Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

I'm a bit stumped with what to write about this book.  I took it on holiday with me and it should have been a quick read but it ended up being in my bag , living in there, for the majority of my trip!!  But hey, I'm not sure if this book was for me because I think it was written primarily for non-Brits or ex-Pats with a strong cliched idea of what village life in England is/was about.
 I just found all of the characters totally and absolutely unbelievable.  In fact, apart from the main two characters  everyone was  either a caricature of little Englanders from the 1950s or 'evil' Muslims dropped into the book for dramatic affect.( Major Pettigrew should have just shot his annoying son by page 10 and done us all a favour.)
 I didn't feel any empathy for any of the characters and even though it was sold as a Love Story it all seemed  totally sterile and soulless to me. When I found out the Major was only 68 I nearly spat out my Croatian beer, to me he seemed at least 87! When one of the village kids was told off for playing with a kid from a 'One-parent-family'  I almost spat out my Bosnian sausage!   Was this author for real?  Was this really written just a few years ago?!  I then found out that the author hasn't lived in the UK for years.  It showed! This book was described on the back as being 'quirky and full of charm'.  Bullshit, it was as dull and dank as village ditch water.