A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian: Marina Lewycka (Penguin Essentials, 71)

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When their recently-widowed father announces he plans to remarry, sisters Vera and Nadezhda realise they must put aside a lifetime of feuding whims of his mother and other adults. Though he is no innocent, he is in some ways a victim. Return to some sections of the book that deal Despite that, I enjoyed this novel, and found it eminently readable, well flowing and colourful. It is moving at times, with passages of clear poetic beauty and scenes of wonderfully absurd farce. It's an easy and pleasant read; nothing demanding but not totally shallow. The language is well used, characters have their own idiom (always easier when non-native half-Englishness is involved, but still) and I found the 'Tractors' inserts (a monumental history of these machines being written by Nikolay Mayevsky) a nice device too. sound quite startling. I think all immigrants speak in these hybrid languages - I love to listen to the speech of the Asian families who live there was a whole community of tractor enthusiasts out there, willing and eager to share their technical knowledge. What was more difficult was

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian made the Booker longlist for 2005, which is quite a feat for a debut novel - and one of the two reasons why I chose to read it. The other one is, of course, its quirky title - I just couldn't pass a book titled like that, even though I profess absolutely no knowledge of even the most rudimentary Ukrainian. My knowledge of tractors is not much better - I'm able to identify one when I see it, but that's pretty much it. The book Nikolai is writing, A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian, is included as a sort of metaphor for the journey (historical, mental and physical) of the East European expatriate engineer, interested only in machines, from the communist East to the capitalist West. Nikolai's reading of excerpts of the book is interspersed with the main narrative throughout the novel, which though informative, failed to meld with the main story. The unspeakable horrors suffered by the family under Stalin and the Nazis somehow fail to make the impact they should, mainly because of the author's insistence on keeping up a comic tone. On her rare appearances at home, the new wife bullies her elderly husband both physically and psychologically. The sisters telephone and write to the immigration authorities, but the bureaucrats are reluctant to get involved. It is only when Valentina promises to speed up her husband's death that the old man agrees to file for divorce. Thus, in the end, all hope rests with the British legal system.One of the main points of contrast between Nadia and Vera's mother and Valentina is their differing approaches to cooking and housekeeping.

There is an episode in the comedy sitcom Mind Your Language, where Jeremy Brown's motley crew of students drawn from all over the world to learn English tell jokes to pass the time. Juan Cervantes, the Spanish bartender, tells a hilarious joke: at the end, he is in stitches, unable to stifle laughter, because the joke is so funny. The problem is, it is wholly in Spanish, so nobody else in the class can understand. the loss of her mother with the new hopes and desires of her compromised father. Though all the characters at times yield to their worst impulses, That's what he is writing, a short history of tractors. In Ukrainian. Eighty-four years old, an engineer, a chess player and a father of two daughters, he had been recently widowed. Now he decides to marry a 36-year-old blonde Ukrainian divorcee with a teenage son and a pair of superior breasts. He knows that she wants to marry him only for his money and so that she and her son can make permanent their stay in England (where he and his family had migrated a long time ago) but he looks at her golden hair, charming eyes, curves and jiggling breasts and say "so what?" His two grownup daughters, born ten years apart, and have been feuding ever since, have temporarily united against this common enemy aptly named Valentina.This book had so much going for it. First: a quirky title. Second: crazy Ukrainian immigrants. Third: a love story involving horny old people. And it managed to fail miserably on all three counts.

My literary tastes revolve around two extremes - the high brow stuff and utter trash usually called something like "To Marry a Duke" and I don't find much enjoyment in the safe, middle of the road, commercial fiction. Either challenge me properly or provide with the cheapest kind of thrills. Knowing that about myself, I don't know what possessed me to suggest this book as our book group read. Not only did I force myself and everybody else to read this questionable work but also now all my recommendations are treated with distrust. See, my book club is not really into your typical book group reads and 'The Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' has 'book group read' written all over it. really enjoyed about writing this book is being able to put all those unacceptable thoughts into words: the rows and arguments, the uninhibited Oh, well ... " I keep my voice steady, but rage burns in my heart, " ... life's just full of surprises. I hope it works out for you. But, look, Pappa" (time to be blunt) "I can see why you want to marry her. But have you asked yourself why she wants to marry you?"He coughs and splutters on the other end of the telephone. He has fallen out with all his friends over this. If needs be he will disown his daughters. He will stand alone against the world - alone apart from the beautiful woman by his side. His words can barely keep up with the excitement of his Big Idea. Actually, some of the expressions which sound outrageous and ridiculous in English are just literal translations of what people would say in Ukrainian. was. Once I had understood how much she was prepared to sacrifice in her desire to better herself, and her commitment to her son, it was hard to On the other hand, Nadia (the name Nadezhda means “hope”) is a peacetime baby, born after World War II, who flourished on the orange juice, milk, and cod-liver oil dispensed by the British government. A child of the 1950’s and 1960’s, with memories of the Beatles and antiwar protests, and now a happily married woman who lives in Cambridge and lectures on sociology at Anglia Polytechnic University, Nadia is a mushy liberal who supports good causes and buys her clothes from Oxfam. She finds it ironic that, as a feminist, she is defending her randy old father against an exploitative woman. Soon, though, Nadia is acting like the most chauvinistic refugee basher, reading up on immigration and deportation laws, hiring lawyers, and writing letters to the Home Office. Such distressing behavior raises questions about how deep her values are and how she would act if she found herself in the same situations as Vera and even Valentina: Is Nadia only another creation of the modern media who can afford the luxury of political correctness?