the shrewd observation, ect.
Jeffrey Archer's "Kane & Abel", chapter 24, :
In the bitter winter of 1927, Grandmother Kane died, aged eighty-five, and William wept for the first time since his mother's death.
William missed the shrewd observations he hadn't fully appreciated in his grandmother's lifetime, and arranged a funeral she would have been proud to attend. The great lady may have arrived at the cemetery in a Packard hearse, but her only criticism of William's arrangements for the departure would have concerned this unsound mode of transport.
I'm puzzled with:
1. the shrewd observation
2. her only criticism of William's arrangements for the departure would have concerned this unsound mode of transport.
please help me, thanks

Question

the shrewd observation, ect.
Jeffrey Archer's "Kane & Abel", chapter 24, :
In the bitter winter of 1927, Grandmother Kane died, aged eighty-five, and William wept for the first time since his mother's death. 
William missed the shrewd observations he hadn't fully appreciated in his grandmother's lifetime, and arranged a funeral she would have been proud to attend. The great lady may have arrived at the cemetery in a Packard hearse, but her only criticism of William's arrangements for the departure would have concerned this unsound mode of transport. 
I'm puzzled with:
1. the shrewd observation
2. her only criticism of William's arrangements for the departure would have concerned this unsound mode of transport. 
please help me, thanks

Answer

Aha! I just read the quote again more carefully and I think I understand now that the expression about the unsound mode of transport is meant to be humorous. It is comparing the mode of transport for the =arrival= at the cemetery (by Packard hearse) with his "arrangements for the =departure=" from it, which would have been a coffin--certainly an "unsound mode of transport." :) And maybe this is the sort of "shrewd observation" she would have been inclined to make--had she been there to make it. :)

Answer

I agree, these expressions are confusing. I am guessing that "William missed the shrewd observations he hadn't fully appreciated in his grandmother's lifetime" is an elaborate way of saying that while she was alive, William didn't value his grandmothers's way of making shrewd observation or remarks, but after she was gone, he missed her and missed this thing that she did, and decided to arrange a funeral that he could imagine she would have enjoyed, as a way of honoring her in death more than he feels he did in life. ~ As to the "unsound mode of transport," it's possible that the grandmother had an opinion about the Packard brand of cars that it was not very good, or maybe that cars in general were not safe.

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