book reviews (3)

i had already read two caravans (or strawberry fields in usa/canada) by the same author prior to this.

both books are social/political commentaries about the author's home country, i guess. the social contexts depicted in both novels are similar: the protagonist is a ukrainian emigrant who lands up in uk, and grapples with, amongst other things, ideological and lifestyle differences with her counterparts who emigrated from the less developed/communistic side of ukraine.

the design of the books are amusingly soviet(?) in style: colours, graphics, alignment(??)

well, i mean, isn't the book cover important. as shallow as it sounds, things like that gives some indication of the substance within.

fluffy things aside, i guess lewycka's style is decidedly 'non-western' (if that is to mean, mainstream american or british) and is flavoured with eastern european. it's exotic, unrestrained, introspective, and real.

very often, the protagonist, nadezhda, would pepper the narrative with side, non-sequitur thoughts, which gives the narration appear more intelligent and thoughtful, or at least display awareness of the self.

what i found not very appealing, though, is the bits of ukrainian tractor history thrown in at various points throughout the novel. i felt it was really hard to draw parallels between the history extract and the happenings in the novel, in spite of the extract being opinionated, something about the author's views about capitalism, technology and the ukrainian government. i'm sure there is a purpose to the (boring) passages, though.

the characters, more often the antagonists, are caricatured. like, valentina is made out to be a fat voluptuous pink fluff ball with too much make up who tries to squander nadezhda's silly dad of all his money. which is similar to vulk from two caravans.

i felt that the novel did not reach a real climax, maybe not in the hollywood (heart-stopping) sense. somehow the conflicts introduced early on in the novel were sorted out gradually. like how nadezhda's dad finally sought for divorce from valentina, and how nadezhda patched up with her sister.

oh, come to think of it, the recollection of vera's childhood as told by nadezhda is memorable and poignant. it's probably the only serious long stretch of prose in the book, and it shed light about the then present, about why the sisters behave as such.

overall, i think the narration style is pretty much the most exciting bit about this novel. unlike the usual(?) novel which tends to summarise the thoughts of the characters, the characters in this novel are kept realistic by the constant insertion of little antics and thoughts.