UK Tales

I've been reading a number of terribly British books (by which I mean terribly dry and terribly witty) without getting tired of them.  Good Omens started it off, then I discovered a love for Connie Willis (To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, Doomsday Book), read Little Bee,  and then I happened upon Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and felt I had found this year's Water for Elephants.  It was deep deep love and delight from the start.   I'll save Connie Willis for another day but I'd like to discuss Little Bee and Major Pettigrew now because they are uncommonly good despite either dreary or common subject matter.

Little Bee's marketing material makes a secret of the plot to tantalize the reader into diving in with faith that it will be worth their while.   I think it's rather manipulative really, I get a sense of security in reading these before selecting a tome, even when the descriptions turn out to be written by someone who's heard about the book 3rd hand and misrepresents it entirely.  In this case, it makes one think that there is some kind of mystery to the story and really that is quite beside the point.  However, I realize that I may not have read the tale had I known the plot in advance. In fact, the hostess of our bookclub provided most of the plot points to the un-read and turned quite a few off from the book.  It is not a light, puff piece.   This is a drama full of terrible, tragic moments.  It is nearly an expose on many topics: Britain's retention centers, the west's cover-up and deportation of inconvenient refugees from marketed 'safe' countries due to our reliance on their resources, the complicity of 1st world citizens  (not excusing the reader) and others.... AND YET, this is a beautiful tale, and Little Bee is a character one would miss having never met this particular Nigerian refugee.  She is wry, she is tough, and she brings an inexplicable bright hope to the tale and the reader that makes this story palatable if not devourable.  For me, it is like reading Khaled Hosseini: you are learning true and terrible things about events in another part of the world and yet you feel inspired and hopeful in light of your new burden.   I would recommend anyone read this book, I would even recommend it for the beach (just not Nigerian beaches!).

Major Pettigrew on the other hand brings one to more relateable, comfortable ground - a sleepy British country town with familiar nosy neighbors, impolite family members and day-to-day routines.   I found the author Helen Simonson to be the Jane Austen for the semi-modern age.  This is a social comedy handled with the subtlety and wit of Jane Austin along with her moments of passion and excitement thrown in to boot.   The ever chivalrous Major Pettigrew is living out the routine of his retirement when love sneaks up on him in the form of his long-time village-mate, the local Pakistani shopkeeper Mrs. Ali.  The ensueing meddlement of family, nosy neighbors, club members, and his own reticence turns it into a tale of star-crossed lovers as lovely (or perhaps more so) as any modern youthful romance.  It starts a teensy slow but I found myself frantically turning the last 100 pages to find what was going to happen to my beloved characters.  And now I'm recommending the tale to everyone I come across.