Not the way to tackle immigration (Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka)

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Product:	Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka
Date:	30.10.07 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some fine black humour

Disadvantages: Misplaced humour, issues poorly tackled, overly stereotypical

With the subject of immigration dominating the news at the moment, Marina Lewycka’s “Two Caravans” could hardly be more topical. The book tells the story of a group of immigrants who, at the beginning of the novel, find themselves crammed into two tiny caravans at a strawberry farm in Kent. The story is told through a succession of first person narratives from the main characters and also “Dog”, a stray dog who attaches himself to the motley band of itinerant workers.

I had high hopes for “Two Caravans” having read and enjoyed the author’s debut novel “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian”. I was also interested in how the sensitive subject of immigration would be handled. However, I found “Two Caravans” to be full of flaws, not merely in the subject matter but also the means the author uses to tell the story.

Clearly Marina Lewycka has done her research; the variety of nationalities and backgrounds that make up her gang of migrants reminds the reader that even within the migrant community there is a sense of hierarchy with “legality”, ethnic origin and even sub-national origin all making up a diverse collection of workers that is often erroneously regarded as the same by outsiders. In “Two Caravans” we have the Poles who we are constantly reminded are “legal”, two Chinese girls from contrasting backgrounds, two young Ukrainians – one from a middle class background and a supporter of the Orange Revolution, the other a former miner from the industrial and pro-Russian eastern region of the country, a Moldovan who fled Transdniestr just after the region declared its independence from the rest of the country and a young African – Emmanuel from Malawi who has come in search of sister, a nurse.

As the story progresses the gang find themselves split up as they go wherever they must to find work; Tomek spends twelve hour days rounding up overweight chickens whose legs are so fragile they snap as soon as he touches them while Marta and Yola work on a production line grading and packing the meat. Everywhere they go the meagre wages are subject to ridiculous deductions for expenses – for cramped and damp accommodation, for cheap and unhealthy food, for work clothes, for transport, and so it goes on.

I found it very easy to like the group of immigrant workers but it might be too much to expect the reader to believe that these people who have been thrown together in such circumstances would do so much to help each other. Not all the characters are so pleasant, of course. The Moldovan, Vitaly, leaves the group and re-appears as a “recruitment consultant” trying to fix up his former friends with what he tries to tell them are excellent job opportunities. Then there is Vulk; his nationality is never actually revealed but he is one of those shaven-headed Balkan types, a stereotypical trafficker of people, in particular of young women, who conducts his business in a smattering of all European languages. I couldn’t really get to grips with this character; in some respects the way the author has painted him is a triumph – lecherous, smelly, sweaty, eating chips then wiping his greasy fingers on his clothes – and then it’s all ruined with silly slapstick moments that detract from this sinister and brutal image that has just been evoked. Is he a comical or a malevolent character? Who knows, but I do think he should be one or the other – being both does not work.

There are other moments that do not sit comfortably with the rest of the story; an horrific incident at the chicken plant leads to a wildcat strike during which Yola, the middle-aged sex mad Polish lady is fixated on the hairy legs of the agent provocateur who hangs around the factory trying to persuade the workers to unionise. Black humour or just out of place?

Towards the end of the book, just when it seems the loose ends should start to be tied up, a new set of characters appear with a completely different background. You could argue that there is a loose connection between illegal immigrant workers and a gang of eco warriors – both on the margins of society – but it seems much too late in the novel to bring in global warming, use of green belt land and associated environmental issues. Surely one hot topic is enough for any novel anyway?

To some degree I enjoyed the use of first person narration to tell the story, after all the characters do not necessarily share the same viewpoint just because they are all immigrants. However, sometimes their accounts overlapped too much so the story was too repetitive. Worst of all were the sections of narration from the dog, written in the most tedious and annoying way and adding next to nothing to the telling of the story.

I was also annoyed by the daft pidgin English that was used for the conversations between the immigrants. Even when people of the same nationality are talking to each other they do so in this awful, cringeworthy manner that seemed to me to be quite condescending and perhaps a little insulting. Does Marina Lewycka think us so dim that we can’t differentiate between characters unless they have silly accents? Furthermore, the entire story of the characters is based on a supposed mystery that is actually something so obvious that the author runs the risk of the reader feeling only annoyance rather than empathy for this individual.

There were some good points. One is Marina Lewycka ability to set the scene and the way she describes the mayhem in the chicken farm is a good example. You can almost smell the intense odours of the barn and sense Tomek’s shock when he goes inside to see thousands of chickens crammed in together, the weakest being trampled underfoot. I also loved the descriptions of the meals Marta cooks for the gang from ingredients foraged from the countryside.

On the occasions when the humour does not undermine some more serious point it is, admittedly, very funny. My favourite one liner was when one more person was crammed into the caravan and Emmanuel mentions a Malawian saying along the lines of “you can’t squeeze two fingers into one nostril”.

Overall I felt that a really good opportunity had been missed to lift the curtain on what life is like for people who come to Britain seeking work and how many people are not only exploited but end up in conditions far worse than those they have left behind. The positive side to immigration was not touched on at all; there were no success stories to speak of, only negatives on the part of the employers and the employees. Prostitution is hinted at here and there throughout the story until right at the end it appears again in a more sinister way but by this point there is no time to explore the subject more fully.

If “Two Caravans” was an attempt to make people aware of the problems facing immigrants it fails miserably because it only superficially covers too many aspects of the subject and because it uses comedy at all the wrong moments. Perhaps if this issue was not so important right now it may be easier to forgive its faults and to better appreciate the humour.

Given the runaway success of “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian”, it’s possible that there was pressure from the publishers for the author to come up with a fairly rapid follow up and maybe even one that would ride on the back of the immigration story. If this is the case, it is a pity that Marina Lewycka has let herself be exploited in this way.

Not recommended.

Summary: A disappointing second novel