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

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I think it dealt with alot of serious issues, and was quite educational about the history of Ukraine and the perceptions of the west.

Think about some of the more serious scenes and stories in the book, those that are tragic or frightening in nature. 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.Having experienced this herself (indirectly – Nadia was a peace-time baby who nonetheless witnessed what the war did to her family and became an immigrant too) and through her family who suffered greatly and quietly during the war, Nadia is able to view Valentina and her actions differently to most. Ovviamente, Nikolaj – che sta effettivamente lavorando a un saggio sulla storia dei trattori - si sente un cavaliere senza macchia e senza paura: non è solo l’amore a muoverlo, ma anche senso di giustizia, la sposa va salvata dalla povertà del retaggio sovietico. The father, obsessed with technology and "Ukrainianism", the feuding sisters, a mutual hatred between father and daughter, and the death of the mother who kept this little dysfunctional family together. Caricaturish at first, Lewytska's characters develop, show new sides of their personalities and come to life in an unexpected way all while remaining surprisingly outlandish "My mother had known ideology, and she had known hunger. To sum it up: this isn't a bad book - it's certainly readable and can be entertaining - but it's not what I'd categorize as Booker material, so I'm not surprised that it didn't make the shortlist.

I felt so sympathetic to the storyline, particularly to the elderly father ( I am 92 myself) and the younger daughter. I found the nicknames annoying: Big Sis, Bogeynose, Mrs Divorce Expert, Mrs Flog 'em and send 'em home. what I mean is that she has enormous skills and I'd love to see her apply them to any topic of her choice. A. One of the wonderful things about writing is that the idea you start out with is not necessarily the one that gets written. A. I think all parents want to shield their children from the true nature of the adult world, especially when they have experienced the barbarities of a century like the last.Of course, Valentina's dialect is quite amusing but completely unrealistic from a linguistical point of view (if you don't understand the most basic English grammar, you won't know words like 'shrivel'). She is obviously seeing other men, but her adultery is something her husband refuses to admit (only indirectly when she has a son that is not his).