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livAuthor: Marina Lewycka
Details: (c) Marina Lewycka 2005; Pub Viking 2005; ISBN 0-670-91560-2
Verdict: A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is uneven but original.
Reasons for reading it: After The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Klay and The crimson petal and the white close together, I wanted something lighter. Of course, it turns out that A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is actually one of those novels that's only pretending to be a quirky domestic farce, but in fact it's secretly about the horrible things that happened to Ukraine under Stalin and during WW2. Haha, fooled you! I suppose I should have suspected, both from the word Ukrainian in the title and the fact that it was a very much talked about book when it came out a couple of years ago. That said, it's still a much less dense book than those I've been reading recently, and it handles the horrors of history with a light touch, so I didn't end up giving up in despair.
How it came into my hands: Library.
A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is reasonably successful at handling difficult subject matter in the frame of a comedy. It's not an absolutely perfect comedy; it relies a bit too much on humiliation / embarrassment humour for my taste, but what it does do well is cover the serious historical material respectfully, while making it accessible to a reader (even one who wasn't expecting to be reading about genocide). It keeps the details of torture vague enough not to be overwhelming (or worse, titillating). By presenting a slightly silly family drama, it does a good job of showcasing how survivors and their descendents continue to be affected by their past experiences. It's a bit of a coincidence that the only other novel I've read talks about the experiences of non-Jewish Ukrainians is similarly a screwball comedy in disguise, namely Everything is illuminated.
The big problem with the book is that the character reveals depend on the narrator, Nadia (Nadezhda), having absolutely no empathy. Wow, an decrepit, irascible old man actually has feelings! Who knew?! A promiscuous woman with surgically enhanced breasts and a trashy dress sense is actually a flesh and blood human being! Who knew?! And who could possibly have imagined that people who lived through the Stalinist purges, and spent time in both Soviet and Nazi labour camps, might turn out to carry some psychological trauma as a result?!
Still, in spite of that, I did find the book enjoyable. I cared about the outcome of the comedically bizarre plot, and I cheered when Nadia went through her extremely belated process of reaching a bit more maturity and understanding. The strength of the book was the portrayal of the generational conflict. I've read several variations of this story, where the older generation want to live as quietly as possible and avoid attracting any attention from the authorities, but still maintain their cultural heritage, whereas their offspring, growing up in Britain in the 60s, who want to be normal and rebel in the same way that their peers do. But this is a pretty good version of that story, and gave a fascinating portrait of the Ukrainian culture it is based on (though obviously I have no idea about its accuracy).
I'm not surprised that this was talked up so much. It contains a lot of really interesting talking points, almost too many, bringing in issues of feminism, immigration from the Eastern bloc etc. But it takes things in directions I've rarely seen in mainstream novels, and in spite of its flaws is a real accomplishment.
Details: (c) Marina Lewycka 2005; Pub Viking 2005; ISBN 0-670-91560-2
Verdict: A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is uneven but original.
Reasons for reading it: After The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Klay and The crimson petal and the white close together, I wanted something lighter. Of course, it turns out that A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is actually one of those novels that's only pretending to be a quirky domestic farce, but in fact it's secretly about the horrible things that happened to Ukraine under Stalin and during WW2. Haha, fooled you! I suppose I should have suspected, both from the word Ukrainian in the title and the fact that it was a very much talked about book when it came out a couple of years ago. That said, it's still a much less dense book than those I've been reading recently, and it handles the horrors of history with a light touch, so I didn't end up giving up in despair.
How it came into my hands: Library.
A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is reasonably successful at handling difficult subject matter in the frame of a comedy. It's not an absolutely perfect comedy; it relies a bit too much on humiliation / embarrassment humour for my taste, but what it does do well is cover the serious historical material respectfully, while making it accessible to a reader (even one who wasn't expecting to be reading about genocide). It keeps the details of torture vague enough not to be overwhelming (or worse, titillating). By presenting a slightly silly family drama, it does a good job of showcasing how survivors and their descendents continue to be affected by their past experiences. It's a bit of a coincidence that the only other novel I've read talks about the experiences of non-Jewish Ukrainians is similarly a screwball comedy in disguise, namely Everything is illuminated.
The big problem with the book is that the character reveals depend on the narrator, Nadia (Nadezhda), having absolutely no empathy. Wow, an decrepit, irascible old man actually has feelings! Who knew?! A promiscuous woman with surgically enhanced breasts and a trashy dress sense is actually a flesh and blood human being! Who knew?! And who could possibly have imagined that people who lived through the Stalinist purges, and spent time in both Soviet and Nazi labour camps, might turn out to carry some psychological trauma as a result?!
Still, in spite of that, I did find the book enjoyable. I cared about the outcome of the comedically bizarre plot, and I cheered when Nadia went through her extremely belated process of reaching a bit more maturity and understanding. The strength of the book was the portrayal of the generational conflict. I've read several variations of this story, where the older generation want to live as quietly as possible and avoid attracting any attention from the authorities, but still maintain their cultural heritage, whereas their offspring, growing up in Britain in the 60s, who want to be normal and rebel in the same way that their peers do. But this is a pretty good version of that story, and gave a fascinating portrait of the Ukrainian culture it is based on (though obviously I have no idea about its accuracy).
I'm not surprised that this was talked up so much. It contains a lot of really interesting talking points, almost too many, bringing in issues of feminism, immigration from the Eastern bloc etc. But it takes things in directions I've rarely seen in mainstream novels, and in spite of its flaws is a real accomplishment.
