Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Feb 18, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

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.

This novel is, essentially, a love story between a 68-year old retired Major Ernest Pettigrew and a 58-year old Pakistani shop keeper Mrs. Ali, brought together by their loneliness and love of literature. Yes, it doesn't More...

24 comments like (47 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

Gaeta1 rated it:

Beware of the endearing story populated by charming and quirky individuals, particularly if they happen to live in English villages.

Helen Simonson left the country life in the UK a good quarter of a
century ago, and her perception of the goings-on in rural England seem to have frozen when she left for the university. Actually, I don't think the UK she portrays in this novel--and certainly Major Pettigrew--really existed even back then. I met a fair amount of British officers w More...

22 comments like (11 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2011

Kate rated it:

If Masterpiece Theatre doesn't make this book into a movie starring Derek Jacobi, it will be a crime. There has not been so perfectly English a read in its deadpan humor in a very long time. Meet Major Pettigrew: widower, retired army officer, and pillar of the community in his small English town. He is set in his ways: tea with acquaintances, shooting parties with friends, reticence at all times. But the Major's life starts falling into chaos when he falls in love, and with a most unsuita More...

4 comments like (25 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2011

Grace rated it:

When I hear "character-driven novel", I usually roll my eyes. I expect navel-gazing and lots of exploration of self, and it comes a bit too close to self-help for my tastes. But Simonson gets it absolutely right in Major Pettigrew.

Reading about a 68 year old, widowed, retired Major in a sleepy English village is not necessarily a draw for most readers, but there's an alchemy in the way the characters are written. Every single character in this book feels real and genuine More...

1 comment like (16 people liked it)

Jun 10, 2010

Chana rated it:

A sweet story about Major Pettigrew, proper Englishman, retired; and Mrs. Ali, Englishwoman of Pakistani descent, shopkeeper. They share a love of reading, tea and walking by the sea. Mrs. Ali is educated, sophisticated, beautiful and kind. The Major is fusty but good-hearted. The families of both, and the townspeople, are intolerant of the developing love between them. Family heirlooms come into it, as does religion, golf, knitting needles, and duck hunting. It does say some nice things about l More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

I am utterly baffled as to why this book is popular. I expected sweet and charming and got dry and dull. The obsession with the pair of guns was overdone, and was what finally made me stop reading the book. The book is also bogged down with architectural detail and long, pointless descriptions of landscapes and interior decor.

The author's stereotyping of Americans is appalling and insulting. She's clearly playing to British readers with this attitude. "...the ignorance of the ba More...

10 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Denise rated it:

I read a very positive review and bought this book the day it was available. I really loved it...witty and dry, great fun. The narrative has a very british perspective. Great charcters.

The sensitive subject of the british memories of the colonial era in contrast to other cutures and people are really handled well. It both entertains and provokes thought which to me constitutes a perfect book. I just happen to watch "Slumdog Millionaire" the same weekend and thought the More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2010

Laura Stone rated it:

Major Ernest Pettigrew (Ret.) is a stickler for protocol; a man set in his routine in both action and philosophy, although he is not without the occasional witty retort. Major Pettigrew is a stout umbrella-toting man, a folding stool- carrying man, a man in control of his comfortable environment, until the day he answers his door to find the charming Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the local Pakistani shop owner, standing on his doorstep.

United by their love of Kipling and their lingering bereave More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jun 10, 2011

Shelli rated it:

What a great story! I loved it. It starts a bit slow, but really packs an enjoyable punch through to the ending. I really grew attached to the Major and this great cast of characters. Some laugh out loud moments...some very poignant moments and a very enjoyable love story. I love the blending of the cultures and the new and older generations. You got a feel for all sides of the story and it made for both sad and wonderful outcomes. This story surprised me many times. I thought I would end up dis More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2011

TJ rated it:

4.5/5.0

This is the perfect book to read before bedtime. 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. One to turn the lights off with a smile and a thought to slumber by.

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, More...

1 comment like (14 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

I know I swore never again with the first reads thing but I'm fickle. And each time I enter and I don't completely love the book, I feel bad, like I've let the goodreads folks down. This is why I won't review books by authors when they ask me. This book could have gone to a better home. One that would have appreciated it more than I did. Now it's like that Christmas sweater that gets worn for a day to make the giver happy and then quietly donated to Goodwill the next.

You'd think I More...

47 comments like (29 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2010

Hayes rated it:

Absolutely charming. The Major, the last true Gentleman on Earth, is my new best friend.

10 comments like (13 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2010

Marsha rated it:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is a wonderful comedy of manners in which the multiculturalism, rudeness and self absorption of the present collide with the stiff upper lip, rigid social consciousness and self absorption of the past as portrayed by Major Pettigrew and his son. As the realities of 2010 Britain creep relentlessly into a village stuck in a time warp of Empire and English superiority, the character of the characters in each group is revealed. Some evolve, some are hopelessly stuck an More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

Kaye rated it:

Major Pettigrew finds himself in a world that has lost it's sense of decorum and appropriate behavior and he doesn't like it one bit. He still lives in his own little world of responsible behavior living the way generations of Englishmen have done in the past with a sense of duty to family and country, but when he is on the receiving end of a small act of kindness by the local shopkeeper, Mrs. Ali, his world is turned upside down.

Mrs. Ali not only shares his grief at the loss of a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 12, 2011

Carrie rated it:

I will admit that the main reason I purchased this book was because of the cover. I kept seeing it sitting on the shelves and each time I would find myself picking it up, reading the back cover and pondering over the blurb. The tale of a retired army Major and his relationship with the local shopkeeper did not really sound like something that I would ever want to read, but I'm so glad I did.
It took me a lot longer than usual to get through this book because there was never a point where I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 14, 2011

JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it:

Major Ernest Pettigrew is literally reeling around his house in shock on the morning his younger brother dies. A knock comes at his door and it is the lady from the village shop--Mrs. Ali. Mrs. Ali is there to collect money for the paper boy, but she takes one look at the Major and decides that someone needs to assist him. She helps him back inside, makes him a hot cuppa, and just listens as the Major begins to work through his grief. She only leaves when she is sure that he's going to be al More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2011

Michele rated it:

Every once in a great while a book comes along that reminds me why I love to read. I'm not big on giving out 5 stars for a book, but this novel deserves all of it's praise and more. I sometimes get so caught up in my frenzy of reading (so many books, so little time) and it takes a book like this one to slow me down and rekindle the pleasure of reading.

This is a slice-of-life book, which I'm not usually a big fan of, but what a huge exception we have going on here. Major Pettigrew is More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 25, 2010

Debbie rated it:

I thought this would be a light weight charming read, and it was charming. It just had deeper characterizations than I was expecting and some wonderful dry humor. Major Pettigrew and I share a sense of humor. Major Pettigrew in his sixties is charmed and attracted to Mrs. Ali, a widow and owner of the local convenience store. In his stuffy and status conscious world their friendship is frowned upon. The relationship is finally threatened by the world's most ghastly dinner dance at the golf More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2010

Grey853 rated it:

Major Pettigrew is a widower who lives a quiet, comfortable life in a cozy English village. He believes in proper manners, in following the rules, in fitting in. That all changes after the death of his brother and when he becomes friends with a local woman of color.

This book deals with love, racism, grief, being a parent, and finding meaning again when society says you should be happy to just sip tea and fade away in the shadows.

I adored the characters here, the sharp More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 28, 2011

Joycew rated it:

I thought this was a well written book with memorable and endearing characters. I was rooting for the Major and Mrs. Ali as well as hoping that Roger, Amina and a few others from this little English village would change their views to better their lives. And, th e author has a great sense of humor. I found myself suddenly laughing out loud. Many current problems surface in the book: prejudice, materialism, greed are three. Favorite quote: "Too few people today appreciate and pursue the d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

deejah rated it:

A story about a 68-year-old retired British Major and a 58-year-old Pakistani shopkeeper does not, on the surface, seem like it would be an enjoyable read. You would be wrong. This delightful book was a great read for this holiday week. Reading this story was like taking a leisurely stroll in your favorite park or savoring that last bit of your favorite meal. It definitely was not to be rushed. For a super-fast reader like myself with very little patience to spare - this was initially a tough bo More...

0 comments like

Feb 05, 2012

Donna rated it:

Major Pettigrew personifies the quintessential English gentleman. Although of the privileged class, he lives a modest, “regimented” village life of books, tea, golf, his garden, with a convenient distance from family members, and the occasional shooting event with a fine gun from his father. When his younger brother dies unexpectedly, this widower looses the starch in his upper lip. Enter Mrs. Ali, the widow who runs the small village store in her artful way. She was born in Cambridge, he in More...

0 comments like

Jan 30, 2012

Alice rated it:

I found Helen Simonson Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand validating. There is value in having lived through some events. But there is more value in staying true to one's self.

109—“It is a fact of life, I suppose, that the younger generation must try to take over and run the live of their elders,” said Mrs. Ali.

Metaphor for life:

198—He had never imagined so clearly the consequences of mailing a letter—the impossibility of retrieving it from the iron mouth of More...

0 comments like

Jan 19, 2012

Alun rated it:

This is an odd book: perhaps squeezed uncomfortably into the genre labelled "heart-warming and life-affirming romantic comedy", it is a tale of love between retired army major Ernest Pettigrew and the widowed keeper of the village shop, Mrs Jasmina Ali. As in all good English villages there are plenty of nosy neighbours who have not not moved with the times, and who are not quite polite enough not to say nothing about this scandalous development. Major Pettigrew's formerly quiet life i More...

0 comments like

Jan 15, 2012

Susan rated it:

Bookclub choice by Gail Singer.

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.

When retired Major Pettigrew strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani village shopkeeper, he is drawn out of his regimented world and forced to confront the realities of life in the twenty-first century. Br More...

0 comments like

Dec 28, 2011

Diane rated it:

Helen Simonson's debut novel is a charming love story with some traditional yet some unexpected elements. Major Pettigrew, a very British older man (somewhat of a stereotype, but one that Americans in love with England quite adore), is caught between traditions of his family and the affection he feels growing for Pakistani shopkeeper Mrs. Ali, who, like himself, is widowed and a great fan of older literature (think Kipling, which the Major admires for quite old-fashioned British reasons and Mrs. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 20, 2011

Laura rated it:

I had a hard time feeling this book. The Major and Mrs. Ali were really the only sympathetic characters; for all the 'old England' he's supposed to represent, the Major was actually pretty flexible and I didn't think he was that status-conscious compared to the other characters.

My main beef was the setting and the other characters. Where is this idyllic English country town that she's setting the story in? And why were all the supporting characters such stereotypes? Like I understa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Trena rated it:

This light and fluffy book--chick lit starring an elderly man--is a perfectly enjoyable read. Well, once you get past the humorless first half of the book, that is. It starts with a whole lot of set up and exposition, and what little character development Major Pettigrew undergoes is mostly unpleasant, as he comes off snobby and rude.

This was for book club and for the first time ever I hadn't finished the book before the meeting. In the end, I think it actually enhanced the discussi More...

1 comment like

Nov 07, 2011

Susy rated it:

I adored this book. It is well written, thoughtful and a reminder that kindness & depth of emotion still exist - not just with young people who find themselves drawn together but by women & men of a certain age. The setting is a small village south of London where a widowed retired Major finds himself looking for ways to chat up a widow who runs the local market. Turns out they both have an affinity for books and Kipling, as a favorite author, and well, in an effort to see more of the charmin More...

2 comments like

Oct 22, 2011

Phoebe rated it:

Delightful, humorous, and sad, this Miss Read/Joanna Trollope-style novel written from that very rare male viewpoint is wonderful. Simonson writes so intelligently and precisely, with a lovely grasp of the richness of the English language, that anyone who likes a really literary experience will appreciate this book immensely. Major Pettigrew is a widower of 6 years, keeping up with daily life but without much joy. He develops a cautious friendship with Mrs. Ali, the village shopkeeper of Paki More...

0 comments like

reviews