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Loading... Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel (edition 2011)by Helen Simonson (Author)
Work detailsMajor Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
  
Books Read in 2015 (58) » 16 more Top Five Books of 2013 (230) Books Read in 2014 (289) Great Audiobooks (41) A Novel Cure (294) Books Read in 2012 (167) Books Read in 2011 (90) To Read (65) Carole's List (405) Biggest Disappointments (332) No current Talk conversations about this book. I really enjoyed the interaction between the two main characters. How every British indeed. (  ) barrowedge | Jun 3, 2018 |  There are flaws, but I'm giving it five stars anyway because I just enjoyed reading it so much. And I loved Major Pettigrew. ( ) GaylaBassham | May 27, 2018 | I love British fiction and this was a great story of a shy widower trying to build new relationships. Excellent portrayal of a type of British person, retired army type. To enjoy a story like this, it helps to have lived in the UK for a while as we have. It may be less interesting to those who have never been there and may not appreciate the subtle cultural nuances. ( ) MitchMcCrimmon | Apr 27, 2018 | Excerpts from my original GR review (Jun 2012): - The center of this story is a budding friendship between widowed seniors of very different backgrounds. I don't go for schmaltz, so what appealed to me here was that the novel managed to surround the romantic theme with other, sustained elements. Of note, generational and racial-cultural issues. The sober issues were indulged enough to give the novel a pleasing depth. As a blog reviewer patly said, Simonson "does a fine job of marrying sweetness with reality". At times the story did edge toward silliness, e.g. the slapsticky dinner party at Pettigrew's snobbish golfing club, which oozed Britishness. - All around a good effort, especially as a first fiction. A good book club entry. (  ) ThoughtPolice | Apr 26, 2018 | Fantastic! I love this book SO MUCH! ( ) capriciousreader | Mar 20, 2018 |
 Simonson .. is having a great time with her first novel. She is unsparing in her willingness to send up her characters and their little village, and she is often downright funny – that intelligent kind of funny that catches readers by surprise and makes them re-read a sentence several times to figure out how the author managed to make them laugh out loud so unexpectedly.The book is almost always pitch-perfect in its demonstration of how ridiculous our small ignorances can be – and how magnificent we are when we rise above them. This thoroughly charming novel wraps Old World sensibility around a story of multicultural conflict involving two widowed people who assume they're done with love. The result is a smart romantic comedy about decency and good manners in a world threatened by men's hair gel, herbal tea and latent racism..When depicted by the right storyteller, the thrill of falling in love is funnier and sweeter at 60 than at 16. The stakes are higher, after all, and the lovers have stored up decades of peculiarities and anxieties As with the polished work of Alexander McCall Smith, there is never a dull moment but never a discordant note either. Still, this book feels fresh despite its conventional blueprint. Its main characters are especially well drawn, and Ms. Simonson makes them as admirable as they are entertaining. They are traditionally built, and that’s not just Mr. McCall Smith’s euphemism. It’s about intelligence, heart, dignity and backbone. “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” has them all.
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