Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Helen Simonson
Review by Priscilla Comen
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Helen Simonson
Review by Priscilla Comen
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, is the story of the Major, quite a character, whose wife has died and who plays golf at his fancy golf club. His son, Roger, is more involved with his fiancé Sandy and his business connections than with his father. The Major meets and finds common interests (Dickens) with Mrs. Ali, who owns a local special deli. She is Pakistani and lovely.
The Major’s brother has just died and the Major covets the gun that would match his. They both belonged to his father who expected them to be a pair after his death. The women of the country club are planning a dinner-dance and rope the Major into helping on various committees. With humor and planning, he tries to get out of it. When Mrs. Ali’s nephew’s girlfriend, Amina, arrives with her young son, George, the Major offers the nephew a room in his home for a short time. The nephew is in love with Amina and can’t stand being around her in the same house of Mrs. Ali.
Author Simonson adds witty punchlines at the end of every scene: between Roger and the Major, with the Major and his neighbor Alice. Instead of a much-needed glass of scotch, he has a bicarbonate of soda.
Because George’s mother and father are not married, no one will play with him. He has no friends and only the Major and Mrs. Ali will fly kites with him. The Major is determined to right matters for George’s sake. When the duck shoot turns into a protest against duck shooting with women and children running on the lawn in front of the shooters, the Major and Roger become bonded. And they meet Ferguson, an industrialist from the U.S. visiting and proposing modifications to the picturesque village. He would build new manor homes, a series of shops and a technical college to train the local residents. Author Simonson adds underlying serious subjects in this rare novel: such as environmental causes, and racism.
Alice prints out posters to protest this project. Roger feels he would make a lot of money from it. The dinner-dance turns into a riot when an older Pakistani man feels insulted by the entertainment. Because the entire village is gossiping about the Major and Mrs. Ali, she goes to live with her ex-husband’s family. The Major is devastated. When he goes to Roger’s cottage to plan for Christmas Eve dinner, he finds Sandy packing to return to the U.S. What will the Major do now? Who will be his friends? Will the drastic improvements to the village occur? Will the Major follow Mrs. Ali and re-unite with her? Or will the racism of the village prevent this? Find out in this wonderful book with Simonson’s other books in the fiction room of your Mendocino Community Library.
The Major’s brother has just died and the Major covets the gun that would match his. They both belonged to his father who expected them to be a pair after his death. The women of the country club are planning a dinner-dance and rope the Major into helping on various committees. With humor and planning, he tries to get out of it. When Mrs. Ali’s nephew’s girlfriend, Amina, arrives with her young son, George, the Major offers the nephew a room in his home for a short time. The nephew is in love with Amina and can’t stand being around her in the same house of Mrs. Ali.
Author Simonson adds witty punchlines at the end of every scene: between Roger and the Major, with the Major and his neighbor Alice. Instead of a much-needed glass of scotch, he has a bicarbonate of soda.
Because George’s mother and father are not married, no one will play with him. He has no friends and only the Major and Mrs. Ali will fly kites with him. The Major is determined to right matters for George’s sake. When the duck shoot turns into a protest against duck shooting with women and children running on the lawn in front of the shooters, the Major and Roger become bonded. And they meet Ferguson, an industrialist from the U.S. visiting and proposing modifications to the picturesque village. He would build new manor homes, a series of shops and a technical college to train the local residents. Author Simonson adds underlying serious subjects in this rare novel: such as environmental causes, and racism.
Alice prints out posters to protest this project. Roger feels he would make a lot of money from it. The dinner-dance turns into a riot when an older Pakistani man feels insulted by the entertainment. Because the entire village is gossiping about the Major and Mrs. Ali, she goes to live with her ex-husband’s family. The Major is devastated. When he goes to Roger’s cottage to plan for Christmas Eve dinner, he finds Sandy packing to return to the U.S. What will the Major do now? Who will be his friends? Will the drastic improvements to the village occur? Will the Major follow Mrs. Ali and re-unite with her? Or will the racism of the village prevent this? Find out in this wonderful book with Simonson’s other books in the fiction room of your Mendocino Community Library.