La’s Orchestra Saves the World
by Alexander McCall Smith
Though the plot in the first part of the book seemed a
bit trite to me, Alexander McCall Smith’s writing and the plot in the rest of
the book struck me as slice-of-life writing at it’s most beautifully
realistic.
La is pursued by a young man in college, prior to
World War II, and agrees to marry him. She isn’t sure she loves him at first
but thinks they will make a compatible marriage. She does come to love him very
much and is devastated when he runs off to be with a lover in France. His
father is ashamed as well. He gives La the husband’s portion of the family
business and a house in Suffolk.
La moves into the house just before World War II and
the story is moved forward by some minor intrigue as La gets comfortable in her
new home. But then the war arrives and La goes to apply for “war work.” They
don’t have much for her. The major encourages her toward the Women’s Land Army and La ends up helping with a farmer’s chickens.
The story explores simple village life in Great
Britain during World War II, what people thought and felt. How it could be
affected by outsiders coming in, rationing, simple pleasures, and how distanced
it was from the conflict at the same time. They grew their own vegetables. They
listened to the radio for news. It’s the minutiae of daily life and the
reflection that make a slice of life novel. World War II is the backdrop but
life goes on in spite of those events.
La meets a friend’s brother, Tim, who works at the RAF
base and together they start a village orchestra. Of course, the orchestra
doesn’t really save the world but it can be argued that it saves a number of
people from abject despair, La included. The orchestra creates connections
between people — village people, country folk, and people from the Royal Air
Force base that all need something to sustain them.
Tim gets a worker from the base, a Polish airman with
a damaged eye, assigned to help at the same farm where La works. She is quite
smitten but Feliks is distant.
It is a slow book but the ending may have been my
favorite part as you see how things come full circle and how such simple things
as a village orchestra and one person can change the world for some people.
Is it unrealistic to hope that Feliks and La meet
again and share some part of their life together? There are elements of chance and there are things the characters do to make things happen. Isn’t that true to life?
In the end, the writing skill of the author and the
way he ties things together, make this an enjoyable story. The pace of life in
the country, the drudgery and the simple pleasures, make it enjoyable. If you’ve
experienced that, you’ll recognize it. If you haven’t, you may find it
enjoyable to see it from a distance.
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