Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Helen Simonson

Image Credit: Fizzythoughts

I am inching forward slowly in my reading. I just finished another book. And the count so far is just a pitiful 6 books in 3 months! Oh well. Not that the book was bad. In fact, it’s one of the most delightful books I have ever read. They don’t write books like Helen Simonson’s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand anymore. Just a handful of quaint characters who live in a beautiful English countryside make up this book and yet its charm made me smile more than a few times. Let me give a summary from Amazon before I continue:

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.

The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

The book begins with the Major coming to terms with the loss of his brother and the introduction of Mrs. Ali at the same time. Moving at an even pace henceforth we are introduced to the Major’s two passions. One is a set of Churchills, a pair of shotguns, which his father had divided between him and his brother. The Major had always wanted to reunite the guns and it’s this single minded focus that drives him on. And then there’s Mrs. Ali. The Major and Mrs. Ali slowly discover their passion for reading, particularly Kipling, for relishing tea and flowers and gentle afternoons. Of course, the book does reach the inevitable end we all expect, but the course of events leading to it is what holds the book from falling to an average level.

Written with an absorbingly dry and witty sense of humor, the kind that’s hard to find nowadays, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand keeps us chuckling throughout. The Major is outstanding with his instant repartees, while Ferguson the American, Daisy, Mrs. Rasool, Grace and the rest of the ladies who make up the club, where the Major is a member, all form this humorous tableau. My favorite passages were the Major’s parries with his son Roger. Here's one -

“I seem to remember a small boy blubbering over a dead woodpecker and vowing never to pick up a gun again,” said the Major. “Are you really going shooting?” He leaned towards Sandy and poured her more tea. “Could never get him to come out with me after that,” he added.
“Yeah – like ‘bring Woody’ is a great invitation,” said Roger. “It was my first shoot and I potted an endangered bird. They never let me forget it.”
“Oh, you have to learn to shrug these things off, my boy,” said the Major. “Nicknames only stick to people who let them.”
“My father.” Roger rolled his eyes. “A great believer in the cold-baths-and-blistering-rebuke school of compassion.”
…

He was mortified at the thought of Roger waving a shotgun around, and for just an instant he saw himself explaining a dead peacock on the lawn. However, the Major accepted the futility of trying to hide his connection with Roger. He would just have to keep an eye on him.
… “I’m looking forward to giving the old Churchills a good day’s work,” said the Major, also standing as Sandy left the room. “You should stick with me, Roger, and that I can toss a few extra birds in your bag if you need them.” Roger, as he closed the door behind Sandy, looked sick to his stomach, and the Major felt he might have gone too far. His son had never been able to stand up to much of a ribbing.

Simonson’s character sketches are quirky, funny and heartwarming. The Major of course steals the show with his old world charms, his one-liners and his opinions.

“I am to be converted to the joys of knitting,” said Mrs. Ali, smiling at the Major.
“My condolences,” he said.

Then there is Roger, with his modern beliefs, a cocky attitude and brashness. You can’t but help feel a little bad for him each time he is undermined by the Major who treats him like a little kid. Mrs. Ali is quiet in her ways but there is a certain strength within her which is palpable but not visible till the end.

I loved Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand for its language, for its setting and its lovable characters. Men like the Major are extinct, I think, men who reads and understands literature, who knows how to treat a lady and who has a never ending line of witticisms.

One of my favorite passages in the book is also when the Major describes love –

“Unlike you, who must do a cost-benefit analysis of every human interaction,” he said, “I have no idea what I hope to accomplish. I only know that I must try to see her. That’s what love is about, Roger. It’s when a woman drives all lucid thought from your head; when you are unable to contrive romantic stratagems, and the usual manipulations fail you; when all your carefully laid plans have no meaning and all you can do is stand mute in her presence.”

Expression of feeling is his strength although ironically he comes across as someone who is un-emotional and practical. He has his faults, but truly, as Ferguson said, “Major, you are an original.” Perhaps, I can also say, books like these come quite close.

Verdict: Girls be prepared to fall for the Major as I did and guys be prepared for a lot of lessons from him

Rating: 5/5