Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104143 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 309 pages

Synopsis
In the idyll of the English countryside, on a beautiful summer's evening in a Kent field, and around their two caravans, a little group of strawberry pickers is getting ready to celebrate a birthday. But who picks our strawberries these days? The Ukrainians: Irina, just off the coach from Kiev, and eager to improve her excellent English and find true love with a romantic Englishman; Andriy, the miner's son from the other Ukraine; the Poles: Bob Dylan fan, Tomasz, (whose smelly trainers will soon punish those in the men's caravan), Yola, the petite, voluptuous gangmistress and her religious niece Marta, who finds the wild mushrooms to cook with the sliced loaf; then there is Vitaly, king of the new mobilfon world of the shiny new Eastern Europe; two Chinese girls; Emanuel, the round eyed eighteen-year-old from Malawi, come to England to look for his sister. And although he can't exactly help pick strawberries, there's also the Dog...But these are a group leading dangerous lives - exploitative employers, British regulations and gang masters with guns will all threaten their existence as they take to the caravan road until each of them peels off to find their destiny.

Hilarious, gritty, moving, and slapstick by turns, "Two Caravans" has every bit of the extraordinary distinctiveness and wit and heart that made "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" so successful.

From the Back Cover
`A great romp...with considerable heart and winsomeness'
Literary Review

`Heartfelt and funny...packs as big a punch as any hard-hitting political
polemic' Daily Mail

`Immensely appealing. All but sings with zest for life ... could hardly be
more engaging, shrewd and winningly perceptive' Sunday Times

`Hilarious and horrifying, Two Caravans is funny, clever and well-observed'
Guardian

About the Author
Marina Lewycka was born of Ukrainian parents in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany, at the end of the war, and grew up in England. She teaches at Sheffield Hallam University. She is married, with a grown-up daughter, and lives in Sheffield.

Customer Reviews

Great start ruined by a very disappointing second half
I really enjoyed the first half of this book and found it unputdownable but the second half monumentally lost it's way. Parts of the second half were so depressing I almost had to give up reading the book.

Characters who were intriguing that I had engaged with suddenly disappeared never to be heard from again, the plot became tenuous and unbelievable. New characters were introduced who were never properly explained before disappearing just as quickly. Incidents that appear to be about to be developed into plot twists also tail off into nothing.

The ending is also unsatisfying and confusing - this really is one of those books you throw at the wall because the ending is so frustrating - especially if like me you've stayed up very late to finish it!

Interestingly I noticed in the acknowledgements that the author thanks friends for helping her through a 'difficult time'. Without them she says the book would not have been finished and that does make me wonder if this affected the second half of her book.

I wouldn't reccommend this book but I'm looking forwards to Lewycka's next offering hoping she regains her sparkle.

Two Caravans
We made the mistake of buying this book and strawberry fields. They are identical except for the title

One of the best books I've read this year
I enjoyed 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian', but this was way better. Parts of it made me laugh out loud, and others had me on the verge of tears. To achieve that and to contain enough truths [some of them very uncomfortable] to make the reader think as well takes a very talented writer.

Andriy's attempt to track down 'Vagvaga Riskegipd' was a stroke of pure genius. Despite being a Russian-speaker, I was halfway through the book before it dawned on me why an English girl would have such a daft name!

Absolutely brilliant, and I recommend it without reservation.