A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka. I began reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian following my enjoyment of Two Caravans, by the same author, Marina Lewycka. Two Caravans was Lewycka's second novel, so I probably should have started with the Tractors which she published in 2005 as her first novel, following a writing career whereby she normally wrote non-fiction books regarding care of the elderly. She has several of these published for the charity Age Concern. To recap from my previous review, Marina is descended from the Ukraine, but due to hostilities at the end of the WWII, she was born in a refugee camp in ...  Read the complete review

Sisters Vera and Nadia start to worry when their elderly father marries a well-endowed Ukranian asylum seeker who seems to be after his money. Although not on the best of terms themselves, they join forces to try and help him. Tractors is one of those strange little books which crops up every so often, captures the imagination and slowly builds up a cult following. It's a book I've been meaning to read for a while now, so when my dad got hold of a second hand copy, I borrowed it for him. It's easy to see why Tractors has attracted such attention, as it's a wonderfully well-written, entertaining book. The basic plot (warring sisters unite to save ...  Read the complete review

I bet not many of you know Ukrainians living in GB, I do, though, I’ve even been to a Ukrainian-Orthodox wedding in the chapel of a college in Oxford; a friend of ours whose father is Ukrainian got married according to that rite. Among the guests were many elderly people, I remember them singing wonderfully. This memory has lingered in my mind for many years, it surfaced when I read about the book in question which would have attracted my attention anyway, though, because of the odd title - I like odd. It’s not improbable that the author’s parents were at the wedding, first generation immigrants tend to stick together. Marina Lewycka was born of Ukrainian ...  Read the complete review

Nicolai is an 86 year old immigrant from the Ukraine, living in Peterborough, England, who has been a widower for about two years. The loss of his wife was a blow to him, but he has begun coping. One way is by writing his book - A Short History of Tractors. He's writing it in Ukrainian, of course, but he's also translating it into English. In fact, everything seemed to be going fine until he told his two daughters, Nadezhada and Vera, that he was getting married to a woman he'd just met, who was more than half his age, and who had a young son, and that they were on their way back to England from "Ukraina" for the wedding. Certainly marrying a woman to help ...  Read the complete review

PLOT Warring sisters Vera and Nadia unite when their elderly widower father (Nikolai) announces he is to marry a young, blonde, well endowed Ukrainian woman who is seeking asylum. Despite their best efforts, their father marries the dreaded Valentina and the plot follows the chaos that ensues. There are also chapters that detail the history of Nadia's family as they move from the Ukraine to the UK. The story is intersperced with chapters which are literally about the history of tractors in the Ukraine. Nikolai, who was an engineer, is writing a book about tractors which Nadia is translating into English for him. At first glance its tempting to skip these ...  Read the complete review