Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – February CC Book Club Selection

[Mary13]

<p>ignatius, thanks for the Julian Smith link–my laugh for the day! I forwarded it to my kids.</p>

[fireflyscout]

<p>I’m about 2/3 through the book and thoroughly enjoying it. Can I convince my husband to call me “dear lady”?</p>

[Mary13]

<p>^ Perhaps you can offer to read some Kipling poems to him in return. It’s only fair. :)</p>

[MommaJ]

<p>Major Pettigrew was a delightful read, and I think it just cries out to be made into a movie–there are so many wonderful English film actors I can already picture in many of the roles, and I’m sure Bollywood can supply the rest!</p>

[Mary13]

<p>Good morning! If I am to believe the forecasts, in a matter of hours I will be snowed in until spring, so it’s a good time to hole up and talk about books. How did everyone like Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand? </p>

<p>My first observation may not mean much to anyone else, but it’s this: As I read Major Pettigrew, I kept thinking of Old Filth by Jane Gardam. Has anyone else read that book? Old Filth and the Major are both meticulous, proper, elderly English gentlemen with entrenched habits. Both are widowers, navigating the pitfalls of living alone, and trying to summon the energy and the courage for one last (imprudent) adventure. There’s a lot of dry English wit in both stories, too. I found Old Filth, however, to be depressing—more despair than hope. Major Pettigrew on the other hand, was very uplifting.</p>

<p>I apologize if my initial comments leave people scratching their heads, but if one person out there has read Old Filth, my post will not have been in vain! :)</p>

[Lulu63]

<p>I read it without knowing about this thread. What a lovely story! So sad when it was over. Just started The Perfectionists! Great read so far!</p>

[BUandBC82]

<p>I haven’t read Old Filth, so I can’t add to the comparison between the two books. :(</p>

<p>I really enjoyed reading Major Pettigrew. I liked the “dry English wit” and also the way Americans were portrayed (with just enough of that English wit in the portrayal). It was fun to watch a 68 year old man fall in love like a youngster and watch him learn about the important things in life. </p>

<p>One thing I really enjoyed about this book was that I couldn’t predict where it was going…and I was so glad it had a happy ending.</p>

[CBBBlinker]

<p>I also really enjoyed “MP’s Last Stand.” I was initially inclined to really dislike Sandy as an “ugly American,” but ended up liking her quite a bit. Roger, OTOH, deserved a couple of wake-up slaps. Enjoyed the characters of the Major and Mrs. Ali – and since I’m a sucker for a happy ending, I was glad it all worked out in the end.</p>

<p>I haven’t read “Old Filth,” either.</p>

[psychmom]

<p>Sorry Mary, you struck out with me, too. If it’s any consolation, the Major reminded me a bit of the first narrator (Mr. Betteredge) in The Moonstone, even though the Major is far from a servant. I guess there’s something about the honesty, humor, English gentleman’s persona, etc., that makes me link the two.</p>

<p>I enjoyed the book and happy ending. The American characterizations were funny, I must admit!</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@psychmom

Sorry Mary, you struck out with me, too.

</p>

<p>Ah well, never mind about Old Filth then. I wouldn’t even recommend it. My 88 year mother received it as a gift and I don’t know what the giver was thinking because it’s all about regrets toward the end of life, and the mental and physical deterioration that comes with old age. On to happier things:</p>

<p>

@MommaJ

Major Pettigrew was a delightful read, and I think it just cries out to be made into a movie

</p>

<p>I agree. Some scenes, such as the fight at the dance, seem almost like they were written to be filmed rather than read:</p>

<p>

He saw a short man with large feet shove Abdul Wahid, who fell against one of the waiters. He saw another waiter slap a male dancer across the face with his white arm towel, as if to challenge him to a duel. He heard Daisy Green call out, somewhat hoarsely, “People, please remain civilized,” as a riot erupted in the middle of the dance floor. Things became a blur as women screamed, men shouted, and bodies hurled themselves at one another only to crash to the ground. There was much ineffectual thumping of backs and indiscriminate kicking.</p>

<p>As the music segued into an even more raucous tune, the Major was astonished to see a large drunken guest whip off his turban, hand his hookah pipe to his girlfriend, and throw himself across the heaving mass of assailants as if it were all a game. The Vicar waded in to grab him by the trousers but was kicked backward and fell on Alma. He became tangled in her green sari in a way that made Mortimer Teale look quite jealous, and was rescued by Alec Shaw; he dragged them behind the bar, which Lord Dagenham and Ferguson seemed to have commandeered as if for a siege.

</p>

<p>That’s a long quote, but I just wanted to show the colorful detail in the description–It’s a rollicking bit of slapstick, and I could easily see it on the big screen.</p>

[ProudNJMom]

<p>I really enjoyed this book. I have to admit I probably would have never even considered reading it if it wasn’t for CC! I loved the ending, but I am a sucker for happy endings! What I loved was that I could really visualize everything. Sometimes I felt as if I could look out my window and the English countryside would be right there. I also agree that Roger needed a couple of “wake-up slaps” or a kick in the pants!</p>

[ignatius]

<p>

@CBBBlinker

I was initially inclined to really dislike Sandy as an “ugly American,” but ended up liking her quite a bit. Roger, OTOH, deserved a couple of wake-up slaps.

</p>

<p>I agree. </p>

<p>I also ended up liking Grace quite a bit. At first I felt embarrassed for Grace.</p>

<p>

It amused him less when, treating their spinster friend as a project, Daisy and Alma would ask Grace to play her harp or greet people at the door at various charity events, while consigning certain other unattached ladies to cloakroom and tea serving duties. Even today, they had conspired to make a presentation of Grace. She was fully primped, her slightly elongated face made papery with pale powder and a girly pink lipstick, a coquettish scarf tied in a bow under her left ear as if she were off to a party.

</p>

<p>Grace allowed her strength of character a freer rein over the course of events. She exhibited dignity - and grace - when she turned Major Pettigrew in Mrs. Ali’s direction.</p>

<p>

“I will not have you, Ernest,” she said. “I care for you very much, but I do not want to make any compromises with the rest of my years.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, like a child, and smiled. “You should go after her.”

</p>

<p>It pleased me that Grace moved away the dictates of Daisy and towards a genuine friendship with the Major and Mrs. Ali. </p>

<p>I also liked that the happy ending did not gloss over the characters of some of the characters: Daisy, Alma, Marjorie can not or will not change. The Major and Mrs. Ali acknowledge the loss of certain acquaintances and move on.</p>

<p>

“They are a motley and ragged bunch,” she said, “but they are what is left when all the shallow pretense is burned away.”</p>

<p>“Will it do?” said the Major, laying his hand over her cool fingers. “Will it be enough to sustain the future?”</p>

<p>“It is more than enough for me,” she said. “My heart is quite full.”

</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

Roger, OTOH, deserved a couple of wake-up slaps.

</p>

<p>Only a couple? What an eejit he was. I suppose there was a comic element to his complete self-absorption, but things took a pretty serious turn when his desire for wealth and status became more important than Sandy’s pregnancy. I liked Sandy a lot. I don’t know why she texted Roger at the end. I wanted to shout, “Are you crazy, girl? Run as fast as you can and don’t ever look back!”</p>

<p>Although I don’t know what Sandy saw in Roger, I can guess what he saw in her. Not only was Sandy attractive, fashionable and well-connected—all things that could help Roger get ahead—but on the inside, she was not unlike his mother, Nancy. Both women were rather wry observers of human nature (Nancy about the “Pettigrubbers" and Sandy about Mrs. Augerspier) and both loved Roger deeply, even though he did little to earn such devotion.</p>

[BUandBC82]

<p>I also liked Sandy, and think the Major did too. </p>

<p>I agree that Grace was a good character and a bit surprising when we got to know her away from the other women in her group.</p>

<p>Roger really was a character that was hard to like, although I did feel sorry for him a couple of times. He was excessively arrogant. Do you think the Major raised him this way? What we learn of Nancy, the Major’s wife, shows us she was a kind woman, who was devoted to the Major and Roger. I don’t think the Major was ever as arrogant as Roger, but he was arrogant. I think his personality influenced the person Roger became as an adult. We like the Major as a character because he evolved. He matured with the wisdom of his age. Would we have liked him as a young man?</p>

<p>On page 345 when the Major first woke up in the hospital, the person in the room called him “Mr. Pettigrew”. The first thing the Major thought to say was “Isss Major…” “Major Pettigrew”. That was his identity, his title. It was important…and proper.</p>

<p>On page 349 when the Major was in the hospital talking to Roger about the guns, the Major said

I longed for the day when I could look important to a lot of people who I felt were more important than I. I was arrogant. It must be genetic.”

</p>

[ignatius]

<p>

@"Mary13

I don’t know why she texted Roger at the end. I wanted to shout, “Are you crazy, girl? Run as fast as you can and don’t ever look back!”

</p>

<p>Sandy only responded to Roger’s text.</p>

<p>

“Hey,look, I got a text from Sandy.”</p>

<p>“Didn’t you just propose to another woman?” asked Jasmina.</p>

<p>“Yeah, but I had a lot of time to think last night and I figured a long text from the bedside of my dying father might do the trick.”

</p>

<p>As BUandBC82 pointed out, the Major liked Sandy - and I think she honestly liked and respected him. Of course, she would respond to the text that Roger sent from the Major’s bedside. IMO - I think Roger would have to work way too hard to win her back, and he doesn’t have it in him to do so.</p>

[ignatius]

<p>

@BUandBC82

I don’t think the Major was ever as arrogant as Roger, but he was arrogant. I think his personality influenced the person Roger became as an adult. We like the Major as a character because he evolved. He matured with the wisdom of his age. Would we have liked him as a young man?

</p>

<p>I agree the Major has his own touch of arrogance - and undoubtedly his personality influenced the person Roger became as an adult. I do think I would have liked the Major as a young man. I think his sense of humor probably tempered his arrogance; Roger himself lacks humor. Roger seems infatuated not with Sandy herself but rather with Sandy’s style and connections and how she makes him look good. The young Major, on the other hand, fell in love with a strong-minded young girl (Nancy), in spite of any benefit - or lack of benefit - to him.</p>

<p>

“You are so adorable when you’re being so danm conservative and uptight!” She laughed. She made him laugh too. She made him sneak off his base to see her. She made him wear improbable shirts and bright socks off duty. Once she called him from a police station after a student protest and he had to show up at the night sergeant’s desk in his full dress uniform. They let her go with just a lecture."

</p>

<p>Nancy continued to assert herself after marriage, “refusing to set foot in the club, again” (in protest of certain club actions) and the Major continued to love her.</p>

<p>I enjoyed this exchange between the Major and Abdul Wahid:</p>

<p>

“But I must ask you, do you really understand what it means to be in love with an unsuitable woman?”</p>

<p>“My dear boy,” said the Major. “Is there really any other kind?”

</p>

[CBBBlinker]

<p>Re: the Major and his relationship with Roger growing up – was the Major around all that much? Or was he off doing his “Major” thing?</p>

[psychmom]

<p>I wanted the author to add a bit more “humanness” to Roger rather than giving us the (almost) complete narcissistic characterization. The shooting scene from childhood helped to create a tinge of empathy, but IMO, not enough. I wanted more of a reason for Roger being Roger…instead, it felt like too much comedic exaggeration (although I enjoyed the colorful tone of the book).</p>

[Mary13]

<p>

@ignatius

Of course, she would respond to the text that Roger sent from the Major’s bedside. IMO - I think Roger would have to work way too hard to win her back, and he doesn’t have it in him to do so.

</p>

<p>You’re right! So I guess I won’t worry about Sandy—let’s hope she finds some nice fellow who is more her match. Roger never even really knew her:</p>

<p>

”Sandy is a real master at making friends with people,” said Roger. “She has everyone convinced she really likes them.” “I do like them all,” said Sandy, blushing.

</p>

<p>The Major’s “improbable shirts and bright socks” suggest that Nancy was able to tap into and draw out her husband’s good qualities. I don’t think Sandy would have such luck with Roger, even if they spent a lifetime together. He is too shallow-- although as psychmom points out, this may be more of a writing flaw than anything else. Roger is a one-dimensional character. That simplicity works with the true comic extras like Daisy and Alma, but Roger is a major character and I think he should have had more “layers.”</p>

<p>

@BUandBC82

I think his [the Major’s] personality influenced the person Roger became as an adult.

</p>

<p>Good point. To what extent is the Major responsible for the person that Roger turned out to be? The story of Roger’s youthful shooting trauma is rather telling:</p>

<p>

”I seem to remember a small boy blubbering over a dead woodpecker and vowing to never pick up a gun again,” said the Major. “Are you really going shooting?” He leaned toward Sandy and poured her more tea. “Could never get him to come out with me after that,” he added.

</p>

<p>Roger’s response is:</p>

<p>

”My father.” Roger rolled his eyes. “A great believer in the cold-baths-and-blistering-rebuke school of compassion.”

</p>

<p>Maybe the Major told Roger to “man up” one too many times…and the result was a son he couldn’t be proud of. Be careful what you wish for…</p>

[fireflyscout]

<p>I think we got a pretty good read on the Major’s character at the very beginning - when he is caught wearing his wife’s housedress during cleaning. The straight-backed military man has depth!</p>