Reviews

El mayor Pettigrew se enamora by Helen Simonson, Sonia Tapia Sánchez

kimberussell's review against another edition

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4.0

I purchased this a while ago, waiting for the inevitable gap between library holds. It’s a sweet book about a 68 year old widower, Major Ernest Pettigrew, and his love affair with 58-year old widow Mrs. Ali. He’s English, she’s Pakistani. Their cultures, families, and friends clash, but our couple keeps their heads up high through the whole thing. Subplots include the fate of a pair of shotguns, a developer encroaching upon the small English village they live in, and a disastrous country club gala. Growing old is a bitch, but it’s easier if you have love.

Four stars because I’m a sucker for sweet love stories and can I have this as a movie, please and thank you?

amfm74's review against another edition

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5.0

I found this book charming. And perhaps in its quaintness the best love story I've read since I was young and struck by Jane Austen or the Bronte's. It's not that it's grand. It's precisely that it's small.... and a bizarrely miraculous combination of real life practical and silly romantic fairy tale. At once realistic and hopeful. A perfect easy read.

tazeenj's review against another edition

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5.0

I felt a connection with Ernest Pettigrew from the first page and I continued to like him the more I knew about him, flaws and all. One doesn’t come across characters like this one very often and I throughly enjoyed his journey.
I just love books that make us take notice of the power of empathy.

katkat123's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Enjoyable light-hearted village drama with a good dose of romance and fighting snobbery and racism 

theredhead15's review against another edition

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4.0

Charming character novel about an old man falling in love with a Pakistani woman in a rural English village. The plot is simple, but the characters drive this novel. A very cozy read. Closest I've read to Austen in a long, long time.

jpantaleo's review against another edition

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funny hopeful slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

laramie_moore's review against another edition

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4.0

Cute and surprising!

groveperson's review against another edition

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4.0

Quietly humorous and charming.

dimitypee's review against another edition

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4.0

When I requested this book from the library, I was hoping for a light-hearted, charming, quintessentially British book that would be a delightful use of some of my reading energies and time this summer. I am happy to report it was just that. This impressive first novel by is hilarious and touching in equal parts. [b:Major Pettigrew's Last Stand|6643090|Major Pettigrew's Last Stand|Helen Simonson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291166340s/6643090.jpg|6837577] escapes the overly sentimental pitfalls a novel about an unconventional romance between two elderly people could so easily slip into. The Major is utterly relatable and believable; his bullheaded clinging to ebbing traditions is sympathetic instead of frustrating. I generally don’t read books with older main characters and Simonson is adept at writing her protagonists as human beings instead of elderly human beings.

My only quibble with this book is that I found her depictions of English reaction towards Pakistani immigrants to be rather…hollow. That said, I am an American used to dealing American (veiled and not) reactions towards immigrants and racial differences and it is entirely possible that I am thinking too much of the American experience.

lauriemcmahon's review against another edition

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I'm sure this would have been a good book but i only made it halfway through. It was too slow moving for my taste.