Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

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The writing style deserves special mention. Not only the novel is never boring, but it is written with an Austen-like elegant humor which I don't come across very often in contemporary literature.

This is a book about cultural clashes, but also love. A courting done in a Mr. Darcy-esque way (without all the broodi-ness). There’s more than a bit of Romeo and Juliet here . . . Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali are worthy of our respect, and it is a great pleasure to spend time with them.”— Los Angeles Times Though at times charming, this book mostly left me wondering what sort of a world the author imagines England to be. Her characterizations are far more disjointed than the plot, which has its flaws but at worst they’re jarring, not heinous. However, the characterizations don’t work not merely because there are only two or three bearable people in the entire novel (and this isn't a farcical satire), but mainly because they’re a convoluted mess of contexts. Major Pettigrew’s manners and standards hearken from a more gentlemanly era, yet it’s as though he’s a one-man time warp surrounded by modern incarnations of rudeness and overt materialism – his son is breathtakingly selfish and shallow, his relatives are vulgar and grasping, and the local squire has class snobbery but no sense of heritage. (And are we supposed to feel sorry for the Major because of his frightful son, or wonder at his bad parenting??)As Simonson takes us through the will-they-or-won’t-they she also offers a look at contemporary rural England, with old values and new engaging in public and private. With characters that have depth and heart, and a charming, endearing love story, it is easy to care, and thus to become involved, and ultimately, to enjoy. Hopefully Pettigrew’s last stand will not also be Ms. Simonson’s. (It wasn't) Gradually, he comes to realize that there is indeed something very special about her, and maybe, just maybe...well, you get the picture. When retired Major Pettigrew strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani village shopkeeper, he is drawn out of his regimented world and forced to confront the realities of life in the twenty-first century. Brought together by a shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship on the cusp of blossoming into something more. But although the Major was actually born in Lahore, and Mrs. Ali was born in Cambridge, village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as a permanent foreigner. The Major has always taken special pride in the village, but will he be forced to choose between the place he calls home and a future with Mrs. Ali? Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the plot also involves the political and economic issues related to future land use and development. Fortunately, the writing contains just enough wry humor to keep a smile on the reader’s face. The story ends with enough excitement to make it worth reading all the way to the end. I imagine that having a relationship with someone who has also gone through the trauma of grieving would be a strong connection. If the grief is new, it might be such a relief to have someone who really understands, that it would be enough at first. ... - jeann

No one understood this better than the late, great E.F. Benson, author of the “Lucia” series published in the 1920s and 1930s. These delightful novels were set, like Helen Simonson’s “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,” in a village in Sussex. There are only six, and they have been mined for television and radio and collected between covers and read and reread. It is safe to say that Simonson has inherited the mantle. It's Christmas Day and it's already past eight thirty," said the Major. "You must get up and put on the turkey, Roger."After lunch, Abdul Wahid engaged Sandy and Roger in a discussion of religion, despite the concerned Major’s efforts to change the subject to safer topics. When the notion of marriage came up, the Major asked Sandy and Roger if they had set a date for the wedding. Roger revealed that he no immediate intentions of getting married; the engagement was merely to provide Sandy with an extension on her visa. Roger mentioned that marriage would look bad at his firm and might curtail his career. Sandy remained silent during most of this talk and the Major sensed she was not in complete agreement with Roger. She also had admitted to having many acquaintances but few friends; that, coupled with her wry sense of humor, had begun to endear Sandy to the Major in spite of himself. Unexpectedly entertaining, with a stiff-upper-lip hero who transcends stereotype, this good-hearted debut doesn’t shy away from modern cultural and religious issues, even though they ultimately prove immaterial. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is a 2010 novel by English author Helen Simonson. Set in a small town in the English country called Edgecombe St. Mary, it follows the titular protagonist, the retired Major Ernest Pettigrew, whose peaceful life is disrupted when his brother dies. He befriends a Pakistani shopkeeper in town, Mrs. Jasmina Ali, and soon becomes entangled in several marriage plots while also trying to negotiate the terms of his brother’s will. The novel touches on the intersections between national identity, race, racism, culture, and institutions of marriage. Whoever read my Olive Kitteridge rant, probably knows that I am not much into reading books about old people. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, however, proves that any book about any subject matter or any type of characters can become a great experience if written well.