I certainly did NOT have to force myself to read to the end of this one! I read A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian over the course of two days (before and after work, while breakfasting, on the train, during lunch, in the evening over supper, and in bed until I fell asleep. I may even have read it in other places which I shall forbear to mention.) Lewicka has created such a lively, living, visceral work here. In a nutshell, the beautiful, 36-year-old Ukrainian Valentina (of the "superior breasts") has come to England and ensnared octogenerian Nikolai (formerly of the Ukraine, newly widowed and somewhat dotty), and his daughters Vera and Nadya are out to extricate him from her clutches. The process of doing so is excruciatingly funny, although along the way I was absolutely seething against Valentina. I even wanted to climb into the story so that I could punch her myself (erm, I never punch!) Valentina is indeed a magnificent creature - and you can't help but laugh even as you hate her! But, by the time I put the book down at the end, I didn't hate her quite so much, even felt some sympathy for her, and that without her having been diminished one jot.

Yet there's so much more to this book - a journey into wartime Ukraine and the upheavals and tragedy that engulfed the population, the two sisters comparing their unmatched family narratives and mending their fractured relationship, and even a short history of tractors in Ukrainian....

I can recommend this book wholeheartedly.

I've just read this, and loved every minute of it, though I'm not a great reader of comic fiction. It is very funny, but subtle too, charting very delicately the twists and turns in the relationship the sisters among the wider events. I felt the end was a bit too neat, though I think we're comfortable with a certain over-determinedness in comic fiction. But overall it managed to be both light and serious (perhaps partly the latter because I read it in Amsterdam, in among visiting Anne Frank's house and the museum of the Dutch Resistance). I never felt she was recruiting the horrors of history to give the comic surface some cheap depth, but as a real motor for the story and the relationships... I can tell it's a book I'll go back to when I've got a cold, or a hot bath that needs just the right kind of good read.

Emma

If you liked this, you might like 'Everything Is Illuminated' by Jonathan Safran Foer, which uses the same kind of comedy/tragedy/history-blend to produce a book that really stays with you.

I must admit I really struggled with this one, and ended up giving up entirely - I don't think I really "got" the humour, but admire those who did!

A
xxx

I certainly never felt anyone's hardship was exploited for a cheap laugh in this book. The tone is compatible with a significant proportion of contemporary writing coming out of the former Soviet Union, and it's worth remembering the author is a product of that region as well, but I have read comments in some places where readers have felt that Lewycka was bordering on 'racist', which is rubbish.


I adored Everything is Illuminated. I haven't picked up his second book. Reviews have been mixed (although I've grown quite wary of reviews!) But I love how JSF stretched the margins.


Ani