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Loading... Major Pettigrew's Last Standby Helen Simonson
  
Books Read in 2015 (63) » 23 more Top Five Books of 2013 (230) Top Five Books of 2021 (165) Top Five Books of 2018 (394) Books Read in 2014 (312) A Novel Cure (312) Carole's List (259) Indie Next Picks (42) Great Audiobooks (57) Contemporary Fiction (67) Biggest Disappointments (120) Books Read in 2012 (186) Books Read in 2011 (146) First Novels (167) Spring Books (7) To Read (14) No current Talk conversations about this book. We moved, and I lost track of this book - did not finish it.  RickGeissal | Aug 16, 2023 |  3.5* (  ) leslie.98 | Jun 27, 2023 | Very good book, whether you're a fan of romances, dry British humor, or all of the above. The many themes covered in this book with really well-thought characters and plot make this a fantastic read. The best books leave you with a bittersweet feeling at the end - happy that you had a good read, but sad that you have to leave the characters behind. This is one of those books. (  ) alrajul | Jun 1, 2023 | This was a wonderful book. Every time I opened it I felt joy. ( ) bcrowl399 | May 22, 2023 | DNF @ 20%. I can see why people like Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, but I think Fredrik Backman did all this better in A Man Called Ove, albeit a couple of years later. There are lots of similarities between the two books (curmudgeonly old man, grief in old age, friendship/love with people from other cultures), but I don't love the characters in Major Pettigrew, and there's no laugh-out-loud humor. It's very dull, twee English life. ( ) devilsdrink | Apr 13, 2023 |
 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. Has as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) leads a quiet life in the village of St. Mary, England, until his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But will their relationship survive in a society that considers Ali a foreigner? No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumHelen Simonson's book Major Pettigrew's Last Stand was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Popular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.96)
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