boy that it’s hard to imagine - throw a

strop, assert his own independence, and refuse to co-operate with her plan to bring

him up to university admission standard in most subjects.

Such an independent streak might start to develop in a boy’s mind from seven up. But

at six it doesn’t, which is why McCall Smith seems intent on keeping him at that age

of innocence, forever yearning to understand the world as completely as seven-year-

olds seem to do.

Cynicism, then, remains unknown to young Bertie. But in truth it’s in generally short

supply in Scotland Street, and the latest volume is no exception.

Bruce Anderson, that well-known narcissist and quantity surveyor, might seem to

have settled down and be actually looking forward to marriage, but regular readers

who have followed his career through the previous five books will know all about the

impossibility of leopards changing their spots.

And Kirsty, that uppity young girl Matthew has taken on as an assistant at his

art gallery, might be cynically planning to cause trouble for her naive boss. But

deliberate nastiness is rare in Scotland Street: even Irene, taking Bertie to yet another

psychiatrist, thinks that she is acting in his best interests.

Generally, though, life in Scotland Street is a more pleasant, leisurely business than

it is for most of the rest of us. There’ll be bores (even among students) and even, in

Irene’s case, confirmation of the extramarital affair that led to the arrival of Bertie’s

infant brother Ulysses.

Genuine shocks, however, have rarity value - and even when they happen, they tend

to herald good news rather than bad. Elspeth’s discovery that she is pregnant with

triplets (and all boys too!), Irene’s sudden disappearance (accidentally locked into a

lorry carrying aid to Romania) and even Antonia’s illness while on holiday in Italy all

fall into this category.

That last example might seem cruel - but when Antonia is overcome by Stendhal

Syndrome while on holiday in Tuscany, the way is clear for her two accompanying

friends, Domenica and Angus Lordie, to fall in love with each other.

The fictional world McCall Smith conjures up in these daily dispatches may move

slowly, its plot shimmering like a mirage. But to make up for it, there’s plenty of

time for idle thoughts, occasional shafts of wit and gentle dissections of absurdity -

sometimes all at the same time, as when Irene is shown wondering, for a whole page,

whether married women should start calling their maiden name their authentic name

and their married name their secondary one.

And isn’t this, after all, the way most of our lives are lived - not as part of a plot but as

a succession of thoughts and whims that would look absurd if held up to the light?

It’s this slice of life that Scotland Street serves up so perfectly. Its characters’ sins

aren’t venal, but enough to make us smile. We recognise them so well - Irene’s self-

righteousness, Lizzie’s naivety about Bruce, Domenica’s glee in exposing Antonia’s

pretentiousness.

And we recognise their virtues as well - Big Lou’s common sense, Elspeth’s

determination, Angus’s perseverence in his craft and Matthew’s kindness. Despite

those last two examples, in moral terms at least, women are so clearly the stronger sex

in this - as indeed all - of McCall Smith’s fiction.

Perhaps one day we might be able to add Bertie to the list. One day, if it ever comes,

when he is finally seven and can make up his own mind about life.