Major Pettigrew's last stand

At the start of this story, I found myself liking very few of the characters. That is primarily because the story is told from the perspective of Major Pettigrew, a crotchety old man with a rigid view of how things should be. As the story progressed, I can't say that I grew to like many of the characters any more, but I did start to see the humor in them instead of just being frustrated by everyone. Helen Simonson does a very good job of taking a horribly negative situation and making it humorous and hopeful. I really enjoyed this story and recommend it to anyone who has had to deal with the often silly nature of culture shock, especially when it involves falling in love with the wrong person.