A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

by Marina Lewycka

Book Overview

Nominated for the Man Booker Prize "A charming comedy of eros . . . A ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty." --Los Angeles Times "Charming,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0141020520
• ISBN13: 9780141020525
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 325 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Ties that bind

Rumours have it that Marina Lewycka's first novel was initially placed under "agriculture" on the book shelves. Ukrainian tractors don't sound like a good topic for a highly enjoyable reading experience. Yet it is! While a history of tractors features in the narrative as a sub-stream, the story really is about family - history and complex relationships across generations and cultures. All those elements are packaged in a vivid, yet easy-going language, filled with humour and gentle satire. The story is set in the Ukrainian immigrant community in England and centres around Nicolai, a 84 year old widower who has set his eyes on a thirty-something, full-bosomed blonde Valentina, a would-like-to-be immigrant. His intention to marry her gets his two daughters onto the scene, anxious to stop such a mismatch. Despite their intense efforts and intrigues, however, their attempt to obstruct doesn't succeed. "She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade..." Written from the perspective of Nadia, the younger of the two daughters, and through her discussions with "Big Sis" Vera, the reader follows the upheavals that this new reality in their fathers' life creates. Suspicions are rife that Valentina has plans beyond looking after a new husband and that Nicolai is being exploited in more ways than one. The sisters themselves carry baggage from the past that they need to put aside or resolve in order to show a united front to their father's situation. In the process, events from the family history come to light that explain to some degree their different approaches to the problem at hand and different relationship each has had with their father and their late mother. At one level Lewycka's novel is just a fun read, a family saga that shines with lively dialogue and witty comments on the reality of the lives of the central characters. At another level, she seamlessly integrates her reflections on aging and the needs and vulnerabilities of seniors and the challenges these present for the next generation to handle. Finally, through flashbacks into Nikolai's life, the author provides the reader with insights into the family's background that makes the characters into who they have become. Nicolai and Valentina in particular come to live in the story and one can find parallels to people we all know. All the parts are expertly joined so that these elements don't feel like overwhelming the primary storyline. A highly recommended book. [Friederike Knabe]

A Gem of a Novel

This isn't a particularly long novel, yet Lewycka manages to accomplish so much! The story-line itself is simple: two estranged sisters in England try to stop their aged father's marriage to a gold-digging Ukrainian woman. But the book itself is complex. It's one of the funniest books I've read in a long time, and there is joy, and yet there is also plenty of tragedy and grief. All of the characters are wonderful; even some of the minor supporting characters are fully realized people. And none of the characters are fully good or bad. The author even had me sympathizing at times with the gold-digger and the men with whom she had affairs. I think the book's greatest asset, however, is that it shows genuine insight into real families, and the sorts of complicated stories that families make for themselves. How many books can make you laugh, make you cry, and teach you about the history of tractors and the Ukraine, all in less than 300 pages?

Not a Comedy

I'm not sure why people label this book a "comedy." It most certainly is not. The elements of humor help the reader absorb the enormous amount of pain contained within. I suppose it is possible to skim the surface and laugh at the dark humor, but the book is much deeper than that. The book captures the pain of difficult old people and their frustrated relatives; the pain of immigrants assimilating into the host culture (or not); the pain of families that hold secrets and experience trauma; the pain of the desperate, weak and old; the pain of sibling, gender and cross-generational rivalries; the pain of idealism crashing against the rocks; the pain of caring and good intentions turning sour; the pain of being duped; the pain of sacrifice; the pain of surviving; the pain of being manipulated by "caring" people who turn out to be greedy, deceptive and corrupt; the pain of death, loss and grief. The book is brilliant for its ability to deliver sugar-coated bitter pills. The book is all about pain. The humor provides a backdrop for deeper, colder, more painful truths. Although humor may transform the pain into something stronger, the book is still about pain. The story is clearly a personal one for the author, and yet the novel is full of portraits of people whom we feel like we "know." There is the idealistic and accomplished narrator, who is dismissed and misunderstood by her own family (as well as herself, sometimes). There is the naïve, needy and helpless person (in this case, the father), whose self-absorbed, spineless, self-indulgent and deranged behaviors cause one problem after another. There is the greedy, scamming, hateful Valentina, a blonde immigrant who is a ruthless and sometimes persuasive predator, and who is desperate for a better life for herself and her child. Feeling sympathetic towards her comes at a price! And there is the long suffering parent (in this case, the deceased mother, who looms large despite being dead) who was the glue that held all the pieces together. She is conspicuous in her absence. It is not surprising that the book is dedicated "To the memory of my mother." I don't know if this book will be interesting to people who are fascinated by tractors. But the tractor provides an apt metaphor, or perhaps a paradox. The tractor is a simple, beautifully designed machine with a remarkable history. It is peaceful and productive but has frequently been the source of destruction, as when it is converted into a tank. It turns out that the author's real-life father has actually written a book on tractors. Go figure. My guess is that the book has relevance to Ukrainian immigrants, old and new. It describes a terrifying Stalin-era Ukraine, or more specifically, the immigrants who managed to survive the terror. It describes the dark and corrupt new Ukraine, and the best and the worst of people emerging from that world. On the one hand, they have been invaded, murdered and enslaved by multiple corrupt countries. On the other

A Tractor As A Window To The Soul

Marina Lewycka is a writer of rare wit and brilliance who may have single-handedly resurrected the novel as an artform in her first little fiction. Only a novel could incorporate a twentieth century history of the Ukraine under Stalin, an evocation of immigrant cultural archetypes, a documentary on aging in the industrial west and tell it in Jane Austen-like prose that resonates with the humor of a Woody Allen movie. Did I mention that in engaging slivers of commentary, you get an interesting history of tractors - in English! Avoid the reviewers who cannot help but tell you about the engaging story of this novel - you can read it for yourself in your spare time in just two days - be a "reader" and tell your friends about this extraordinary novel.

UKRAINIAN TRACTORS: It Had Me From Hello!

I picked up Marina Lewycka's "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" almost by accident. The title attracted my attention so I picked it up and began reading. After reading the first three sentences, I was sold. They are: "Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside." The concern I have with books that begin so well is the difficulty the remainder has in living up to such promise. I am happy to report that Ukrainian Tractors lived up to the promise of its opening paragraph. The opening sentences sum up the story. Nikolai, his wife and two children Vera and Nadezhda (Nadia) were Ukrainian refugees who, at the conclusion of the Second World War make their way to Peterborough, England. Vera was born before the war and has memories of the families' travails in German work camps. She is the "war baby." Vera is the basic domineering know-it-all older sister. Nadia is the peace baby, a liberal sociology lecturer with a penchant for buying her clothes used at the local Oxfam (charity outlet). Nadia and Vera have not talked since their mother's funeral. Nikolai picks up he phone one day and announces to Nadia that he is about to take a new bride. Valentina is a young, buxom bottle-blonde Ukrainian whose U.K. residency visa is about to expire. As expected, Vera and Nadia call a truce in order to prevent the marriage and protect their father from a fate they consider worse than death. Nikolai, of course, cannot help but contemplate blissful evenings in the warm embrace of his well-endowed faux-blonde soon to be illegal alien while he writes his book, a history of the tractor, the farm implement that changed the world. Valentina makes for a worthy adversary and seems to best Vera and Nadia every step of the way. The comedy of the book turns a bit dark, however, as Nikolai's age and infirmities facilitate Valentina's increasing dominance over him. Her mental and physical abuse of Nikolai becomes apparent. At the same time, Lewycka takes us on a trip through the family's past. In the meantime, family ghosts and secrets begin to emerge. Root causes of the family's deep-rooted antagonism begin to reveal themselves as the story progresses. Events race on to a not altogether surprising conclusion. I very much enjoyed "A Short History of tractors In Ukrainian". I was impressed by the manner in which Lewycka fleshed out the characters. Anyone who has been responsible for the care and feeding of an aging parent or grandparent will recognize Nikolai. One's pride is the last thing to go sometimes and when we see events beat the pride out of our loved ones we can almost see them shrink before our eyes. The two sisters also had a strong air of reality about