Delightful, charming. Full of the most wonderful one liners.

Great book. It was interesting to read a book with a retired widower as the narrator. I chuckled a lot and can easily see the BBC making a movie out of it.

January 2011 Book Club selection. Good book!

I put this down because of the celebration of masculinity and perpetuation of racism, but after I gave it a second chance it mostly redeemed itself and I let it wash over me as a light summer audiobook.

so far, i love it

This book was an easy read. I felt like it was almost funny a lot of the time. I don't mean that as a criticism in the way an almost funny comedy is bad, but that there were light-hearted moments that I felt could have been played up more, or maybe played down and made more serious.

It was interesting to see an older male learn more about himself and explore what life has to offer. I do not want to see the movie of most books, but I can imagine this working quite well as a movie, but it would have to be a romantic comedy.

I won this book through Goodreads First Reads, and I would've liked it, anyway.

It's not the sort of book I would've picked up. It has the slow pacing that generally drives me crazy in a book, and I didn't think I could relate to a Pakistanti woman in a small town in England, or an old retired British army Major. And yet, I was rooting for them long before the halfway point, and feeling sad when obstacles got in their way, and feeling warm and fuzzy when they were happy.

This was not a fast read, but, for once, that wasn't a bad thing. This book is meant to be savored, rather than torn through. There's some lovely dry humor you might miss if you're too busy whipping past it, and some lovely scenery you can't appreciate if you look at it as an obstacle to the story.

Really, though, it's the characters who make the book. We have no black-and-white saints or villains; the book felt like it was populated by people going about their daily lives, often without realizing the hurt they were causing.

This was a lovely book, and a very nice note to start out 2011 on.

A sweet story and a light read, I enjoyed escaping into Major Pettigrew's quiet English village and watching him respond as the screws tighten and he has to take a stand against prevailing opinions & prejudices.

Helen Simonson has written a gem of a story, indeed it was such a delight that I have put her second book on reserve at my local library.

After a brief introduction Major Pettigrew frustrated me for what felt like his inability to be sufficiently decisive. I wasn't interested in a slow poking along but with each page he grew on me (after all, we are the same age!) and so I stayed with his story and am glad for it. I enjoyed listening in on his thoughts and meeting those who would become his friends (as opposed to his day-to-day acquaintances).

Mrs Ali had me all in smiles appreciating her insights, wit, observations and thoughts. Together, she and the Major take on the absurdities of small town ways in Edgecombe St Mary (a place, according to my recent search, that is a fictional location, though surely based on a real place where the author lived.)

A delightful story and perfect for bedtime reading!

PS Part of the ending I anticipated, indeed hoped for, but the lead in to the ending was definitely a bit of a surprise.

I'm only half way through but if I have to read the word "plump" again, describing a woman, I will throw this book out the window.