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A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by…
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A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (original 2005; edition 2006)

by Marina Lewycka

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5,7042391,763 (3.39)430
With this wise, tender, and deeply funny novel, Marina Lewycka takes her place alongside Zadie Smith and Monica Ali as a writer who can capture the unchanging verities of family. When an elderly and newly widowed Ukrainian immigrant announces his intention to remarry, his daughters must set aside their longtime feud to thwart him. For their father's intended is a voluptuous old-country gold digger with a proclivity for green satin underwear and an appetite for the good life of the West. As the hostilities mount and family secrets spill out, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian combines sex, bitchiness, wit, and genuine warmth in its celebration of the pleasure of growing old disgracefully.… (more)
Member:brochettes
Title:A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Authors:Marina Lewycka
Info:Penguin (2006), Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:Box 16, Your library, In Leeds, 1001 books
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Work Information

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (Author) (2005)

  1. 31
    Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (BillPilgrim)
  2. 20
    Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles (norabelle414)
    norabelle414: These books could possibly be the same story from different points of view. They're both very entertaining stories, and contain just the right amount of history and culture of Ukraine.
  3. 01
    And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov (PilgrimJess)
    PilgrimJess: Gives a far better insight into Ukrainian history if that is what you are looking for.
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» See also 430 mentions

English (215)  German (6)  Dutch (5)  Catalan (3)  Norwegian (3)  Danish (2)  French (2)  Swedish (2)  Spanish (1)  All languages (239)
Showing 1-5 of 215 (next | show all)
I really enjoyed this story. I also found myself talking in a very bad Ukrainian accent to my husband and co-workers for no apparent reason. ( )
  beentsy | Aug 12, 2023 |
THis was a surprisingly good read. While it is ostensibly the comic story of venal migrant's marriage of cconvenience, it actually tells us a lot about Ukraine's awful 20th century history and also portrays the largely hidden traumas of an apparently successful refugee migrant family's resettlement in the UK. You also get a good dose of tractor history for free! ( )
  mbmackay | Mar 15, 2023 |
40 pages in and so far love it. ( )
  TeresaBlock | Feb 14, 2023 |
Cảm nghĩ duy nhất về truyện này: đáng đời ông bố. ( )
  oceaninmypocket | Nov 29, 2022 |
Well, this book was interesting.....
Two years after his wife's death, eighty four year old Nikolaj has fallen in 'love' with buxom bottle blonde thirty four year old Ukrainian Valentina. They subsuquently get married and Nikolai's daughters Vera & Nadezhda must join forces despite the arguements that have coloured their relationship for the last few years.
In some ways I enjoyed this book & in others I didn't.
I'm a real history buff so I found the backstory of WW2, the Russian civil war & the resulting fallout afterward which actually explains why most of the main characters were the way they were (ie, not likeable). I actually realised I didn't really like any of the main characters in the end. Nadia is ok, but a bit whiny (peace time baby) (plus did we really need to know all her thoughts? It just made her sound petty). Vera is so negative & cynical she makes Professor Snape look like a bag of rainbows & Nikolaj is just difficult, stubborn & at times just plain stupid which was a bit of an oxymoron considering he was a celebrated engineer in Ukraine. Testostorone, 'nuff said!
This story is pretty sad in a lot of ways as we learn about old family struggles through the war & the general chaos that comes after it. Old family grudges came into play too (I actually wondered if my sister sees me like Nadia sees Vera at times. I'm sure she doesn't lol)
The only real problem I had with the book though is the blurb on the back (& a couple of quotes) touted this as being 'extremely hilarious' which went right over my head as I don't see anything funny about elder abuse or family grudges & arguments. There were a couple of funny moments at the end but the rest of it, well.... I dunno.
*side note* Dad, if Mum pops her clogs first & I catch you doing naked yoga, that's it buddy. You're on you're own lol! Anyway, this book probably isn't for everyone but I think it warrants a re-read at some stage when I've worked out a bit more of the history of Ukraine & those exceedingly confusing Russian patronymics!
  leah152 | Sep 29, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 215 (next | show all)
This is an odd one. Two years after the death of her mother, Nadezhda Lewis’s father, Nikolai Mayevskyj, a British resident and 1945 refugee from Ukraine, takes up with Valentina, a much more recent - and much younger - Ukrainian with a young son. The book recounts the unfolding of this relationship, through marriage and subsequent divorce proceedings and the reconciliation it brings about between Nadezhda and her older sister, Vera, who had become estranged following shenanigans involving their mother’s will. Nikolai is also writing the eponymous “Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian” extracts from which are doled out throughout the book.

This is all treated in a knockabout style and the characters are well delineated. In contrast to the humorous aspects there is also Mayevskyj family backstory from Ukraine which is much more sombre. Nikolai and his wife lived through Stalin’s farm collectivisations (and famines) of the 1920s and 30s plus the German invasion of World War 2. The main thrust of the novel, though, is really about Nadezhda’s lack of intimate knowledge of this past and Vera’s insistence that things belong there, not to be dredged up.

Some infelicities: the marriage takes place in a Catholic church even though Valentina is divorced (but the priest may not know) and Peterborough (United) are playing at home but appear on the big screen on a pub TV. This latter is unlikely I would think - even if they did reach the Championship.

Lewycka makes great play of the traumatic past of the Majevskyj family but to my mind there was a whiff of “something nasty in the woodshed” about her treatment of it.

A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian is entertaining but ultimately strives for more than it delivers.
 
The younger sister, Nadezhda, reminisces about Ukraine and ponders the country's history. She dwells on well-known tragic events: the famine, Nazi occupation, Stalin's purges, Babi Yar. The hard realism of these images is in stark contrast with the grotesque main plot. Reading this novel gave me the impression that I had read a school textbook on Ukrainian history with one eye on an episode of Coronation Street.
added by KayCliff | editThe Guardian, Andrey Kurkov (Mar 19, 2005)
 
More than just a jovial farce about assimilation, A Short History Of Tractors in Ukrainian is spliced with family anecdotes and memories of the motherland. Nadezhda remembers her mother's salty vegetable soup and her father's prize-winning eulogy to a hydro-electric power station. More significantly, elder sister Vera comes clean about the family's wartime past, including time spent in a German labour camp.

Despite Lewycka's robust writing, the will-she-won't-she-stay element of Valentina's story is hard to sustain. The family ends up in court, but the outcome is predictable.
added by KayCliff | editThe Independent, Emma Hagestadt (Mar 16, 2005)
 
Predictable and sometimes repetitive hilarity ensues. But then Lewycka's comic narrative changes tone. Nadezhda, who has never known much about her parents' history, pieces it together with her sister and learns that there is more to her cartoonish father than she once believed. "I had thought this story was going to be a knockabout farce, but now I see it is developing into a knockabout tragedy," Nadezhda says at one point, and though she is referring to Valentina, she might also be describing this unusual and poignant novel.
added by KayCliff | editPublishers Weekly (Mar 7, 2005)
 

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Lewycka, MarinaAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Hartenstein, ElfieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jespersgaard, Inge-LiseTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kooreman, MarjaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lier, Adeline vanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Porte, SabineTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
SitaraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sponzilli, Luigi MariaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vázquez Nacarino, EugeniaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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For Dave and Sonia
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Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian divorcee.
Quotations
He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

With this wise, tender, and deeply funny novel, Marina Lewycka takes her place alongside Zadie Smith and Monica Ali as a writer who can capture the unchanging verities of family. When an elderly and newly widowed Ukrainian immigrant announces his intention to remarry, his daughters must set aside their longtime feud to thwart him. For their father's intended is a voluptuous old-country gold digger with a proclivity for green satin underwear and an appetite for the good life of the West. As the hostilities mount and family secrets spill out, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian combines sex, bitchiness, wit, and genuine warmth in its celebration of the pleasure of growing old disgracefully.

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Aus der Amazon.de-Redaktion

Das Übel trägt einen Namen: Valentina! -- Seit die vollbusige, wasserstoffblonde Ukrainerin in Vater Nikolais Leben trat, schwebt der 84-Jährige Witwer im siebten Testosteron-Himmel. Der Alte verfasst selbstgefertigte Gedichte, lässt die Wohnung vergammeln und trägt Spendierhosen in Übergröße. Lediglich die „Hydraulik“ gewisser Körperpartien bereitet ihm Kummer. Was Wunder, zählt die Angebetete gerade mal süße sechsunddreißig. Nikolais verfeindete Töchter Vera und Nadeshda (die Ich-Erzählerin des Romans), riechen den Braten der Scheinehe zum Zwecke der Einbürgerung und beginnen sich ums väterliche Erbe zu sorgen.

Man lasse sich nicht blenden von dem an sozialistische Plakatkunst erinnernden Coverdesign, das eine ukrainisch-britische Immigrantenburleske erwarten lässt. Unter dem Komödienton schlummern dramatische Elemente und eine Familiengeschichte, die manches Lachen verstummen lässt. Die gebürtige Ukrainerin und heute in England lebende Marina Lewycka streut in ihre Kampfhandlungen zweier Schwestern gegen die „böse Stiefmutter“ immer wieder historische Einsprengsel, so die Verfolgung ihrer Familie durch Stalin und dessen gezielt herbeigeführte Hungersnot, die die Ukraine unterwerfen sollte und Millionen Tote forderte. Am Beispiel der gierigen Valentina werden auch die dubiosen Glücksverheißungen des Westens offenbar -- exemplarisch hierfür, die Busenvergrößerung, die der spendable Altbräutigam als Einstandsgeschenk springen lässt. Doch die Wunschliste der toughen Braut war noch lang!

Vera und Nadeshda, diese Hochgebildeten, scheinen ihre radebrechende Meisterin in Pink, Mini und Kunstpelz gefunden zu haben. Der völlig desillusionierte Vater steht vorm Ruin, am frisch gelieferten Busen laben sich andere, und alle Pläne, die Ehe für ungültig zu erklären, scheitern an der Tücke Valentinas und der Trägheit britischer Behörden. Trost findet der gehörnte Nikolai nur in seinem Lebensprojekt, der „Geschichte des Traktors auf Ukrainisch“, einer klugen und traurigen Reflexion über die beginnende Industrialisierung und den Verlust der eigenen Scholle.

Doch auch seine Töchter waren nicht untätig. Beim Durchstöbern des Elternhauses nach belastendem Valentina-Material tauchen brisante Dokumente auf, die die gesamte Familiengeschichte schlagartig ins Wanken bringen. Valentinas ultimatives Gastgeschenk -- von Marina Lewycka charmant und mit leichter Hand zu Papier gebracht -- und völlig zu Recht nominiert für den renommierten Booker Prize. --Ravi Unger

kulturnews.de

Vater steht auf Traktoren und Titten - ersteres manifestiert sich in seiner Arbeit an einem Trecker-Buch, zweiteres in seiner neuen Frau Valentina. Die ist 48 Jahre jünger als er, hat einen enormen Vorbau und kommt aus der Ukraine. Den Töchtern Vera und Nadeshda ist klar: Die Schlampe ist auf Papas Geld und ein Visum scharf! Um dagegen anzugehen, beerdigen die zwei ihren eigenen Streit und setzen alles daran, das britisch-ukrainische Eheglück zu zerstören. Überraschend enterte Marina Lewyckas Debütroman im letzten Jahr die Bestsellerlisten - vor allem die elegante Mischung aus Familiengeschichte, klischeehafter Lovestory und Immigrantendrama gefiel. In dieser Hörspielbearbeitung von Claudia Kattanek geht der Mix leider flöten. Reduziert auf eine Länge von 60 Minuten, bleibt von Lewyckas Geschichte vor allem der klischeebeladene Teil übrig - durch die Wahl der Sprecher (Jeanette Spassova lässt Valentina wie ein billiges Luder klingen) wird das sogar noch verstärkt. Gelungen ist allerdings die musikalische Untermalung der Geschichte. Dynamisch teilt sie in Sinnabschnitte und unterstützt so die Dramaturgie. (jul) kulturnews.de

Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamourous blonde Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.'

Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their émigré engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western wealth.

But the sisters' campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of Europe's darkest history and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget.
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