Synopses & Reviews
"An amusing, astonishing debut . . . about how a family learns to let go of the past and live and love in the present." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 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.
"A charming comedy of eros... A ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty." Los Angeles Times
"Lewycka is a writer with a fundamentally optimistic vision of the future and a healthy curiosity about the past." Chicago Tribune
"Charming, poignantly funny." The Washington Post Book World
Review
"Drawing on her own family, Lewycka has created a funny, tender, and intelligent novel that is as much social history as family saga. It is a delight." Booklist
Review
"Not enough here to reinvigorate an old, old story." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"'There's no fool like an old fool' appears to be the theme here, but Lewycka skillfully teases out a more complex story, underpinned by Ukraine's horrors under Stalin and Hitler. (Grade: B+)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is a mischievous and smart book, casting a penetrating eye on the human predicament....[N]othing in Lewycka is self-indulgent....[A] breathtaking debut, one of a kind." Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
"The narrator's voice carries us along for a ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty. While the plot drives the story in zany circles, an intriguing lesson drawn from the tragedies of the past emerges." Los Angeles Times
Review
"An amusing, astonishing debut...about how a family learns to let go of the past and live and love in the present." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Review
"In the midst of these machinations which include long-winded letters to solicitors, venomous gossip, and all-out spying Lewycka stealthily reveals how the depredations of the past century dictate what a family can bear." The New Yorker
Review
"This fine novel is funny, rings true, and teaches a lot about the origin and development of farm equipment but its best bit concerns the narrator's dawning awareness of what makes people who they are." Philadelphia Inquirer
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"Lewycka...displays a terrific comic eye here. Her story resembles a zany British sitcom; her characters' manic encounters with the stolid British bureaucracy are especially hilarious." Houston Chronicle
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
Nominated for the Man Booker Prize A charming comedy of eros... A ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty. -- Los Angeles Times
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.
Synopsis
Nominated for the Man Booker Prize
"A charming comedy of eros . . . A ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty." --Los Angeles Times
"Charming, poignantly funny." --The Washington Post Book World
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.
Synopsis
This wise, tender, deeply funny novel is about an eccentric elderly Ukrainian widower in England and the struggles of his two feuding daughters to thwart the voluptuous young gold-digger from the old country who sweeps him off his feet.
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
Marina Lewycka was born of Ukrainian parents in a refugee camp at the end of World War II and grew up in England. In the course of researching her family roots for this novel, she uncovered no fewer than three long-lost relatives.