The No.

1 Ladies’ Detective Agency- A Book Review

This is the first book in a series of 11 novels written by Alexander McCall Smith. Precious Ramotswe,
a native of Botswana sets up her detective agency in the capital city of Gaborone. She never received
a formal education and was taught by her cousin who lived with them. But she felt that her intuition
could be put to good use and help people in their everyday lives. In Africa, women have limited
rights, but if they manage to rise despite the system they are given their dues and recognised. Also,
through the many cases that Mma Ramotswe receives it comes across that there are strong gender
stereotypes in society and it is considered normal for people to behave accordingly. Men are
expected to be useless, depend on the women of the family, be philanderers and inflict domestic
violence. The life in Africa at the time of colonial rule was very hard and is well depicted through the
mine experiences of Obed Ramotswe. The white supervisors actually had a language for the workers
which just comprised instructions and no words of kindness or compassion. Also cliques were
formed base on the clans they belonged to and they stuck through thick and thin. This brings out
strong local identity of the African people. They also come across as being fiercely proud of their
continent – the people, their heritage, their culture, the wildlife everything. They absolutely love
their country and given a choice they would love to be reborn in Africa only. As a people, they are
fatalists and believe in karma. They feel that they deserve whatever happens to them- good and bad
and that everything in life is predestined and beyond anyone’s control. There is a very high level of
social obligation in their society wherein children take care of their ailing parents and parents of
their daughter who has been abandoned by her husband, because they have to and not because
they want to. They are mostly religious people and most of them follow Christianity and go to
church every Sunday. Witchcraft is highly prevalent in their society as was brought about by the case
of the school teacher’s missing son. But people turn a blind eye to it as they are ashamed of it. But
even the most educated believe in it and engage in it to achieve personal glory. As a society, they
have a very different notion of beauty- they totally despise stick thin figures and find curves
beautiful. This has implications for the fashion industry, magazines, advertising industry etc.
Nepotism is highly prevalent- all the important positions are filled with friends and relatives of the
boss. Also, it is extremely essential to have the right contacts in this country. Influential people can
get away with anything and everything. So if one wishes to run a business in this country it is
extremely essential to have connections in the right places. That is the only way to get things done.
Also there are many dangerous animals especially snakes roaming all around the place. If you enter
an unkempt garden, there may be a few snakes around Even if you hit something while driving, it is a
snake in all probability and it can enter your car via the engine and bite you, so a high level of
caution is advised.

This book effectively brings alive various elements of the African culture and dispels many myths and
notions we have about people living in this region. We assume people in the African continent to be
backward- in terms of both their lifestyle and thinking, but they are very much like us at the end of
the day- they have similar fears, concerns etc. It is not a fast paced thriller but a pleasant literary
piece of work. We strongly recommended this book for all. In case you have trouble imagining the
characters, watch the HBO TV series adopted from this book. This will help you better picture the
vents and make your read even more enjoyable.