Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

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Delightful . . . Lots of books try to evoke Jane Austen . . . but Simonson nails the genteel British comedy of manners with elegant aplomb.”— The Christian Science Monitor 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 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. No one understood this better than the late, great E.F. Benson, author of the “Lucia” series published in the 1920s and 1930s. These delightful novels were set, like Helen Simonson’s “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,” in a village in Sussex. There are only six, and they have been mined for television and radio and collected between covers and read and reread. It is safe to say that Simonson has inherited the mantle.

With courting curmudgeons, wayward sons, religion, race, and real estate in a petty and picturesque English village, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is surprisingly, wonderfully romantic and fresh . . . the best first novel I’ve read in a long, long time.”—Cathleen Schine, author of The Love Letter 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. The author does a great job of highlighting the importance of family ties throughout the novel, without being overly sentimental.After lunch, Abdul Wahid engaged Sandy and Roger in a discussion of religion, despite the concerned Major’s efforts to change the subject to safer topics. When the notion of marriage came up, the Major asked Sandy and Roger if they had set a date for the wedding. Roger revealed that he no immediate intentions of getting married; the engagement was merely to provide Sandy with an extension on her visa. Roger mentioned that marriage would look bad at his firm and might curtail his career. Sandy remained silent during most of this talk and the Major sensed she was not in complete agreement with Roger. She also had admitted to having many acquaintances but few friends; that, coupled with her wry sense of humor, had begun to endear Sandy to the Major in spite of himself. Then there is the matter of the two Churchill rifles so dear to the Major's heart. Deathbed promises and famly relationships are at risk. Traditions have to be honored.

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? For Major Pettigrew, the Churchills represent societal standing and achievement, as well as an important part of his family's history. However, as events unfold, the Major begins to question whether loyalty and honor are more important than material objects and social status. Discuss the evolving importance of the guns to the Major, as well as the challenge of passing down important objects, and values, to younger generations. Written with a delightfully dry sense of humour and the wisdom of a born storyteller, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand explores the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of family obligation and tradition. 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.Though at times charming, this book mostly left me wondering what sort of a world the author imagines England to be. Her characterizations are far more disjointed than the plot, which has its flaws but at worst they’re jarring, not heinous. However, the characterizations don’t work not merely because there are only two or three bearable people in the entire novel (and this isn't a farcical satire), but mainly because they’re a convoluted mess of contexts. Major Pettigrew’s manners and standards hearken from a more gentlemanly era, yet it’s as though he’s a one-man time warp surrounded by modern incarnations of rudeness and overt materialism – his son is breathtakingly selfish and shallow, his relatives are vulgar and grasping, and the local squire has class snobbery but no sense of heritage. (And are we supposed to feel sorry for the Major because of his frightful son, or wonder at his bad parenting??) 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) The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and cinema-derived rhetoric up the ante continuously, and stunningly. One of the most impressive excursions into the supernatural in many a year. 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

So go and fecth it," said the Major.Needless to say, this was a delightful, entertaining, wonderful read. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the plot also involves the political and economic issues related to future land use and development. Fortunately, the writing contains just enough wry humor to keep a smile on the reader’s face. The story ends with enough excitement to make it worth reading all the way to the end. It's Christmas Day and it's already past eight thirty," said the Major. "You must get up and put on the turkey, Roger." There were many funny moments in Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, but it also had its share of poignancy as well.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. This is a book about cultural clashes, but also love. A courting done in a Mr. Darcy-esque way (without all the broodi-ness). I imagine that having a relationship with someone who has also gone through the trauma of grieving would be a strong connection. If the grief is new, it might be such a relief to have someone who really understands, that it would be enough at first. ... - jeann