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Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

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It's admirable that they yearn to follow their hearts despite the adversity shown by the townsfolk and of course their younger relatives who feel it's their duty to intervene. Through interactions with friends and family in this small English village, the author sheds light on intolerance in its many forms, such as race, class, sex, age, religion, and ethnicity. More significant is the fact that her characters, with the sporatic exception of the major and the widow, are cardboard and uninteresting. And many of these issues show up in parallel fashion in both the native English and immigrant Pakistani communities.

This is escapist fiction that does not involve detectives or dead bodies, though it does feature guns -- a pair of Churchills, sporting guns that were given to Maj. And how lovely to see a passionate romance between a Romeo of sixty-eight and a Juliet of fifty-eight. I’m tired of wearing my dinner suit and having people ask me what I’m supposed to be,” he complains. Simonson was born in East Sussex but has spent two decades in the United States, a stint that has only heightened her ability to make jokes about American excesses as they are registered by Major Pettigrew.

It is a story that deals with religion, politics, race relations and other sensitive topics, but without proselytizing. It is Mrs Ali who points out that although the Major’s father might have shown extreme bravery in protecting the Maharajah’s daughter against a violent mob that ambushed the train, the process of Partition was blighted by many massacres, especially of passengers on trains as Hindus fled to India and Muslims to Pakistan. There’s also the psychology of dealing with the loss by death of a loved one and the subsequent tensions of dealing with inheritances issues.

Major Pettigrew is a 67 year old English widower who is trying to navigate the growing changes in the world, the dearth of discipline, the turning tide of etiquette, the lack of loyalties. Tradition dictates her place and she must consider allowing Abdul to take over but she won’t go out without a fight. It was like seeing a garden of the most fragrant, beautiful flowers, with one dandelion, the only one that could be picked. It took me a while to finish this, because I kept thinking, "Oh, I should read more of that, but I don't wanna. The author observes with humor and tact that in any culture the young dismiss the old, the old roll their eyes at the young, and local traditions are sometimes beautiful and sometimes ridiculous wherever you happen to come from.Lepo opisuje i kulturološke razlike u Britaniji (između krutog Britanca i udovice Pakistanke) a i jaz i nerazumevanje među generacijama (između oca i sina). Somewhere in the middle the pace slowed but then something happened that continued the momentum of a fine story. Worse, and still more disjointed, many of the other characters seem to come from outposts of civilization in the 1930’s where people think that Mecca is a restaurant and Hindu and Muslim are the same things.

There is something enduring and truly hopeful about people finding love in their later years and fighting for what is ‘right and honourable’. His other activities include shooting events where he uses 1 of a matched pair of Churchill shotguns which together in a sale can bring huge sums of money. Parent-child relationships and differences in the generations are explored in a humorous, and sometimes poignant, manner. It seems unfortunate that she could not employ that invaluable thesaurus in the creation of an occasional action verb to moderate her adjectival assault. Their journey through the strict confines of both societies, the prejudices of a "enlightened" generation as well as, their own insecurities and natures, to find happiness is written to perfection.He is an affable man, thinking or saying under his breath his ripostes to the clunky statements of his neighbours, or the patronising attitude of his solicitor. I liked the way one character described his feelings for a woman, -- "In her presence, I'm lost to her. The only thing that knocked a star off this review for me was a slightly hackish plot device at the end, but it's such a minor thing it really only counts for half a star. Intertwined with the basic story of Major Pettigrew’s attempt to reunite two collectible Churchill shotguns and Mrs.

It is not an edge of your seat, can't put the book down, must turn the page to see what happens next type but the calm, touching, peaceful but poignant, close the book with a sigh kind. Nothing better can kick-start a friendship between two lonely people who feel left out from the world out there. I also think the cover art on the original publication, clothing placed on a hat/coat stand in such a way as to appear as two people embracing, is so very clever. Played out on the smaller stage of rural village life, it is easy to see their corrosive effects on individuals and communities.A lot of interesting themes such as race, class, family, love and sex are explored in a gentle but engaging story. On the first page of the first chapter of her first novel, “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,” Helen Simonson invites her readers to experience love at first sight. She's a woman that lives by the values closely aligned to her culture, yet Major and her grow fond of one another in an organic way, worthy of exploring. Ali, who is 10 years his junior, is also conveniently widowed and shares many of the Major’s tastes, including a love of reading. The author is British but grew up in the United States, so she has a keen eye for the significant gaps between cultures, the old world way and the new high tech global way, tradition versus change for the better, the Empire's version of history and the version of history as seen by others!

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