La's Orchestra Saves the World: A Novel

After reading several of the reviews posted for this book, I have to agree that at first glance nothing momentous really does seem to happen. However, upon further review and pondering, I really looked back on this book and loved it. There is no great climax, no spectacular lusty love affair, nor is there adventure or drama revealed. But I think that is what made me really like this book, because while the story unfolds, one forgets that in the background one of history's greatest dramas is occurring, World War II. What made me love this book is that it deals with a persons coping mechanism during a time of insecurity. La has been left by her husband, faces an uncertain future, experiences unrequited love and is basically seeking a stable ground in a very unstable environment. I enjoyed knowing that others find safety and security in doing otherwise mundane, ordinary things, like taking care of chickens. I found it comforting that she formed an orchestra with strangers so that they could keep each other positive in a world filled with negativity. I found it wonderful that the orchestra was capable of moving so many people and bringing so many unlikely companions together. Ultimately I think La's orchestra does save the world. Granted we are talking her world, but that was enough for me. It gave many people a purpose and I appreciated that. Reading the story is easy and quick. Alexander McCall Smith writes in a simple manner. The writing, like La's life is not complex, but the depth with which he writes is heartfelt and genuine.

Alexander McCall Smith's novel, "La's Orchestra Saves the World" was a simple, but quiet pleasant read. The protagonist, La, was a very relatable character despite the novel taking place about 70 years ago, a time period that seems foreign to many. Her likeability transcended through the decades and was able to come through to an audience of a very different time. There wasn't a particular defining climatic moment in the story but at the same time it was engaging.
The plot was focused on La, who is trying to recover from a heart break and moved to live out in the country alone. It is in this solitude that she is able to ponder life and go through a self discovery. The novel takes place right before and during World War II in England. She is living in the quiet of the country but doesn't forget the war is not far away. She often thinks of the innocent, young men who are off fighting and wants to do whatever she can to support them. Her small, but yet meaningful efforts to do her part in support of her country show the reader the significant impact the war has on everyone.
While the novel takes place during World War II, the focus isn't on the war itself and the battles, which is extremely appealing. Not personally interested in war stories, it was refreshing to read about the girl out in the country who is raising crops for the soldiers to eat and organizing a small orchestra with the local RAF base to boost the morale. Again, the simplicity of her efforts and their impact are inspiring.
The novel was overall an endearing, pleasant, and interesting read. I would certainly recommend it for someone who is looking for a good story.

"La's Orchestra Saves the World" is a simple, quiet book...sort of like the ripples left after a rock thrown into a pond; a loud splash that eases into silence. There is no loud, echoing, splash at the beginning of this novel, but that first ripple that becomes the largest out of many which encompasses the entire story.

It begins with two brothers driving to Suffolk in search of a village from their childhood and seamlessly blends in with the second ripple: La's life. La, or Lavender, is a strong-willed woman who married a man she falling in love with as a husband until he left. Trying to come to terms with his departure she moves to Suffolk where she actively supports the troops of WWII by helping in the collection of food (even planting her very own vegetable garden for the soldiers!) that is sent to those overseas.

This novel leads the reader to examine the different types of relationships that one creates in his or her lifetime and the impact they have on the thoughts that crosses one's mind...all with a little background music to comfort the soul. La's actual orchestra is a group of camp-based soldiers, two sisters, and a priest; the third ripple. These rusty musicians and their determination keep the faith of victory alive for the near-by troops and the villagers.

All these ripples are created by La moving on from a certain stone thrown into her pond called LIFE. This is a great read and easily enjoyable letting the reader close the book with a sigh of content being able to share La's growth as an optimistically-independent woman.

Fans of Alexander McCall Smith would be most surprised to learn that I had never heard of his novels until a recent loan introduced me.

Found the book to be an easy read, tho not gripping. Characters are for the most part good people attempting to get thru yet another war in England.

La's insights into the effects of war, and human nature are right on and that is probably what makes McCall Smith's books so very widely read.

After losing her husband, La (short for Lavender) goes to live in a small house in the English countryside owned by her in-laws. The time is the late 1930s and when WWII begins, La occupies herself by helping a local farmer with his chickens and leading an amateur orchestra made up of locals and men from the local airbase.

This is a quiet story about a woman who lives a simple life yet touches the lives of many.

In Alexander McCall Smith's novel, La's Orchestra Saves the World, a young woman born on a hill in Surrey, England, finds her way to a university education, and falls in love with her college sweetheart, Richard Stone. The ill-fated marriage ends in heartbreak when La's husband abandons the relationship for a mistress, leaving her broken-hearted and disillusioned from ever loving again. World War II intervenes, and La, determined to contribute to the war effort, works to comfort those in need of moral support by recruiting a rudimentary community orchestra.
While fear and suspicion are key themes in the novel, La's generosity of spirit motivates the soldiers and townspeople to carry on as their music deflects the evils of war. La believes that a world plagued in suffering could recover through harmony. "We shall play no matter what the enemy throws at us. They would prefer silence - so we shall answer them with music" (164). In the end, the Peace Concert offers a time for reflection, unity, and hope for the future, as well as La's second chance at love with Polish refugee, Felicks Dabrowski.
La's Orchestra Saves the World uses the universality of music to heal the wounds of love and war on the human spirit.

I read "La's Orchestra Saves the World" this week of the Wisconsin recall vote, and it was a great antidote to evil, as it is sensitive yet honest about life in British rural areas during World War II. It's applicable today in the United States. There is hope, as there was in Britain seventy years ago, as long as there is someone like La, as well as Tim and Feliks, for a better, more humane world.

I read this short novel over Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are many themes hidden within its pages- love vs war, urban vs rural, the power of music to bring people together and to save the world. McCall Smith's cadence is well-nuanced and he offers here a chance to ponder what are the really important things in life.

Contrary to one of the earlier reviewers, I do not think he was imitating "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". This book mines a richer vein, though not as much as the Isabel Dalhousie novels.

Really well written and had an excellent plot that kept me waiting on tenterhooks the whole time. I like the ending a lot; they don't try too hard to wrap it all up and throw in a lot of boring, incomplete details. I wish that a few more details would have gone into late wartime and many years after, but before the reunion. Continue their story please! Very inspiring to all young orchestra players like me.

After reading many reviews of this book, I almost didn't read the book itself. Many were not favorable.

I found the book completely delightful. Alexander McCall Smith has such a keen insight into human nature, and it comes across clearly in La's Orchestra Saves the World. No, it is not Number One Ladies Detective Agency, and that is good. It is written in a different style, with a different voice, thankfully, giving new interest and perspective to the characters and situations presented.

Hopefully, this book is the first in a series. I would like to follow this story into the future!

Gentle, 'slowish' but in a good way. McCall Smith lets you deal with life's traumas and tragedies vicariously without pulling you in so much that you're overwhelmed. It has, in some small way, helped me keep a better perspective on my own traumas and tragedies of this past year.

"If you love the writing of Alexander McCall Smith like we do, especially his The No. 1 Ladies `Detective Agency, then you will welcome this stand alone story of a woman trying to survive heartbreak during World War II in London."

My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed the Scotland Street series, and we checked this out (audio version) of the local library to listen to on a long car trip. It was, to be honest, so silly and odd at points that we both laughed out loud on several occasions. There were some good passages, but our conclusion, at the end of the book, was that Smith really didn't know where he was going with the story, and particularly didn't quite know how to end it. Think we'll wait for the next volume in the Scotland Street series before trying another Smith book.

I love AMSmith books. This is different from his others in that it is stand alone. La is a woman of her time (WW2) who does the right thing all the time. I won't give away more but if you like his other books you will like this.

I found this book quite disappointing. The reader has to take the main character's emotional reactions pretty much on faith. La says she loves the Polish ex-airman. But why? She tells us he's handsome and a gentleman. No other reasons given, no development of their feelings for each other. Meanwhile, other issues are raised with no clear resolution, like the character of her neighbor's son, Lenny.

Pretty much a waste of time.