Marina Lewycka’s debut novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2005 and has been critically acclaimed all over the world. Just the type of book I expected to either dislike or at least think was overrated ... but it absolutely wasn’t. In fact, it’s as readable and entertaining as it is moving.
Nadia and Vera’s father, Nikolai, has always been eccentric, but when he announces, two years after their mother’s death, his plans to marry a young Ukranian woman neither of them has met, the sisters are concerned. Their concern increases when they finally do meet Valentina - a brash, big-bosomed woman, who is clearly only interested in their father for his money and British citizenship. Their father though, is smitten.
Valentina and her son Stanislav move in and Valentina’s treatment of Nikolai soon changes. He is no longer her “holubchik” (little pigeon) he is “no-good-bad-stink-corpse”. The sisters realise they have to get Valentina and Stanislav out of their father’s life, but how?
And if all that's not enough for Nadia and Vera to deal with, there’s also their own antagonistic relationship, their mother’s memory (and their unequally-split inheritance), plus the terrible details of the family’s history that Nadia has never known, but Vera remembers all too well.
I was blown away by A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. It managed to balance humour with terrible tragedy, while being eminently readable and though-provoking. Don’t be put off by the title, the cover, or the Orange Prize, just read it.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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