The World According to Bertie

December 22, 2008
In this latest installment of McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series, Robert Ian Mackenzie portrays Bertie as the overly intelligent and articulate six-year-old that he is meant to be, but when Bertie is among his classmates Tofu, Hiawatha, Larch and Olive, Mackenzie is hard-pressed to individualize the children’s voices. A similar problem arises as more and more women are added to the cast. Now that Domenica and Antonia are neighbors, their voices are almost as similar as their flats. Miss Harmony, Bertie’s teacher, could be Antonia’s twin sister. While Mackenzie has clearly run out of new voices, he does better with his male characters, especially with Angus’s basso and Matthew’s hesitant voice that matches his timid demeanor. Mackenzie keeps this enjoyable, lighthearted romp moving along quickly. An Anchor paperback (Reviews, June 30).

Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series is a masterpiece of quiet domestic drama, and Robert Ian Mackenzie's narration of the latest installment is a triumph. His performance--especially his various accents and carefully portrayed emotions--is modulated to give just the right flair to each of the many characters' personalities. The story celebrates the little intrigues, trials, ironies, and tribulations of the oh-so-normal lives of the residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. There are no intense or action-packed events. Yet the combination of McCall Smith's comforting prose and Mackenzie's soothing narrative is riveting. M.L.K. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine