Review of "Bertie's Theory of Ice Cream: A 44 Scotland Street Novel" by Alexander McCall Smith

  

This is the 18th book in the "44 Scotland Street" series. It can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a plus.



In these affable, humorous books Alexander McCall Smith follows the lives of a group of people who reside in Edinburgh's "New Town" neighborhood. Many of the characters live in apartments at 44 Scotland Street - and others are their neighbors, friends and acquaintances.

*****

Portrait artist Angus and his loyal dog Cyril are taking a walk around their Edinburgh neighborhood for exercise and fresh air.



Angus and Cyril happen to meet Sister Maria-Fiore del Fiori di Montagna, a relative newcomer to Edinburgh. Sister Maria-Fiore, who wears an elegant tartan habit, is known for her trite original aphorisms and her rapid rise on the Edinburgh social ladder.



The nun is seen at every exhibition opening, attends the opening of parliamentary sessions, is at the national day celebrations of every consulate, is an honorary member of the Watsonian Society, is an honorary patron of both Scottish Opera and the Royal Scottish Museum, and is a trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland.

And to Angus's IMMENSE ENVY, Sister Maria Fiore has now been elected a member of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. There is no higher peak to scale, with or without oxygen.



Later on, Sister Maria-Fiore tells Angus she has a piece of the Stone of Scone. This famous stone had been used in the coronation of Scottish monarchs before it was taken to England in 1296. In 1950 it was stolen back by Scotsmen, then returned to England. Somehow, the nun got hold of a piece, and she wants Angus to help her keep it secret and safe.



*****

Art gallery owner Matthew and his wife Elspeth are raising their 7-year-old triplets, Rognvald, Fergus, and Tobermory, in the suburbs near Edinburgh.



When Matthew goes over to welcome the new neighbors, Robert and Maureen, the couple are hoity-toity about their carbon-neutral vegan lifestyle, and suggest Matthew's family is irresponsible and wasteful. This annoys Matthew no end.



So when Robert and Maureen's unhappy dog Ralph - who objects to being a vegan - keeps coming over to play with the triplets and eat sausages, Matthew devises a plan to keep him.



*****

Bruce, an erstwhile surveyor, is proud of his spectacular good looks, which have always attracted rich girlfriends. However, Bruce knows he won't be gorgeous forever, and embarks on a money-making real estate scheme that has an unanticipated outcome.



*****

Affable Big Lou, who owns Big Lou's Coffee Shop, overhears a conversation between two patrons.



The men are the chairman and secretary of the Association of Scottish Nudists. The Edinburgh contingent of the nudist society is at odds with the Glasgow members, who want to move the association from Moray Place to new headquarters. The secretary resists, despite the fact he's cold-shouldered by Moray Place residents who don't like nudists in their midst - even though he offers them a cut-rate membership subscription.



*****

Seven-year-old Bertie Pollock is the star of the series.



For all his young life, Bertie has been the project of his mother Irene, who made Bertie go for psychoanalysis, subjected him to a sensory-deprivation tank, and made him take saxophone lessons, yoga classes, Italian lessons, and more. Irene also gave Bertie a little brother, who suspiciously resembles Bertie's psychoanalyst, Dr. Fairbairn.



Luckily for Bertie and his father Stuart, Irene went off to study for a Ph.D. with Dr. Fairbairn. Irene then fell in love with a fisherman in northern Scotland, and moved in with him.



Now Bertie is being raised by his father and his grandmother Nicola, with occasional visits from Irene.



Irene hasn't completely abandoned project Bertie, though, and makes plans to get Bertie an Irish passport, preceded by tutoring in Irish culture.



In the meantime, grandma Nicola has a 'meet cute' with a nice-looking cyclist named David, whose bag of potatoes breaks and litters the street. Later on, when David suggests he and Nicola see a Scottish opera together, Nicola is excited about the date, which doesn't go as expected.




Meanwhile, Bertie is still being tormented by his classmate Olive.



Olive insists she's Bertie's fiancée and bosses him around mercilessly. This time, Olive makes Bertie join her bookclub, so his mind doesn't dwell on things that are bad for him. By this Olive means Bertie's friend Ranald Braveheart Macperson, whom Olive doesn't like. (I'd love to see Bertie tell Olive to get lost....maybe in a future book.)



Regardless, Bertie and Ranald go off and have an unexpected adventure.

*****

The story winds up when Angus and his wife Domenica have a buffet dinner party for their friends, and Angus reads a lovely poem.



As always, it's a pleasure to visit with the folks in Edinburgh and its suburbs. I look forward to the next installment in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley, Alexander McCall Smith, and Vintage for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 4 stars 

Review of "The Vanishing Family: A Story of Fate, Love, and the Disappearing Mind" by Robert Kolker

  

I previously read journalist Robert Kolker's book Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family, about the Galvin family of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Six sons (out of twelve children) were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and Kolker tells the Galvins' story, including the search for genetic markers for the disease, and the family's contribution to the study of mental illness.


The Galvin family

In 'The Vanishing Family', Kolker relates the story of another family that carries the gene for a hereditary illness, in this case frontotemporal dementia. It took decades for the clan to understand their plight, and Kolker relates their tale step by harrowing step.

For privacy, Kolker uses only first names.

Irish-Catholic couple Ollie and Jean were born in the late 1920s, married in 1950, and settled in a Missouri suburb called Webster Groves. Over the next 15 years, Jean became the stay-at-home mom of seven children, and Ollie worked at a series of engineering jobs, hoping to start his own business some day.



By 1967, financial difficulties and job opportunities led Ollie and Jean to settle in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, and they eventually had a total of nine children: Kathy, Christy, Sue, Dutch, Mary, Peggy, Scott, Jenny, and Barb.



Kolker writes, "Jean was something of a wonder, filled with optimism and energy, reading, gardening, and playing bridge with Ollie and their friends. She shopped for the food on a strict budget, making the calculations and lists in her head, and cooked everything for the family. She made her own donuts and pizza from scratch, and served up enchiladas when they were still considered an exotic foreign dish."



By her late forties, however, Jean became increasingly withdrawn and depressed. As time passed, Jean stopped dressing up every day like she used to to; quit going to the hair salon; neglected her hygiene; became silent; drank heavily; didn't pay bills; played solitaire and watched game shows all day; paid little attention to the children; said yes to every sales call, resulting in multiple subscriptions to the same magazines; and generally made poor decisions.



The changes were obvious to Ollie, the children, and the neighbors, who usually attributed Jean's behavior to Ollie's flagrant cheating.



Jean continued to decline for two decades, until she neglected her breast cancer for so long she couldn't be successfully treated. Jean died in 1990.

As it turns out, Jean was the first victim (in the immediate family) of frontotemporal dementia. This wasn't diagnosed until the late 1990s, however, after Ollie and Jean's daughter Christy developed symptoms similar to those of her mother. Christy was a successful marketing executive, wife, and mother before she fell ill, but her life fell apart afterwards.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is an illness in which the brain's frontal and temporal lobes gradually degenerate, causing people to lose their personality, judgment, language, and self-control. Symptoms usually begin in a victim's forties, and unlike 'old-age' dementia, patients don't lose their memories.



Over time, five of Ollie and Jean's nine children developed FTD. Some family members submitted blood/saliva samples for genetic testing, and researchers found their FTD resulted from an autosomal dominant gene called V337M, which causes tau mutations (tangles) in brain proteins. An autosomal dominant gene means there's a 50:50 chance a victim will pass the gene to their children.


Tau mutations caused by V337M

In Ollie and Jean's clan, Jean had the genetic defect, which she passed to five of her children, who then passed it to some of their offspring. The exact number of victims isn't known, since some family members haven't been tested (by their own choice).

Kolker provides mini-biographies of all nine siblings, most of whom went on to college; got married and had children; and had successful careers. The victims who developed FTD couldn't work (or lost their jobs) after they fell ill, and were unable to take care of themselves. Sibling Sue, who remained healthy, stepped up and took care of some family members, especially Christy.

Kolker describes a typical day for Sue and Christy in their later years. 'Sue helps Christy with everything, coaxing her to the toilet and then the shower. Laundry is a constant. Christy wears adult diapers, but has accidents that call for a change of clothes, about five or six changes a day. Christy's favorite spot in the house is an easy chair in the TV area. The chair has a big leather belt, to keep Christy from roaming when Sue isn't watching. Because of Christy's compulsive overeating, Sue has to padlock the refrigerator, lock the pantry, and make all the meals. Sue is on constant alert, whether she and Christy are inside the house, outside taking a walk, or doing other things.



There's no cure for FTD, and until recently, minimal research about the condition. Kolker describes the formation of 'The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration' (AFTD), whose members - including youngest sibling Barb - lobby politicians, scientists, pharmaceutical companies, etc. to support studies of FTD, with the aim of finding a treatment or cure.




In addition to telling the story of Ollie and Jean's family, Kolker writes about doctors and scientists who added to our knowledge of the brain, and provided information about the causes of psychiatric syndromes and dementia.

Examples include:

➽ Dr. Arnold Pick - In the early 20th century, Pick was the director of the psychiatric hospital at the University of Prague in Czechoslovakia. During autopsies of patients with language and/or behavior problems, Pick observed atrophy of the brain's frontal and temporal lobes. For many years, this was called Pick's disease. It's now known to be a type of FTD (but not the kind in Ollie and Jean's family).



➽ Dr. Alois Alzheimer - Also in the early 20th century, Alzheimer was a German psychiatrist and brain researcher. Alzheimer had the opportunity to study the brain of Auguste D., a woman who lost her memory, forgot her way around her apartment, thought someone was trying to kill her, and descended into total delirium. When Auguste D. died, Alzheimer found 'plaques and tangles' in her brain, and this type of dementia was named Alzheimer's disease.



➽ Sir John Hardy - Hardy is a British neurogeneticist, currently at the National Institutes of Health. Hardy identified a mutation associated with Alzheimer's disease.


Sir John Hardy

Kolker also provides anecdotes about unusual neurological cases. One of the most famous is Phineas Gage. In 1848, at the age of 25, Gage was a dependable construction foreman working on a job site. After an explosion, a long iron rod sliced through Gage's brain, and he became impulsive, profane, unreliable, and unable to plan ahead. The brain injury changed Gage's personality, and showed that specific parts of the brain control behavior.


Phineas Gage

The book is informative, interesting, and draws attention to an illness that might be treatable with a DNA tweak. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Robert Kolker, and Doubleday for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 4 stars 

Review of "George Passant: Strangers and Brothers #2" by C.P. Snow

  

I first read C.P. Snow's 'Strangers and Brothers' series some time ago, and it became a favorite. The novels focus on an English barrister/civil servant, Lewis Elliot, who rises from poverty to a position of influence in the early-to-mid 1900s. Elliot is present in the entire eleven-book series, but he's not always the central character.

Storywise, 'George Passant' is the second book in the series.

*****

Lewis Eliot was a junior clerk in his town's 'Council Education Office' when he first met George Passant.



Lewis took night classes at the local College of Art and Technology (aka the School), and George, a solicitor/managing clerk at the law firm Eden & Martineau, taught Fundamentals of Criminal Law.



Lewis was drawn into George's social circle, a cluster of young people (called 'the group') that George - then in his mid-twenties - collected around him. All the group, both men and women, were students at the School. The group often met in cafés.....



...... and then developed the practice of spending weekends at a farmhouse ten miles away, where they would cook their own food, pay a shilling a night for a bed, and talk until daybreak.



*****

When the novel 'George Passant' opens around 1930, Lewis is a London barrister in his mid-twenties, and George - now in his early thirties - is still just a solicitor/managing clerk at Eden & Martineau. George hopes to be made a partner, but Mr. Eden disapproves of George's 'way of life' and won't support a promotion.



George has continued to maintain his social circle (the group), which still spends weekends at a farmhouse in the country. The group is composed of a cadre of young people who admire George for his independence and visionary ideas. George encourages his adherents to think for themselves, reject social conventions, and pursue their dreams.



George does everything he can to support his followers. Thinking of his own time in George's circle, Lewis recalls, "George had set us moving, lent us money....it was the first time we had been so near to a generous-hearted man...We became excited over the books he told us to read and the views he stood by, violent, argumentative, four square. We were carried away by his belief in human beings and ourselves."

George's support for a charismatic young man in his group, Jack Cotery, has serious repercussions. Jack works for a newspaper publisher named Mr. Calvert, who helps pay for Jack's printing classes at the School.



When Mr. Calvert's teenage son Roy develops an innocent crush on Jack, the publisher gets angry and withdraws his financial support for Jack's classes. George intervenes and gets a partial victory, but Jack still can't afford to continue his education.

Jack is an enterprising fellow however, and he embarks on a series of financial schemes, some of which skirt the law. Jack convinces George to be his partner in two of these enterprises.....



.....and before long, the authorities accuse George, Jack, and Jack's girlfriend Olive Calvert of financial fraud - specifically misleading investors to get money.



Lewis Eliot becomes the group's barrister, to defend them in court.



Of course, Lewis's major concern is his friend George, who's VERY NERVOUS about the upcoming trial. When Lewis reads George's diary to prepare for the case, he realizes why.



George's journal contains passages like, "This randy fit is going on too long. Last night I could not resist taking the train to London. I was inflamed by the vision of one of our prettiest [prostitutes].....Tonight it was still on me. I took the familiar train to Nottingham. I found a pair of old friends in the first pub...but they were booked...so I moved on. I have hazy recollections of hordes of women that I kissed."

Worse yet, George's diary refers to Katherine, and Freda, and Daphne, all young women in George's group. In Lewis's time, George would have considered it COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE to sleep with women in his circle; however, George's desires apparently got the best of him. In fact the farmhouse is the site of rampant sexual activity among people in the group, and George is terrified this will come out in court.

We follow along as Lewis Eliot and his former boss Herbert Getliffe defend George and his alleged co-conspirators.



That's the core of the story, with tangential action that adds interest to the narrative. For instance:

🔴 Mr. Martineau (of Eden & Matineau), a capable and respected solicitor, undergoes a religious conversion. He becomes a devout Christian, leaves the law firm, gives away his money, and becomes a member of 'The Brotherhood of the Road.'



🔴 Olive Calvert, a young woman from a wealthy family, seems to have no direction in life. She dallies with the rapscallion Jack Cotery as well as a respectable educated man called Arthur Morcom, who pines for her.



🔴 George has troubles besides the lawsuit. He's frustrated about doing most of the work at Eden & Martineau while being paid a managing clerk's salary; he could help himself by attending Eden's soirées, but he gets awkward among upper class people; his current girlfriend Daphne is maneuvering to marry him; and he must help his parents financially, but spends too much money on himself (wink wink).



As before, there's a good bit of British slang in the book. For instance:

🔴 Mr. Eden tells Lewis an older barrister must assist him for George's trial, saying, "[The jury would] resent all the [youthful] brilliance right from the start. You'd only have to make a clever suggestion, and they'd distrust you. They'd be jibbing from all the good qualities of your generation..." (In this context, 'jibbing ' means resisting, ignoring.)



🔴 George's mother is talking about Mr. Martineau doing a bunk saying, "That's the place old Mr. Martineau started his acting tricks, isn't it? I should like to know what culch he's getting up to now." (In this context, culch means foolishness.)



🔴 George has an entry in his diary that reads: "The last weekend was full of drunken nights, of decrepit nights. I went to Nottingham, finding money drip away as usual. I was still on the hunt and finished at Connie's....Then I realized once again that no other girl of the past year is fit to take her place. I just had time for a huzzlecoo; then I went back on the last train. (In this context, huzzlecoo means a romantic interaction.)



This isn't among the most compelling books in the series, but it's an engaging tale that's important to the continuing story. 

Rating: 4 stars