Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Product Information

Major Pettigrew had been happily married to his wife, Nancy, who died six years earlier. The couple has one son, Roger, who came to them late in life. Nancy sought to spoil Roger while the Major preferred discipline. Roger has grown up to be self-important, self-indulgent, often thoughtless and disrespectful, particularly when it comes to the Major. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is a story of grieving, family, love and duty. It is charming, funny, honest story with a strong theme of cultural clash. It is often hard to distinguish between societal imposed obligations and the ones we impose on ourselves. The important distinction is between the good or the pain that will result and to whom. Often one's family expectations result from things just ... - phyllisr

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. 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. 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.

Plot: What's the story about?

The book details the blossoming relationship between the Major and Mrs. Ali despite racial and social prejudice. The story also focuses on how each is affected by the demands of family and society. In the end, the Major makes his last stand and marries Mrs. Ali. Mrs. Ali talks about how her life has changed since her nephew has moved to the area. The Major sympathizes and tells Mrs. Ali about Roger's ideas about how he should live his life now that he has aged. 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. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel" by Helen Simonson is a work of fiction and the author's debut novel. The story details the life of Major Ernest Pettigrew, a 68 year old widower living in Edgecomb St. Mary, a rural village located in Sussex, England.

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? Mrs. Ali (Jasmina) – A Pakistani shopkeeper, a bit of an oddity in the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary, smart, kind, English-Pakistani relationships take a center stage in this novel and are written in a particularly tactful and insightful way, without sugar coating the difficult colonial past of both countries and prejudices that exist up to this day.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.

Playful yet affecting . . . If you miss the Jeeves novels of P. G. Wodehouse—and don’t mind having your emotional buttons pushed—Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is the book for you.”— Buffalo News

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) 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." 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 The world is full of small ignorances. We must all do our best to ignore them and thereby keep them small..

It's Christmas Day and it's already past eight thirty," said the Major. "You must get up and put on the turkey, Roger."So go and fecth it," said the Major.Needless to say, this was a delightful, entertaining, wonderful read. But this is a romance novel that contains human lessons, tensions and struggles almost too numerous to count. The most obvious battle is racial, religious and cultural prejudices. Then there’s the struggle between generations and the expectations of sexual morality. 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. Then there’s the issue of material objects becoming more important than human relationships. There’s also the issue of ageism. And many of these issues show up in parallel fashion in both the native English and immigrant Pakistani communities. So, I enjoyed this tale of old farts in love. It was indeed the right book at the right time. And next time I read about two foolish kids whose eyes meet across a crowded dance floor, and they just KNOW that it was meant to be... Set-in-his-ways retired British officer tentatively courts charming local widow of Pakistani descent.