The Problem of Men

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6.6

by Alexander McCall Smith

First published in Woman & Home magazine. Later published in The Sunday Night Book Club.

Genres: Audiobook, Mystery

16 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2006

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Sharaya Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a let down.

Of course I was not expecting an utter taking down of ALL men ever, but I'd love to know what the point was for this short story, in particular.

I'm definitely in the camp of Mma Makutsi. In this situation Mma Ramotswe was either very weak and should have turned down the speaking engagement or she was showing much naivete and overconfidence in taking it.

If men are so great, why even name your business The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency? Just take everything to the police - the average, run-of-the-mill, every day MALE detectives.

For one, I don't think it's realistic to expect that any one of us can come up with solutions for every subject or issue that may arise. One may need a great deal of help and input for that. Two, I don't see what would have been wrong for Mma Ramotswe to have shown some vulnerability in that moment.

She could have mentioned that the problem "of men" concerned - in her case and that of the women around her - things such as taking too much drink, a willingness to commit acts of violence towards their own women, gambling away money that should be used for the household, cheating, etc. Just because the group already has an awareness of such things does not mean that they should not be addressed or discussed in further detail.

She could have talked about the negative affects of her relationship with Note Mokoti and how that hindered her ability (for some time) to accept the affection of Mr. JLB Matekoni.

And no shade, but for as much as Mma Ramotswe loves her father and Seretse Khama we honestly don't know that much about what kind of men they were beyond the late Obed taking his fatherly responsibilities seriously and being a good friend and countryman. Did she have anything to say about the wife that Khama decided to take? Did her father ever try to convince her that she's worth much more than taking a man that will beat her? I just wonder if either held any meaning in her opinion.

I've heard of many people placing their father on a pedestal and only much later on in life being able to begin to acknowledge that they willingly neglected to see or address any bad habits or behavior.

Here is where I start to see the problem with men writing women characters. This one was a miss for me.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little story is typical of Precious Ramotswe. She is asked to do a talk at a Ladies Club of Gaborone, the subject of the talk being, as the title of the story.

But there's a problem. Despite being in a job that deals with men's bad behaviour towards women - and sometimes the opposite - Precious can't think of what to say.

It's only when she gets to the meeting, and is informed that she was expected to talk for two hours about the problem of men, that she suddenly thinks of the best thing she could talk about and, in her usual kind, and sympathetic way, she addresses the ladies.

Another enjoyable snippet from the life of Alexander McCall's wonderful Precious Ramotswe stories.

[Mary Mimouna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was great, just very short, with three chapters. The first was about how the author came to write the book series. The second and third chapters were more like two short stores about Mama Ramotswe. I rated it four stars for being so short. However I did enjoy it.

[Lesley Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mma Ramotswe gives a talk to the Ladies Club of Gaborone!