Written by
Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, was published back in
2005, originally in English. The author herself is of Ukrainian origin and
began her writing career as late as her fifties. Perhaps this is the reason why
the book has got the sound humor of an adult and a lighthearted approach
towards drama and in some cases ‘melodrama’.
The book is
written in first person point of view and our narrator is called Nadia, whose
father decides to take a wife, less than half his age, after his eighties.
Appalled and shocked, Nadia buries the hatchet with her ‘Big Sis’ against the
common enemy which comes in a make-up covered package of one Valentina, whose
bosoms make the daughters feel flat-chested. The more Nadia digs, the more she
will find out about her family history, her father, her sister and herself.
One would expect a lesser book with such a washed up story but that is not the case with Marina Lewycka’s narration. The book subjectively and discreetly discusses human nature and through personal experiences where different people stand on communism, capitalism, famine, war and immigration; and tractors…
What I
admired most in this book however was the artless manner of the writer herself.
She relates events in sincerity but without dragging them out; never succumbing
to melodramatic expressions and bitter notions. She doesn’t impart the story through
emotional exploitation of the reader but rather treats it as a simple history
of one family which, like other families in the entire world, has got its own
secrets, shame, resentments but also love, respect and devotedness. Like any other family, they are unique in their simplicity.
I enjoyed
reading it and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a simple yet
engaging story written in a humorous fashion while all the way revealing truths
about the human nature…and tractors…
