We Are All Made Of Glue

Sep 16, 2009 okyrhoe rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-east, bookcrossing

Too little of too many things, and not enough substance, nor worthwhile humor.
It’s a quick read, but there are just too many elements in the plot & theme for any one to be addressed at depth.

Glue is presented as the central metaphor in this story. Most of the chapter titles highlight this (Uses of superglue, Adhesives around the home, A gummy smile, The right glue for the materials, The adhesion consultant, and so on) but it’s not clear why glue in particular is thematically important, exc...more Too little of too many things, and not enough substance, nor worthwhile humor.
It’s a quick read, but there are just too many elements in the plot & theme for any one to be addressed at depth.

Glue is presented as the central metaphor in this story. Most of the chapter titles highlight this (Uses of superglue, Adhesives around the home, A gummy smile, The right glue for the materials, The adhesion consultant, and so on) but it’s not clear why glue in particular is thematically important, except to the narrator herself. She makes a living writing/editing for a glue trade journal; yet her interaction with her other 'glue' colleagues is peripheral to the plot.
Georgie is also an aspiring romance novelist, and that too becomes a running commentary throughout the story, as she relates the ‘real’ events to her ‘fictive’ manuscript. Again, this element doesn’t really go anywhere; it’s more of a distraction and a page-filler, rather than adding depth to her interaction with the other characters. The only justification is that it explains why she falls for the real estate agent Mark Diabello (or is he Diabolo?). I wonder whether there is an autobiographical element to all this, as Lewycka has worked on writing ‘industry’ material (manuals for professional carers to the elderly & the infirm) before turning to fiction. Otherwise, it’s all fluff.
The central symbol of the old, unkempt, but valuable property (aptly named Canaan House) being sought after by two real estate agencies is an appropriate metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I actually think this concept has a lot of potential; it's a light but precise way to explain the political situation that so many find inscrutable.
However, there is no substantial interaction between the characters themselves on this issue (Mrs. Shapiro couldn’t care less, and the bumbling Palestinian immigrant workers show no bitterness towards her) to give a depth and complexity that the issue merits. Eventually, when an Israeli enters the scene and there are finally two characters discussing the current developments in the occupied territories, it is too far into the book to be of any importance on the novel’s outcome, and even then the matter is dealt with superficially.
Lewycka introduces the element of religious hysteria (the end-of-days prophecies not only as explanation for the Mideast conflict, in fact as a key to all political developments in general) into the picture, with Georgie’s son Ben being caught up in religious-based conspiracy theories flying about the Internet, but that too is swiftly set aside as merely a teenage obsession that is cured by a visit to the hospital.
Somehow even the satire doesn’t cut deep, the humor is forced, relying on stereotypical characterizations (Mrs. Shapiro’s & Mr. Ali’s heavily accented speech) then devolving into cheap slapstick: the banana snot incident, the unstable ladder and the Uselesses, the cat meeting its untimely death during the barbecue gathering....
Maybe I'm a bit prejudiced on all of the above, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 'background' is very familiar to me, and I am likely to be bothered by a superficial treatment of the events that I have lived up close and personal.
Another thing that I couldn't help noticing is the striking similarity the plot has with Stephanie Kallos' novel Broken for You.(less)

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Jun 17, 2010 Lavinia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, fiction, in-en

Now, if anyone's interested in reading Marina Lewycka, a piece of unrequested advice: stick to A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and (probably) Two Caravans - I haven't read the latter but I listened to the author reading from + talking about it and it seems pretty interesting.
As for this one, the glue (holding together the way too many characters and subplots) is the thing this book needs most, despite the author's constant references to it.

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Apr 22, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-novels

I am still in two minds about this; I have heard and read good things about her previous work, but this was merely ordinary. An easy bed time read with a plot with enough holes in it to make it sieve like.
The main character Georgina has a marraige that is falling apart (after he left when G threw hot milk in his face becasue he refused to put up a toothbrush holder), a son drifting into religious extremism via the internet, an elderly woman round the corner who seems to have adpoted her and a j...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Brina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Georgies Leben ändert sich schlagartig. Durch die Trennung von ihrem Mann verliert sie sämtlichen Halt in ihrem Leben. Ihr Sohn, der ihr immer merkwürdiger erscheint, ist ihr hierbei keine große Hilfe.
Durch Zufall lernt sie Mrs. Shapiro, eine leicht heruntergekommene ältere Dame kennen, die als Jüdin im zweiten Weltkrieg vor den Nazis geflüchtet ist.
Als sie ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert wird, kommen sich die Frauen näher und es entsteht eine tiefe Freundschaft…

Obwohl ich zunächst von einem leicht...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Brina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Georgies Leben ändert sich schlagartig. Durch die Trennung von ihrem Mann verliert sie sämtlichen Halt in ihrem Leben. Ihr Sohn, der ihr immer merkwürdiger erscheint, ist ihr hierbei keine große Hilfe.
Durch Zufall lernt sie Mrs. Shapiro, eine leicht heruntergekommene ältere Dame kennen, die als Jüdin im zweiten Weltkrieg vor den Nazis geflüchtet ist.
Als sie ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert wird, kommen sich die Frauen näher und es entsteht eine tiefe Freundschaft…

Obwohl ich zunächst von einem leicht...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Ali rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is exactly the sort of book I usually love. Certainly I really enjoyed Marina Lewycka's previous two novels. However, while I thought the writing was good and characterisation excellent, I was often irritated by it. I found the novel rather too long, and some parts of the story were quite irritating. However overall, this is a very readable novel, with some engaging characters and highly entertaining moments, I just didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous two novels.

Georgie's husband...more

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Oct 26, 2010 Xirxe rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, humor, unterhaltung

Eines steht fest: Marina Lewycka kann schreiben, durchweg amüsant, selbstironisch, mit einem Blick für's Detail (beispielsweise ihre Beschreibung der Dübel-Abteilung im Baumarkt: 'Die Dübel wirkten außerirdisch, gruselig, mit ihren knubbeligen Plastikpanzern, ihren komplizierten Farben und Nummern: Spreiz-Dübel, Kipp-Dübel, Hohlraum-Dübel, Holzdübel.'). Es macht Spass, Georgie Sinclairs chaotisch gewordenem Leben zu folgen, nachdem ihr Mann sie wegen eines nichtangebrachten Zahnbürstenhalters ve...more Eines steht fest: Marina Lewycka kann schreiben, durchweg amüsant, selbstironisch, mit einem Blick für's Detail (beispielsweise ihre Beschreibung der Dübel-Abteilung im Baumarkt: 'Die Dübel wirkten außerirdisch, gruselig, mit ihren knubbeligen Plastikpanzern, ihren komplizierten Farben und Nummern: Spreiz-Dübel, Kipp-Dübel, Hohlraum-Dübel, Holzdübel.'). Es macht Spass, Georgie Sinclairs chaotisch gewordenem Leben zu folgen, nachdem ihr Mann sie wegen eines nichtangebrachten Zahnbürstenhalters verlassen hat. Doch leider ist die Freude nicht von Dauer. Aber der Reihe nach.
Georgie, verheirateter frischer Single, lernt kurz nach dem Auszug ihres Mannes Mrs. Shapiro kennen, die ganz in der Nähe in einem halb verfallenen Haus lebt. Aus Mitgefühl und einer gewissen Neugier für diese exzentrische alte Dame ist sie ihr behilflich, als diese für kurze Zeit ins Krankenhaus muss. Bald schon ist es jedoch mit Katzen füttern nicht mehr getan: Eine gierige Sozialarbeiterin und zwei ebensolche Immobilienmaklerbüros versuchen, sich mit allen Mitteln das Haus unter den Nagel zu reißen, währenddessen Georgias Sohn mit Weltuntergangsszenarien zu kämpfen hat. Als ob all dies noch nicht genug wäre, entpuppt sich der für Mrs. Shapiros Haus engagierte Handwerker als Palästinenser, der so seine Probleme damit hat für eine Jüdin zu arbeiten - wie auch im umgekehrten Fall. Und einer der Immobilienmakler bringt Georgie nicht nur wegen des Hauses ziemlich durcheinander...
Was sich zu Beginn witzig und schwungvoll liest, driftet mit fortschreitender Seitenzahl immer wieder mal ins Klamaukhafte und Unglaubwürdige ab (z.B. als Georgia ihren Mann mit seiner Begleitung angreift). Manche Geschehnisse erscheinen derart unlogisch, dass man nur noch zweifelnd den Kopf schüttelt (einerseits kämpft sie gegen die Immobilienmakler wie eine Furie, zeigt aber geraume Zeit keinerlei Interesse für die Besitzerin, für die sie das alles vollführt). Und Handlungsstränge werden angelegt, die jedoch leise einfach wieder verschwinden (die Zwangseinweisung Mrs. Shapiros beispielsweise).
Schade, eine gut durchdachte und schlüssige Geschichte in diesem Schreibstil - das wäre ein super Buch gewesen. So aber bleiben am Ende nur gemischte Gefühle zurück.(less)

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Oct 12, 2010 Amanda Patterson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Georgie Sinclair is in her 40’s. Her smug husband, Rip, has left her for his ‘progressive projects’. Her son, Ben, spends his life in cyberspace, obsessed with Armageddon. Her daughter is away at college. Other than writing for the adhesive publications, hence the title, Georgie doesn’t have much of a life. Until she meets Mrs Shapiro, her eccentric neighbour, when she throws all of Rip’s belongings into the skip. Naomi Shapiro seems to be a bag lady with a trolley, obsessively collecting other...more

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Aug 02, 2009 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: immigrant-lit

If you've enjoyed either or both of Marina Lewycka's previous novels -- A Short History Of Tractors In Ukranian and Two Caravans -- the first several chapters of this one will have you thinking: She's lost it.

We Are All Made Of Glue, which like her previous books are set in contemporary England, is bogged down from the beginning in a series of cliches. The narrator, middle-aged Georgina "Georgie" Sinclair, sees the end of her marriage with her husband, Rip, following a minor domestic dispute. Sh...more

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Jun 07, 2010 F.R. rated it 2 of 5 stars

What a decidedly odd book.

How many novels, after all, attempt to cover the falling apart of a suburban marriage; youthful religious fundamentalism and the coming apocalypse; relations between Israelis and Palestinians; and the properties of various glues? Unfortunately none of these elements really work in of themselves, and certainly don’t combine together well as a whole.

Firstly, the marriage break-up. The book opens with the narrator and her husband separating. From then on she shapes her lif...more What a decidedly odd book.

How many novels, after all, attempt to cover the falling apart of a suburban marriage; youthful religious fundamentalism and the coming apocalypse; relations between Israelis and Palestinians; and the properties of various glues? Unfortunately none of these elements really work in of themselves, and certainly don’t combine together well as a whole.

Firstly, the marriage break-up. The book opens with the narrator and her husband separating. From then on she shapes her life without him and even has a wild fling. Even so a ‘will they/won’t they get back together’ question hangs over the novel, but the problem is the reader never really gets to know the husband so it’s difficult to care. We’re given some flashbacks of them courting, but never a sense of them as a married couple. Therefore it’s hard to know whether the narrator is better or worse off without her husband.

Then there’s the narrator’s son, who becomes a religious zealot with a strong belief in the imminent end of the world. (In one of the book’s few good jokes, Prince Charles is suspected of being the antichrist.) However this doesn’t go anywhere, and is all wrapped up in a truly perfunctory fashion. The word ‘padding’ springs to mind.

In amongst this is the genuinely more serious issue of Middle East tensions, and in particular relations between the Israelis and Palestinians. The centre of the book is the narrator’s friendship with Mrs Shapiro, an elderly Jewish lady with a dilapidated house. A Palestinian handyman and his two useless nephews are hired and move in, and matters are further complicated by the arrival of the Israeli son of the man who might be the real owner. It’s far from a subtle or deep thinking analogy of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, and genuinely does resolve with someone expressing the sentiment: “Hey everybody! Can’t we all just get along and live together?”

And finally, properties of various glues. One of the truly irritating quirks of this book is that the narrator links any human problem back to a different sort of glue. (She works for a glue magazine, you see.) I don’t know if Marina Lewycka has any particular interest in glues, or whether she just bought a guide to use the subject as a hook. I suspect the latter.

The chatty prose style does make it an easy read, but it’s far from good literature. It’s not as clever, funny or incisive as it would like to be; and a lot of characters fail to raise themselves about the level of cipher. The narrator I found particularly irritating, insipid and wet without any real passion. She also has the extremely annoying habit of not returning phone calls when the plot calls for her to be in ignorance.

This might be a good read if you’re feeling hung-over and about to embark on a long train ride and therefore don’t want anything too demanding, but otherwise I couldn’t really recommend it.(less)

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Nov 25, 2011 Jayne Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars

A few chapters in I found myself wondering whether Marina Lewycka might have the ultimate perfect writing style – the way she gets in and out of a sentence with just the right number of words, never over-writes, ends her sections long before they have a chance to get boring, and adds just the right amount of humour to keep it bouncing along. The perfect balance!

In this novel we find the familiar Eastern European/elderly persons axis, as well as a kaleidoscope of additional themes ranging from Ar...more

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May 29, 2011 Alex rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lewycka's third novel is something of a mess. If her second novel was more unpleasant and inconsistent than the generally delightful A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, then We Are All Made of Glue is a wildly overstuffed and messily organised collection of events loosely tied together by a thoroughly unsympathetic heroine. We Are All Made of Glue tries to be everything at once, including flighty chick-lit. Lewycka has gone from including me in her audience to severely reducing it to the g...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Sherri Keller rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: NO ONE

Recommended to Sherri by: No one, luckily, because then I would have to kill them.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Here be spoilers. And swearing. AND ALL-CAPS!

1. There are too many plot lines to keep track of. By the time Stella, Pectoral Pete and Ottoline the Well-Endowed, or whatever the fuck her name was, were mentioned for a second time, I had long since forgotten who they were.

2. What is with the words used in this book? There's a part early in the book about Georgie's son using the internet too much—"what seas was he travelling?", she wonders—he says to her something like "I'm a cyberchild!" or "I'm a...more Here be spoilers. And swearing. AND ALL-CAPS!

1. There are too many plot lines to keep track of. By the time Stella, Pectoral Pete and Ottoline the Well-Endowed, or whatever the fuck her name was, were mentioned for a second time, I had long since forgotten who they were.

2. What is with the words used in this book? There's a part early in the book about Georgie's son using the internet too much—"what seas was he travelling?", she wonders—he says to her something like "I'm a cyberchild!" or "I'm a hypertext kid!" Stop it. No one talks like that. Ever.

The main character also uses cutesy names for people and things: Mrs Goodknee (Mrs Goodney), Bad Eel (Baddiel), duck tape (duct tape). It's not charming. In fact, Georgie is surprised to discover that "duck" tape doesn't involve quacking or waddling. Kill me now.

It's also unclear what the main character's name is. First she's Georgie, then she's Georgia, Georgette, Georganopoulous, et cetera. The other characters are calling her these names, which I thought was because they were old and/or foreign and oh-so-hilarious, but then Georgeawallawallabingbang reveals later in the story that she's going through different phases. What kind of a phase is it to change your fucking name 18 times a week? Is she supposed to have brain damage? If so, I don't think it's been clearly spelled out to the reader. Which brings me to…

3. Georgie. Fucking insufferable bint.

Her husband left her. He was too busy to put a toothbrush holder on the wall so she threw hot milk in his face. Y'know, as you do.

After he was gone, every man was a potential partner. Jesus. Lady, your life doesn't have to revolve around who you are, or aren't, or would like to be boning. It's called a vibrator, look it up. After she gets tied to the bed and fucked by a real estate agent on several different occasions, she has the nerve to freak the fuck over on a woman who she sees kissing her ex-husband. She shoves a banana in her face and up her nose. And then she proceeds to refer to that woman as the "Scarlet-mouthed slut" for the rest of the story. Pardon me, my dear, but Ottoline wasn't the one being reamed against a headboard wearing crotchless panties given to her by a man she hardly knew, OK?

Georgie is also a super shitty parent. Her son, Ben, is becoming a religious maniac, constantly surfing websites about the apocalypse and the end of days. Of course, being a shitty parent, Georgie doesn't think to really talk to her son, or, I don't know, maybe WATCH WHAT THE FUCK HE'S DOING ON THE INTERNET, until the halfway point of the book, and even at that point, she just sort of stumbles across it accidentally. And what does she do with this new-found knowledge? SWEET FUCK-ALL. Nothing happens with this stupid brat until he has a seizure and they go to the hospital and—ta-da—it was just photo-sensitive epilepsy that was turning him into a potential suicide-bomber. BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS.

I'm tired of writing now, but I haven't even covered most of the book. There's also the lady who lived in the house full of cat shit (the main story), the arabic man who fixed a lock, who had two nephews who Georgioarmani let move into the cat-shit lady's house while she was in the hospital, an ENTIRE CHAPTER devoted to the death and funeral of a character who is tertiary, at best, the glue references that were too forced to make sense, the thinly-veiled, um, allegory, I guess? to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the fact that this Georgie woman moves back in with her husband even though they clearly hate each other and I don't think they were even talking at the end but who knows because I had really given up on the book by the end and was mainly just skimming hoping for each new page to be the last oh and now look ive even given up on punctuation and capitalization because i think this book broke my brain

I think the cat threw himself under the car on purpose. Can't say I blame him.(less)

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Dec 05, 2010 Sonia Gomes rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Can't think of anyone

Shelves: plain-ok-nothing-more, what-category-does-this-book-fit-in

Relationships like glue, some bonding forever, some at one time bonded; now disintegrating, some on the verge of bonding, some lost forever. We all have them.
Georgie Sinclair has a tiff with her husband Rip and throws his stuff out,that is how she meets Naomi Shapiro browsing through the old vinyl records. Naomi, old, crazy, living in a filthy house,in true Lewycka style strikes a friendship with Georgie which leads Georgie to Ali and Chaim as well as to the very unscrupulous Social worker Goodm...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Barbara Elsborg rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'd read the Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine and hadn't really got on with it but I thought I'd give this one a try. A very different book in many ways. I like the title and mostly like the way glue and its properties are woven into the story. I could easily picture Noami Shapiro's house and its eccentricites. I got bogged down in some of the details about Israel and Palestine which at times seems too heavy handed for the nature of the story. I wasn't convinced by the MC's son's behavio...more

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Jan 09, 2010 Leon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think Marina Lewycka has surpassed herself this time with We Are All Made of Glue. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much reading any novel, until this one. What I really mean is I’ve never laughed so much and at the same time flipped pages at the same time.

Georgie Sinclair has just broken up with her hunky husband Rip. He’s tall, heavily-built, with broad shoulders but a too big head, but still gorgeous to Georgie. In fact most of the men she meets throughout this book are of that ilk: the wickedl...more I think Marina Lewycka has surpassed herself this time with We Are All Made of Glue. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much reading any novel, until this one. What I really mean is I’ve never laughed so much and at the same time flipped pages at the same time.

Georgie Sinclair has just broken up with her hunky husband Rip. He’s tall, heavily-built, with broad shoulders but a too big head, but still gorgeous to Georgie. In fact most of the men she meets throughout this book are of that ilk: the wickedly delectable Mr Diabello, his equally delicious partner in estate agency, Nick, Nathan her editor, and the pair of handsome Palestinian Uselesses, nephews to Mr Ali, a cuddly hamster of a man. All this comes across like some trashy romance novel because Lewycka, or rather, Georgie, has managed to transport some of the elements of Georgie’s novel she’s re-writing after a rejection that mentions the over-use of adjectives.

Georgie puts her wiles on Nathan but the shorter but still hunky Nathan is already in a relationship, with one Raoul. However she manages to put out for Diabello, allowing him to Velcro-strap her in the wrists to her bed and have his way with her while Rip is not living in her house anymore and her son Ben is not back from school yet. As slutty as she seems, Diabello is the only man, after Rip, she lets drop her red knickers for. By the way, Georgie uses her other black knickers on her head to keep the light out of her eyes while she sleeps.

In between all of this sex Georgie is also involved in, in no way sexually at all, with a woman. She first meets ancient Naomi outside her house riffling through her husband’s stuff that she’s thrown out. At the same time she also meets another male of a different kind, an absolutely macho Tom named Wonder Boy, who plays an important role in the outcome of the intrigue involving hospital care workers, social services and rival estate agents, all wrangling to have their claws on Naomi’s huge house Canaan House while she’s incapacitated in hospital and later in an old folk’s home. Georgie is steeped into helping Naomi prevent her house from being grabbed by these people, whom she manages to keep at bay by allowing Ali’s nephews stay in the house while they help repair and renovate it.

Thus Georgie has taken on many roles, as a hot forty-something babe rolling in the bed with Diabello, as a mother after this when Ben comes home from school, as Naomi’s friend and unofficial caretaker and next of kin and matchmaker to Nathan’s father Tati, as Queen of the Cats, with Naomi’s cats following behind her, as screaming, furious harridan when she catches Rip with another woman, as an adventurer plotting to help Naomi escape from the old folks home, as house-carer and occasionally sitter; and finally as a yet-unpublished romance writer taking on freelance work writing articles for a publication all about glue, Adhesives in the Modern World.

Despite Lewycka being an award winner of literary fiction, any reader who knows nothing of this would have a rollicking good read with this book, thinking it’s the best-written chick lit ever come across.

(less)

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Jun 25, 2012 Denise Cuenin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book very amusing and the characters well worth meeting. During a period of domestic crisis, Georgie really needs a friend and confidant. Instead she becomes the reluctant care provider for an older, eccentric German immigrant (Naomi Shapiro, or possibly Ella Wetzeler) who is quite a character, vacillating between being open and supportive to being jaded and selfish. Eventually, Mrs. Shapiro’s house, a tumbling down mansion in a great London location brings a number of other charact...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A book has to be good if it is your bag book and you find yourself looking forward to the school run so you can read the next exciting instalment... in fact it got 'promoted'

It does remind me of A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian - for its flaws as well as its strengths. I was never convinced by the relationship between Georgie and Rip, nor between Georgie and her daughter. There are only so many times you can say 'Kippax' before the novelty wears off, there are perhaps only so many strands...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Aunty Janet rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Funny and quirky, if a little far fetched! Interesting history lesson and some excellent malapropisms.....
''Georgie Sinclair’s life is coming unstuck. Her husband’s left her. Her son’s obsessed with the End of the World. And now her elderly neighbour Mrs Shapiro has decided they are related.
Or so the hospital informs her when Mrs Shapiro has an accident and names Georgie next of kin. This, however, is not a case of a quick ward visit: Mrs Shapiro has a large rickety house full of stinky cats tha...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Sonia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book – it really was about human ‘bonding’. Two women, backgrounds and a generation apart form a spontaneous but unlikely friendship. However, newly separated Georgie is surprised when she is named as next-of-kin when elderly and frail Mrs Shapiro falls and ends up in hospital.

The story centres around not just the two women’s stories but also the huge, crumbling old house where Mrs Shapiro has lived for decades.

The book deals with all different kinds of relationships, how they are f...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ww2, audio, historical-fiction

I really, really enjoyed this audio book which is dramatised by Sian Thomas. She's definitely not just reading, so much so, that as someone else has written on Audible.com, you forget it's just one person when listening to dialogue. If I could meet and spend an hour or two with Mrs Shapiro I'd jump at the chance, this is how much she has become a real person after listening to the book.

The WW2 experiences of the Jews, the post-war establishment of the Jewish state of Israel and continuing violen...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Mikael Kuoppala rated it 4 of 5 stars

Heavy themes meet bubbling humor and lightweight storytelling in Marina Lewycka’s third novel “We Are All Made of Glue”. Lewycka gives us one narrator, a middle-aged wannabe romance author Georgina Sinclair whose life is at a crossroads. Newly separated from her husband Rip, Georgina is trying to build a new home for herself and her teenaged son Ben in London. She feels lost and alone, unable to redefine herself and unsure how to reach her son who is withdrawing into a world of Christian fundame...more Heavy themes meet bubbling humor and lightweight storytelling in Marina Lewycka’s third novel “We Are All Made of Glue”. Lewycka gives us one narrator, a middle-aged wannabe romance author Georgina Sinclair whose life is at a crossroads. Newly separated from her husband Rip, Georgina is trying to build a new home for herself and her teenaged son Ben in London. She feels lost and alone, unable to redefine herself and unsure how to reach her son who is withdrawing into a world of Christian fundamentalism, a world defined by the fear of an impending apocalypse.

Georgina happens to cross paths with an eccentric old lady living in her neighborhood. Naomi Shapiro is outspoken, oddly dressed, smelly and openly racist, but her strength and candor attract Georgina, who feels weakened and bland. She hopes to catch some strength and color from the extravagant lady.

When Naomi has an accident, Georgina finds herself fighting the battle of the old woman against greedy real estate agents and equally greedy social workers. It begins to look like there is a conspiracy to lock Naomi in a home and manipulate fortunes out of her estate. There is also the question of who Naomi is. It soon becomes apparent that there are deep secrets buried in her past.

The title of the novel comes from Georgina’s work for a magazine about adhesives(!). The symbolism of glue carries throughout Lewycka’s narrative which essentially examines the bonds between people and the scars left in severing those bonds. Light prose hides deep hurt and themes of loneliness and self-hatred.

Ultimately Lewycka takes her novel into even broader thematic landscapes as she explores the holocaust and the myriad complexities of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The religious fanaticism of Georgina’s son also offers some ambitious commentary, even though the narrative always keeps itself rather safe and detached.

Overall “We Are All Made of Glue” is a mixed bag of seemingly ill-fitting components. Many of the elements in the novel don’t really fit together naturally but have been- as the title prophetically declares- glued together so that all the seams are blatantly showing. Lewycka seems to have bitten more than she can swallow with her touchy subject matter and the lightweight handling of it. But when you view her uneven construct as a whole, it works surprisingly well. There is a fair bit of naiveté and fluffy humor coating the thing, but the genuine heart and soul we are given make up for many obvious mismatches.(less)

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Sep 21, 2011 P J rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I was a baby when the Israeli Defence Force committed the war crime which would finally lead through 9/11 to a British army engaged in a folly in Afghanistan that would have been totally unimaginable at the time. The ‘holocaust’ may have been the worst crime of the 20th century, but cannot possibly justify what the Israelis did in Lydda in 1948; in fact it makes it worse. Of course no one in the west now remembers Lydda: no one in the Middle East has forgotten it. Mr Ali, who is the competent ha...more I was a baby when the Israeli Defence Force committed the war crime which would finally lead through 9/11 to a British army engaged in a folly in Afghanistan that would have been totally unimaginable at the time. The ‘holocaust’ may have been the worst crime of the 20th century, but cannot possibly justify what the Israelis did in Lydda in 1948; in fact it makes it worse. Of course no one in the west now remembers Lydda: no one in the Middle East has forgotten it. Mr Ali, who is the competent handyman who repairs Mrs Shapiro’s rambling old house, is from Lydda. Naomi Shapiro is Jewish of course - Jewish and old, with lots of cats. Moving from her eccentric Ukrainians of ‘Tractor’ through her eclectic migrant workers of ‘Two Caravans’ Marina Lewycka here introduces a riot of devious and eccentric characters as seen through the eyes of a slightly overwhelmed 40-something-year-old Georgina Sinclair – Georgie - who delivers a first line in the manner of Heller – ‘The first time I met Wonder Boy, he pissed on me’. Georgie hasn’t heard of Lydda either.
This portrayal of a small-scale Arab Israeli conflict takes place against a contemporary British society represented by a greedy lascivious estate agent and a cold-blooded social worker. Georgie herself, who has just split up with her boring husband, also has a difficult time with her distant daughter and Jesus-obsessed son and a less-than-satisfactory fling with the estate agent. Old Mrs Shapiro does not keep a clean house – some of the descriptions of her house and table are fairly nauseating, nor a clean body – her ‘peach silk camiknickers, pretty but whiffy’. Ms Lewycka certainly doesn’t have many problems with sensitivities.
Although the sheer span of her subject matter presents a challenge to coherence, accusations of awkwardness lack substance, reflecting more on the limitations of the mental agility of the accusers than on Marina Lewycka’s story. Georgie is an aspiring novelist – every so often the much crossed-out prose of ‘The Shattered Heart’ appears. That she is also sub-editing a magazine about adhesives, may be interpreted as providing the title and theme of the novel. But of course, back before Lydda even, the story of Jewish bodies being rendered down for glue had currency. It really doesn’t matter (although holocaust deniers are obsessed by it) whether the story is true or not. ‘You could just speculate. Glue made from recycled carrier bags. Glue made from liposuction by-products. Glue made from stray cats and dogs. Glue made from boiled-up illegal immigrants. Melted-down social undesirables.’ We are all made of Glue makes us laugh and at the same time look at difficult issues without blinking. This is a grown-up skill.

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Aug 16, 2010 Luscinnia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, 2010

Die Einsortierung in die Sparte "Frauen" der ortsansässigen Bibliothek ließ mich innerlich aufstöhnen und die Augen verdrehen. Eigentlich gar nicht mein Genre. Ich erwartete also eine Mischung aus Bridget Jones und Oberflächlichtkeit gewürzt mit billigen Klischees und einer Prise "Sex and the City".
Ich liebe es sehr, wenn ich mich irre.
Ein bißchen Klischee gabs auch hier, aber das lässt sich ja selten vermeiden.
Das Buch lässt sich unheimlich schnell und flüssig lesen. Mir gefiel die Darstellung...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Kiwiflora rated it 4 of 5 stars

I actually really liked this book, despite the many negative reviews that have been written about it. No, it is not nearly as good as her first novel 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' or even 'Two Caravans', but I found it hugely enjoyable with its convoluted slightly ridiculous plot, equally eccentric and stereotyped characters, and at times really quite funny. I enjoyed this novel far more than the author's latest 'Various Pets Dead and Alive' which I reviewed in September, even thoug...more I actually really liked this book, despite the many negative reviews that have been written about it. No, it is not nearly as good as her first novel 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' or even 'Two Caravans', but I found it hugely enjoyable with its convoluted slightly ridiculous plot, equally eccentric and stereotyped characters, and at times really quite funny. I enjoyed this novel far more than the author's latest 'Various Pets Dead and Alive' which I reviewed in September, even though it is all over the place and has more threads going on than an out of control sewing machine.

Georgie Sinclair has recently separated from her husband Rip (ridiculous name). She has two children, the younger one Ben is still at school and lives with her. The daughter, Olivia is at university. Georgie has a rather strange job writing for a trade magazine that specialises in glues and adhesives. So all the chapters are headed with some sort of adhesive that may or may not be relevant to the contents of the chapter, for example Rubber, Biopolymer, The Attraction Between Adhesives and Adherends'. Very intriguing.

Her husband walking out after an argument over the attachment of a toothbrush holder to the bathroom wall has left Georgie in a bit of a state. In the process of venting her rage by throwing all his precious LPs into a skip she meets an elderly, possibly eccentric lady who resides nearby called Mrs Shapiro. An unlikely friendship begins to unfold. Georgie suddenly finds herself named by Mrs Shapiro as her next of kin following an accident that requires the latter to stay in hospital for a spell, and then run the gauntlet of compulsory and permanent removal to a rest home. It becomes Georgie's 'job' to protect Mrs Shapiro's interests from the Social Welfare bureaucrats, the local real estate agents/sharks, feed the stray cat population, and try to find out more about Mrs Shapiro, her mysterious past and hopefully some relatives.

At the same time Georgie is dealing with her Ben who is losing himself in the cyber universe convinced the world is going to end any day, Rip the husband, her closet romance writing (dreadful),and her own search for new love. This book highlights just perfectly how there is nowt as queer as folk, that we are all bound together in some way or other, and that out of any situation that may arise, with a little effort there is always a way forward. Yes it has it faults. For example I am still not really sure why the marriage reached such a crisis point, the overly simplistic view of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, even the mysterious past of Mrs Shapiro. But despite all this it is a joy to read, and likely to leave a smile on your face at the end of many of the gluey chapters.
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Sep 06, 2011 Beejay rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really hate the overuse of the description of books or movies as being "multi-layered", but that is exactly the correct term to use when describing Marina Lewycka's book. As you read what seems a fairly simple story of a recently separated female in London whose life has become enmeshed with an elderly, rather "eccentric" Jewish lady living in a huge sprawling, and extremely dirty house, with a great number of cats, you realise you are also absorbing insights into so many other things, such as...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Oldbutstillachild rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone looking for something amusing, and fairly easy read. Those that have read her other books.

Recommended to Oldbutstillachild by: A colleague.

Contrary to many of the other reviews, I actually enjoyed this book more than Lewycka's other novels. True enough, there were times when I found the political history of Israel a bit heavy-going in the context of an otherwise fairly easy read, but I suppose it also educated me about the subject. I found her descriptions humorous and charming, and lines such as "Mr Woolfe smiled woolfishly" made me giggle. Others have noted on the number of subplots and the sudden resolution of some of these. Wel...more

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Oct 13, 2010 ri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Georgie hat die Nase voll und setzt ihren Mann, der sich nur um seine Arbeit kümmert und für jegliches Familiäres keinen Sinn hat, vor die Tür. Ein harter Schritt, doch sie versucht stark zu sein. Als das ihm gestellte Ultimatum seine Klamotten abzuholen verstrichen ist, bestellt sie kurzerhand einen Container, doch der wird schnell von Mrs. Shapiro geplündert. Später treffen die beiden sich im Supermarkt wieder und freunden sich langsam an….

Mrs. Shapiro ist wirklich eine ulkige alte Dame, sie w...more Georgie hat die Nase voll und setzt ihren Mann, der sich nur um seine Arbeit kümmert und für jegliches Familiäres keinen Sinn hat, vor die Tür. Ein harter Schritt, doch sie versucht stark zu sein. Als das ihm gestellte Ultimatum seine Klamotten abzuholen verstrichen ist, bestellt sie kurzerhand einen Container, doch der wird schnell von Mrs. Shapiro geplündert. Später treffen die beiden sich im Supermarkt wieder und freunden sich langsam an….

Mrs. Shapiro ist wirklich eine ulkige alte Dame, sie wirkt zwar elegant und gebildet, doch beim zweiten Blick sieht man verschlissene fleckige Kleider. Ihr Haus ist eine halbe Ruine, doch das stört sie nicht. Als sie ins Krankenhaus muss, ist ihre einzige Sorge ihr geliebter Kater Wonder Boy. Als Georgie ihn füttern kommt, ist das Chaos schlimmer als geahnt. Mrs. Shapiro hat so ihre berühmten Macken und Zicken, so wie man es halt auch von älteren Herrschaften gewohnt ist, doch sie trägt auch noch ein Geheimnis mit sich, was sich langsam entlocken lässt.

Georgie dagegen wirkt wie eine 08/15 Hausfrau, blass, farblos, unmotiviert und ohne großen Tatendrang. Erst mit dem Rausschmiss ihres Mannes geht es aufwärts und sie fängt zu Leben an, allerdings wird sie auch von Mrs. Shapiro etwas dazu gedrängt. Sie fängt an Gefallen daran zu finden und sagt auch zu einer Affäre nicht nein.

Unterschiedlicher könnten die beiden Hauptcharaktere nicht sein. Und doch harmonisieren sie wunderbar. Es macht Spaß die Beiden bei ihrer Entwicklung weiter zu beobachten. So hat man auch seinen Spaß an den weiteren Charakteren: der palästinensische Handwerker, die Sozialarbeiterin, die Immobilienhaie, Georgies Familie und natürlich noch Mrs. Shapiros Geheimnis.

Aufgegriffen werden hier viele Themen, sei es zum einen die Seniorenbetreuung, sei es zum anderen auch Vergebung (Juden-Pälästinser) und Bereitschaft auch mal was neues anzufangen. Eine interessante und brisante Mischung, aber geschickt gelöst.

Das Buch lässt sich leicht und fließend lesen, an manchen Stellen fand ich es sehr amüsant, an anderen etwas langatmig. Wenn man es genau nimmt, ist alles schon vorherbestimmt, denn der rote Faden der Handlung wird an keiner Stelle unterbrochen, und die strikte Einhaltung jeglicher Klischees bescheren hier leider den Sternabzug. Nichtsdestotrotz hab ich mich glänzend unterhalten gefühlt.

Fazit:

Witziger Roman über Freundschaft, Vergebung, Familienkonflikte und Seniorenbetreuung.

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Jun 10, 2010 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this on holiday and much preferred it to 'Tractors'. I loved the characters, especially Naomi, the description of her house and her clothes were wonderful.

Marina Lewckya has an excellent knack of making ordinary, everyday things seem really funny - even glue! Although I will admit to skipping a few of the gluey bits that just got a little bit too scientific for me. But, just the thought of all of those magazines, totally dedicated to adhesives and glues made me chuckle. Imagining the glue...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Having read and liked another of Marina Lewycka's books, all it took was the opening line of "We Are All Made of Glue" to convince me to buy it:

"The first time I met Wonder Boy, he pissed on me."

The two books I've read by Marina Lewycka have some things in common: a middle-aged British woman as the first-person narrator, family drama, and an eclectic cast of main characters (many of them rather nuts) that cause a lot of hilarious chaos. Lewycka is funny and endearing, and while I wouldn't say th...more

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