Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

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Ok, Marys and Davina, I agree 100% with your insights. I was trying to put my finger on why I liked this book so much, and I think you hit the nail on the head. The characters weren't instantly likable or even knowable - - and I thought that made ... - againstthetide I found the character development in Major Pettigrew's Last Stand to be particularly strong, and it helped to draw me into the story.

Much of the novel focuses on the notion of "otherness." Who is considered an outsider in Edgecombe St. Mary? How are the various village outsiders treated differently? I think I threw the turkey out the window,"said Roger. "Or maybe I threw it throught the window. There's a big draft in here." At the end of the tea, the Major noticed George sitting nearby dejectedly. In the distance, a mother berated her son, and George told Mrs. Ali and the Major that the mother had warned her son not to play with George. The Major and Mrs. Ali tried to make George feel better, but he had been in this situation many times before; he told them that kids without fathers were often shunned by the parents of other children. With George asleep on the ride home, the Major took a scenic route to entertain Mrs. Ali. He stopped at a mailbox and Mrs. Ali reluctantly mailed her letter. United by their love of Kipling and their lingering bereavement of their departed spouses, Major Pettigrew (who was born in Lahore), and Mrs. Ali (who was born in Cambridge), begin to form a surprising friendship, only to be thrown off by the subtle prejudices of the townspeople, the pressures asserted by Mrs. Ali’s ultra-religious nephew (who has taken over the shop since her husband’s demise), and the frenetic social-climbing of Major Pettigrew’s son. Mrs. Ali left, and the Major wasn’t able to say goodbye to her. Right after the disastrous party, the Major caught a cold that laid him up in bed. Meanwhile, the Christmas holidays were approaching and the village was gearing up for them with lots of decorations. When the Major finally mustered up the courage to stop by the village shop, he was greeted by another one of Abdul Wahid’s aunts, who was surly and unfriendly. When Abdul Wahid himself finally appeared, the Major was surprised and hurt by the level of formality in Abdul Wahid’s voice. The Major could not comprehend why the young man wanted to keep him at such a distance. Although Abdul Wahid expressed gratitude again for the Major’s hospitality, he also made it clear that they would not be friends.

Who stars in Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Cast List

British village life novels have long been a cherished enterprise, much adored by the public since the age of the divine Miss Austen and continuing with E. F. Benson, P. G. Woodhouse, Agatha Christie, and a variety of modern writers, including Caroline Graham, Joanna Trollope, and David Mitchell. Such diversions are generally welcome and it was with great expectations that I opened the first novel by a transplanted Brit Helen Simonson, who sought to occupy her time as "a stay-at-home mother in Brooklyn [and her former:] busy advertising job" in creative writing programs. The result was the present volume. While her efforts are worthy of praise, her results are not. Without imagination and sensitivity to language even the best writing programs cannot produce a credible storyteller, let alone a creative writer. Although her romantic tale of a slightly stuffy and somewhat depressed retired major and a self-possessed Pakistani shopkeeper and widow has possibilities, the narrative is trite, the minor characters are stereotypes, and the denouement reads like a "Perils of Pauline" melodrama. Ms. Simonson's descriptions reveal that she possesses a good thesaurus: nary a noun can seemingly exist without a modifier....whispers must be hoarse, dandelions budding, curves wobbly, and so on. It seems unfortunate that she could not employ that invaluable thesaurus in the creation of an occasional action verb to moderate her adjectival assault. (Now she has me doing it.) In any case, such writing is a sure sign of an ingenue, but is not in itself sufficient reason to abandon a book of imagination and charm (as the recent GUERSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY has so successfully revealed).

A wise comedy . . . about the unexpected miracle of later-life love . . . The beauty of this engaging book is in the characters.”— O: The Oprah Magazine It's Christmas Day and it's already past eight thirty," said the Major. "You must get up and put on the turkey, Roger." The human race is all the same when it comes to romantic relations,' said the Major. 'A startling absence of impulse control combined with complete myopiaSaturday morning, the Major was working in his garden when a flustered Roger emerged from the house. The Major had been taken by surprise by Roger’s abrupt visit and realized he would not know what to make of Abdul Wahid. With Sandy keeping Abdul Wahid busy in conversation, Roger made several statements to his father that hinted a distrust of Abdul Wahid based on his race. When Roger and Sandy went to the car to get lunch, Abdul Wahid told the Major he should leave because Roger and Sandy wanted to stay the weekend. The Major deflected any hasty decisions and invited Abdul Wahid to lunch; he accepted, but noted that most of the pork-based dishes would be off limits to him for religious reasons. When Major Pettigrew meets Mrs. Ali, the earth does not move, or stop, for that matter. She's just that woman from the village shop. No biggie. They share many, many cups of tea, take walks together, meet to (be still my heart!) discuss books, and help solve crises involving others' matters of the heart. 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

Mrs. Jasmina Ali is a 58 year old widow and the proprietress of the SuperSaver SuperMart. Mrs. Ali is a small, attractive woman of Pakistani heritage. Many people in the story refer to Mrs. Ali as the Pakistani woman and act as if she is completely foreign to England even though she was born in Cambridge. Despite the ill treatment thrust upon Mrs. Ali by the villagers, she remains pleasant and cordial to all, perhaps in part because of her need for their return business at the shop. Mrs. Ali (Jasmina) – A Pakistani shopkeeper, a bit of an oddity in the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary, smart, kind, This is the best novel I’ve read this year and may be destined to make my top ten list. The well designed plot is pulled together with carefully crafted writing. I’m embarrassed to be so enthusiastic about it because it is actually a romance novel which is a genre I usually steer clear of. I thoroughly enjoyed this, stiff-upper lip, English countryside, slow burn love story of two widowed people. Major Pettigrew (called Major throughout the book) in his mid 60's has just lost his brother and Jasmina Ali, a shop owner gives him a ride to the funeral. From there, they slowly form a bond over their shared loss of spouses as well as books. 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)

Media Reviews

As a Pakistani myself, there were few cultural discrepancies, it's almost impossible to write a story with perfect cultural awareness. When side characters 'assume" things about Mrs. Ali or her more religious nephew, it was distracting. But, simply a matter of writing a book about another culture, never an easy task. Set-in-his-ways retired British officer tentatively courts charming local widow of Pakistani descent. Maj. Pettigrew, 68 and recently widowed, is not a covetous person. He has great disdain for money, greed, gaudiness, commercialization and America. He loves his home, Rose House, in the quiet village of Edgecombe St. Mary, with its yew trees and cottages and even the nosy neighbors. (Benson’s Lucia lived in Lamb House, based on his own home, which once belonged to Henry James.) He enjoys his routines, including his walk to the local market to buy tea and other sundries. On the day his brother dies, the owner of the shop, the elegant, soft-spoken Mrs. Ali, appears at his door to collect money for the newspaper delivery. It is pretty much love at first sight, though it takes the major a while to realize it, and the length of a novel to act on it.

First impressions in Major Pettigrew's Last Stand can be deceiving. Discuss the progressions of the characters you feel changed the most from the beginning of the book to the end. Major's son, Roger, a sort of hodge-podge jerk really gets under his skin. He is always too nice, too kind, too proper, too decent. He is compassionate and lovely. When he finally starts to finally stand up for himself, I applauded him quietly.

Helen Simonson

It’s one form of colonization: Some British authors have inherited their forebears’ ability to make a reader long for simple village life. No matter how small, how petty, how isolated, they manage to whip up nostalgia for something the reader never even had. Both The Major & Mrs. Ali have recently lost spouses and are finding their way through grief. The book opens with another loss for The Major, his only brother Bernie. To complicate this sense of loss, the brothers held separately a pair of valuable guns inherited from their father. The Major thought these were willed to him, Bernie’s family wants the cash Bernie’s gun would bring. This is almost more unbearable a loss to The Major than that of his brother. I immediately saw Barry Fitzgerald as the Major - but he's long gone. Michael Caine might work, but he seems too handsome! - terryd A comforting and intelligent debut, a modern-day story of love that takes everyone—grown children, villagers, and the main participants—by surprise, as real love stories tend to do.”—Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge