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Dec 10, 2011

Ian rated it:

Tractor Attraction

I knew that this book existed for some time. However, something about the title didn't attract me.

I think I have always assumed that I would prefer a book about American tractors.

Then one week I saw it again, bought it and read it within a week. I was ready for it. Our lives had mysteriously moved into alignment.

Not So Secret Family Business

Although it is set within a Ukrainian British family and it takes hilarious a More...

13 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2010

Harun Harahap rated it:

Tua-tua Keladi makin tua makin jadi

Hal inilah yang tepat untuk menggambarkan seorang kakek berusia 84 tahun bernama Nikolai. Karena seorang wanita berpayudara besar bernama Valentina, dia kehilangan akal sehatnya. Valentina adalah seorang imigran asal Ukraina yang hanya ingin mendapatkan kewarganegaraan Inggris dengan cara menikahi Nikolai. Dengan senjatanya berupa payudaranya itulah, dia mulai menipu Nikolai dengan menguras hartanya sedikit demi sedikit. Untung saja ada dua anak wan More...

14 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2008

Donald rated it:

I recently picked this book up used at my local library for $1. The cover burst advertised that it was nominated for a Man Booker Prize, and the back cover copy boasted that it was an international bestseller that was shortlisted for the Orange Prize.

My thoughts on that after reading the book: What the fuck?

The quick synopsis of the plot is this: Gold-digging Ukrainian immigrant hussy latches on to an elderly Ukrainian widower in England, marries him, and tries to take hi More...

4 comments like (17 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2007

Paula rated it:

This book had so much going for it. First: a quirky title. Second: crazy Ukrainian immigrants. Third: a love story involving horny old people. And it managed to fail miserably on all three counts.

Quick summary: Two sisters are estranged because of a mysterious event that happened 40 years ago in the Old Country. But their mother is dead and their father has taken up with a Ukrainian hussy. Also, he is writing a book about tractors. In Ukrainian. Hussy terrorizes father, sisters must More...

1 comment like (14 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Paul rated it:

This reads like the author has earnestly followed some kind of How To Write a Comic Novel course.

1 - write about what you know. Check! She's British Ukrainian and this is all about British Ukrainian stuff.

2 - Decide on a strong central narrator and give them a winning personality. Check! Boy oh boy does our first person narrator want you to like her. When I was reading this today and the doorbell rang I thought that was her come round with some freshly baked pampushky. A More...

14 comments like (21 people liked it)

Apr 08, 2008

Kate rated it:

I picked up this book because it had rave reviews printed all over the back and inside covers about how hillarious it was. I don't know if i'm missing something but I didn't find this book funny at all. I think it dealt with alot of serious issues, and was quite educational about the history of Ukraine and the perceptions of the west. Maybe there was some black comedy element I was missing, but to me I just didn't find an old man being abused, war and people mispronouncing English words amusing. More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2007

chelka rated it:

A librarian co-worker recommended this book to me, describing it as funny and quirky. She knows I come from a Polish family and frequently recommends Russian, Polish, and other Eastern European literature. I find it interesting to read as I was not brought up with any sense of E. European culture, and this book made me wonder what I would be like if I had experienced more Polish-ness. The story revolves around two sisters in their fifties who must sit back while their recently-widowed father More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2011

Putri rated it:

Punya Ayah yang eksentrik seperti Nikolai Mayevskyj, tentunya tidak mudah. Mungkin ini yang bisa dirasakan oleh kedua anak perempuannya Nadezha dan Vera. Dua tahun setelah kematian istrinya, Nikolai yang pada saat itu 84 tahun menikah dengan wanita berusia 36 tahun yang bernama Valentina. Setelah mengetahui bahwa Valentina menikahi ayah mereka bukan karena cinta tapi karena Valentina mengejar harta ayah mereka saja maka keduanya berkomplot untuk menjauhkan Valentina dari Ayah mereka.

I More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2008

Victoria rated it:

This book sat on my shelf for months before I finally sat down to read it. There was no good reason for my hesitance – the book has glowing reviews and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize – for some reason it just didn’t appeal to me. You know the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’? Well I do this, all the time, and I think that was the reason behind my mental block. My mind could not make the link between the words 'history', 'tractors', 'Ukrainian' and the comedy that the blurb on the b More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2009

Meliana rated it:

membaca buku tentang sejarah singkat traktor dalam bahasa ukranian seperti menonton infotainment seru tentang perseteruan rumah tangga; melibatkan seorang kakek berumur 84 tahun yang nekat menikahi seorang janda muda bahenol (baca: berdada luar biasa besar, berambut pirang dan selera busana berwarna-warni) yang jelas-jelas hanya mengincar uang dan visa menetap, ditambah kedua putri nikolai (sang kakek) yang bersekongkol ingin mendeportasi ibu tiri mereka yang bermental penjajah dan rakus, ditamb More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 22, 2010

Lavinia rated it:

Many times, before I read the book (or at least I had a clue what it is about), I wondered if it really treats the subject of tractors or it’s just a funky title. Well, for those of you out there who might have the same dilemma, yes, it is about tractors. But fortunately, not only. :)

We have very picturesque characters: a voluptuous & outrageous blonde, two desperate/bitchy sisters, a helpless old man, uncomfortable ironies, immigrants, family anecdotes, canned food and a lot of plum More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 10, 2009

Mel rated it:

malam natal 1952. vera dan aku, berselubung pakaian hangat, mapan bersandar pada ibu di kursi belakang. dan seorang wanita ramah bermantel bulu yang bersandar dari seberang lorong, memasukkan uang enam penny ke tangan ibu: "untuk anak-anak, untuk natal."
"wanita yang memberi sixpence pada ibu."
Ibu, ibu kami, tidak melemparkan koin itu ke wajah pemberinya; dia menggumam, "terima kasih, nyonya," dan menyelipkannya ke dalam sakunya. betapa malunya!
" More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 01, 2009

Nancy rated it:

A novel that reads like a memoir, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, often outrageous. I think the characters were extremely real, I felt like I was reading a memoir and though their language and treatment of each other was on the far end of dysfunctional, there was also a lot of love and family togetherness. It basically is about two sisters trying to save their aging father from being duped by a much younger buxom Ukranian refugee. I kept thinking of Anna Nicole Smith—her outrageousness, her marr More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2009

Punk rated it:

Fiction. This book isn't nearly as charming as its title, which, I'll confess, is the main reason I bought it. Mostly it's about a horny, pathetic old man who is being exploited by his much younger, practically mail-order wife. I finished it, but just barely.

The characters are Ukrainian and living in England, but don't expect to learn much about what that means for them. There's a lot of family drama, elder abuse, and not much characterization. The first person narrator, the old man' More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2010

Anarika rated it:

It was really flowing... It is indeed funny, highly entertaining and bright! I enjoyed in it, it made me constantly smile.
Through the pages of the book, I learnt to love Nikolaj, Nada, Vera, Stanislav and even Valentina! I wonder how do her high heeled fluffy pink slippers look like?! Ha ha ha ha It is a warm comical book, with some grotesque elements, lots of family secrets.
I imagined a different closing, just because I am soooo romantic. It is still warm and positive.
It could More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

eL rated it:

ini buku gak sengaja saya temukan di dekat biografi nya Bob Marley.. gak ngerti deh siapa yang naruh di situ. Judulnya itu loh, menunjukkan seolah-olah bukan novel fiksi.. duh, hebat deh si marina ini merumuskan judul. kayaknya itu deh alasan kenapa saya beli buku ini kemarin sore, dan langsung saya lahap habis malam tadi.

cerita nya sendiri, tidak terlalu luar biasa, tentang laki2 jompo (nikholai) yang jatuh cinta pada perempuan yang jauh lebih muda (valentina). padahal si laki jompo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 12, 2008

Andrew rated it:

We have a family friend who smuggled cameras into Soviet Russia. He was a mathemetician or engineer at MIT at the time, something like that, and he and his teachers heard their colleagues in Russia were being blacklisted under Brezhnev, and that being blacklisted meant not working, and that not working meant being on the street, and that being on the street meant being shipped to a labor camp. So under who knows what excuse, these MIT nerds flew to Moscow—multiple times—with American-made camera More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 10, 2008

Shannon rated it:

I was so happy to finally get a copy of this book, after coming across it in little Cosmos bookshop in St. Kilda about 2 years ago, even though I couldn't get an edition with the nicer tractor cover. I just find it tacky to print the first two sentences on the front cover, even though it is a catchy beginning.

It was certainly not quite what I was expecting - because it was nominated for the Man Booker Prize last year, I guess I was expecting something a bit heavier, more depressing. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2007

Sandy added it

This is a book that can be read on a plane ride, short. The story is about the partnership between two estranged sisters who try and prevent the marriage of their 84 year old Ukranian immigrant father from marrying a 36 year old gold digger. The older sister was born in the Ukraine during war time in Russia. The younger is peace time baby born in England. They have a view about life influenced by their respective early years and the socio-political times of their birth. The father was an en More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

Osho rated it:

Ultimately, a rather disturbing and tragic novel that is superficially about elder abuse, and more abstractly about the legacy of culture-wide trauma. Themes include reconciliation/redemption (of the kind that makes it a contender for Oprah's Book Club), connection and disconnection, stinginess and generosity, optimism and fear, and innocence and cynicism. It nicely illustrates how position in a family influences one's perspective on the family, as well as the oblique ways that family history is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jamie rated it:

This book, despite all of its stars and reviews and etc etc was a huge disappointment. It's rare that I don't finish a book but I became so apathetic to this one that by page 180 I just left it on the floor of my room and later returned it to the library. I have no interest to know how it ends. The characters ply you for sympathy in maudlin fashion and cliches drip off every page.

Here is a summary of the book: Hey! We're Ukrainian! We have a dark family past! But we're really More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2010

Lena rated it:

Doubtful the author has been to Ukraine in her adult life and if she has she must have come away with some kind of skewed understanding of what the life is like there. And what's up with tractors? Why not pick ups, combines or cranes? We've got those in the Ukraine too.

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Bridgette rated it:

There may be tractors in Marina Lewycka's book, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, but it isn't a book about tractors. And even though the book does, in fact, give the history of tractors, it isn't a history book.

Rather, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is a story about family. The history of tractors is a parallel story to that of Nadezhda, Vera, and their elderly father, Kolya.

At first glance, it seems nothing more than the most mundane of themes. What coul More...

0 comments like

Jan 20, 2012

Roses rated it:

If I could, I'd give this book a 3.5 star rating.

When I bought A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN, I was pretty excited. Much like the narrator, I'm of Ukrainian descent and born abroad. Finally, I thought, somebody's going to write about my weirdly wonderful cultural community from an insider's perspective.

Marina Lewycka captured the Ukrainian diaspora warmly, amusingly, and well. Many of the side-characters, mentioned only briefly and rendered in broad strokes, were More...

0 comments like

Dec 30, 2011

guiltlessreader rated it:

Check out my reviews on my blog:
http://guiltlessreading.blogspot.com/p/a...

Immigrant life at its insanest.

I was trolling Oprah and decided to read A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainianbecause I saw it was one of Vera Farmiga's memorable reads. She relates because she is the daughter of a Ukrainian immigrants. (Vera is the fantastic actress in Up in the Air, The Departed and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.)

The book in one sentence: An old man, a Ukraini More...

0 comments like

Sep 12, 2011

Qanhmai rated it:

“Hai năm sau khi mẹ tôi mất, cha tôi đem lòng yêu một cô ả Ukraina tóc vàng quyến rũ đã li dị chồng. Ông tám mươi tư còn ả ba mươi sáu. Ả ta sấn sổ vào cuộc đời chúng tôi cứ như một quả lựu đạn bọc bông màu hồng, khuấy đảo mặt nước âm u, khiến cho đám cặn ký ức bị vứt bỏ lại nổi lên, đá một cú mạnh vào mông những bóng ma gia đình.”

Đó là những câu văn đầu tiên của quyển sách có cái tên “đáng chán” này. Nhưng mình đã bị nó chinh phục ngay tức khắc đến độ không suy nghĩ gì thêm mà mang More...

0 comments like

May 26, 2011

Ariefmai rated it:

Luar biasa untuk buku seharga 10.000. Mungkin karena judulnya dan covernya yang tidak mencerminkan ke'luar biasa"an isinya, maka untuk orang indonesia yang cenderung mementingkan penampakan luar, buku ini kurang laku. Untung temen-temen di goodreads ngasi rating bagus buat buku ini, jadinya pas liat buku ini di gramed kotabaru, langsung ngerasa sangat senang.

Ini reviewnya :

Sebenernya kisah Valentina vs Nadia dan Vera itu hanya "terselip" diantara niat besar More...

0 comments like

Feb 04, 2011

Elsje rated it:

Ik heb zo gelachen maar ook met gekromde tenen gezeten bij het lezen van A short history of tractors in Ukrainian van Marina Lewycka. Wees gerust: die kromme tenen kwamen niet door schrijfstijl of andersoortige problemen met het boek, maar door het verhaal.

Waar gaat het namelijk over? Een oude man valt op een jong blaadje. Zijn dochters willen het op handen zijnde huwelijk voorkomen, slagen daar niet in en proberen daarna het huwelijk te doen stranden. So far, so good, niets nieuws ond More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2010

Joselito rated it:

That's what he is writing, a short history of tractors. In Ukrainian. Eighty-four years old, an engineer, a chess player and a father of two daughters, he had been recently widowed. Now he decides to marry a 36-year-old blonde Ukrainian divorcee with a teenage son and a pair of superior breasts. He knows that she wants to marry him only for his money and so that she and her son can make permanent their stay in England (where he and his family had migrated a long time ago) but he looks at her gol More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2010

Ellen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like