If Juliet was a widowed shop keeper from Pakistan and Romeo was a retired British officer this would be their story. It is a story about belonging, traditions, good manners, prejudice, social mobility, growing old, loss, and of course, love. The story unfolds slowly and with an abundance of dry British humor. Some girls at book club struggled at the beginning to get into it, but it completely charmed me.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“The world is full of small ignorances. We must all do our best to ignore them and thereby keep them small.”
“We are all small-minded people, creeping about the earth grubbing for our own advantage and making the very mistakes for which we want to humiliate our neighbors.”
“He had forgotten that grief does not decline in a straight line or along a slow curve like a graph in a child's math book. Instead, it was almost as if his body contained a big pile of garden rubbish full both of heavy lumps of dirt and of sharp thorny brush that would stab him when he least expected it.”
Major Pettigrew takes a few digs at Americans, my favorite:
“From the nation that conquered the West wearing leather chaps and hats made from dead squirrel.”
What's the best book you've read lately?
I loved this book, too! I have often wondered who should be cast as Major Pettigrew when the movie gets made.... I really loved his character. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good. I have not heard of this one before, so I will be sure to check it out from my local library. I most recently finished reading The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. This is the first book in a series and I guess it was popular enough that they made an HBO series based on the books as well (I've never seen it). I really enjoyed it and think it's definitely worth a read if you're looking for something new. :)
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