Big breasts aren't always good (A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka)

Member Name: amullett

Product:	A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka
Date:	25/06/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny and informative

Disadvantages: Too easy to read very quickly leaving you wanting more

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka is a touching novel that delves into the world of second generation immigrants and their elders who are still struggling to integrate into British society.

I won't give away the whole plot, but the book centres around an old Ukranian man who is struggling to justify his existence in old age and tries to help others in order to fulfill this need.

He ends up being contacted by a well endowed woman from Ukraine who tells him that she needs his help. He brings her to the UK, where he has been living since world war II and they start living together, but not everyone is happy about it.

The book gets its title from the novel that the main character is writing himself - A short history of tractors (in Ukranian). As an engineer in the Soviet Union, he worked on tractors and other machinery and found a life time love of science and mechanics.

While the book is hilarious and very cleverly written with vivid characters, it also shows some of the real life hardship that people from Ukraine have had to endure over the last century and humanises people that most residents of the west simply know nothing about.

Towards the end of the novel the story, readers will get a realistic sense of what it was like to be a Ukrainian during the war.

A fantastic read.

Summary: Required pop reading