Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fireworks-worthy piece of book!
The story successfully accomplished what a good story should: it transported me to another world, away from my problems and worries, to a constantly interesting and satisfying and eventful place, including that hard-to-find wonder, a happy ending!
I actually underlined a number of passages, something I am more likely to do in a philosophical or theological book. There is a fascinating comment on the nature of romantic love: '"The human race is all the same when it comes to romantic relations," said the Major. "A startling absence of impulse control combined with complete myopia."'(p. 181)
There is a treasure of an observation on abstract beliefs vs. concrete situations: "...I think that is how everyone feels in the abstract. But then life hands you something concrete...and abstracts have to go out the window." (p.201)
And a thought-provoking sentence spoken in conversation with a man in despair: "Sometimes I think God created the darkness just so he didn't have to look at us all the time." (p. 341)
On finishing the book, I hurried to the author's website, hoping she had a long list of published work to look forward to. Sadly for me, this is her first book. Here's hoping it's the first of many.


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