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srivalli 's review for:
The Great Hippopotamus Hotel
by Alexander McCall Smith
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.7 Stars
One Liner: Cozy and cozier
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have another case to solve!
The Great Hippopotamus Hotel stood tall among the rolling hills outside Gaborone, overlooking the Botswana landscape. The spacious rooms and friendly staff offer a place to stay for weary travelers. However, something is going on in the hotel as a series of misfortunes threaten its reputation. From mysterious disappearances of items to food poisoning and other threats, something or someone is determined to cause chaos.
It’s up to Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi to find out what’s happening and why. On the side, one of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s most important clients is making an expensive automobile purchase and is determined to keep it a secret from his wife.
The story comes in the third-person POV.
My Thoughts:
This is the 25th book in the series, but it can work as a standalone. Of course, we cannot track the progress in the main characters’ personal lives, but we get some info, which is enough.
As always, these books aren’t soft, cozy, and warm. There are mysteries, but not the murder kind. It is simpler stuff with a bunch of philosophical musings thrown in.
There’s some humor and irony, but even that’s mellow. No laugh-out-loud moments or terrifying scenes. It’s all softie, softie.
Food and love for Botswana are recurring themes. I picked this book for the prompt because I know the series discusses the African social issues without a savior complex or resorting to the ‘poor country’ trope. The characters are proud of how far they’d come after being plundered by colonizers and know the journey continues forever.
A couple of quotes I liked:
“They are often cooler in the hot weather than these modern houses made of breeze blocks. Cement can get hot, and a tin roof draws the heat in like a magnet. Thatch is what you need, Mma Ramotswe, to stay cool. And a floor of stamped-down cattle dung is a very good floor if you want to escape the heat outside.”
In India, too, we traditionally used thatch and cow dung (still do) until the so-called progressives turned their noses at them.
“People give their children such odd names, forgetting that the poor child is going to have to live with it for the rest of his life.”
To paraphrase someone from Reddit: You are naming a human, not a doll. Be sensible!
To summarize, The Great Hippopotamus Hotel is a lighthearted, interesting, and thoughtful book. While the characters tend to go off tangent often, they are good people. And sometimes, that matters more!