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"In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. What must have it like to be them? We hold our breath for them. Our heart beats faster for them. We look again at the photograph in a new light, and say Yes, it might have happened just like that. This journey of exploration takes us to some exotic places. We share the lives of three sisters, brought up in Penang. We read of what happened to them, and to their Chinese neighbors caught in the tides of war. We see a group of small boys in a Glasgow slum, their young lives stunted by poverty, and hear how life worked out in contrasting ways for them. We follow a young woman's search for love in the unlikely realm of Egyptian antiquities. And through all of these photographs, and all of these stories, there runs the same refrain: the possibilities of love, of friendship, of happiness lie before us. There are big stories in these simple pictures. At first glance the photographs may seem unexceptional: the mere freezing of a moment in time. But delve deeper and you will realize that these photographs speak volumes"--… (more)
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Here is one of my favorite quotes:
"When we look in retrospect at the saliences of our lives, we realize, sometimes with astonishment, that this is how they are shaped: a single event, a chance word of advice, an apparently minor decision of another - any of these may dictate what happens to us and what we ourselves do. In the face of this subjection to chance, the role played by free will and what we see as our own choice may seem a small one."
As McCall Smith writes on his website: When you are with somebody you love the smallest, smallest things can be so important, so amusing because love transforms the world, everything.
Some writers would choose dramatic photos that lent themselves well for a sensationalistic approach. Others may have chosen photos of well-known people and shown a day-in-the-life moment. Fortunately, McCall Smith stuck with his strengths, choosing photos of non-remarkable people in seemingly non-remarkable situations and bringing characters to life. His other works have used rich adjectives to bring his characters and environment to life, and he does not disappoint here. Smith shows the same deftness describing these unknown figures as he did bringing Precious Ramotswe to life in his Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
Each of his stories offers a view of relationships. In stories like the titular Pianos and Flowers, he looks at the characters’ relationships over the course of a lifetime. Iron Jelloids is one of the stories that focuses on one day that led to a dramatic change in the lives of the characters. Maternal Design and Students look at family relationships and how they can impact career choices, while The Dwarf Tale-Teller of the Romanian Rom looks at the difficult choice between romance and careers. Not all of the stories have happy endings, but each has a satisfying ending.
Pianos and Flowers is a great choice for fans of Alexander McCall Smith. Anyone who enjoys reading short stories would enjoy this collection. It would be great for readers to carry with them to have a quick read. It is also easy to binge on multiple essays in one setting. Even though each story is inspired by different photographs, they are all infused with Alexander McCall Smith’s character-driven writing style. He publishes a story on his website each month for those who enjoy Pianos and Flowers and want to read more of his shorter works. I hope that Alexander McCall Smith continues to create and share such enjoyable collections.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review.