Two Caravans Paperback – 1 Oct. 2010

I loved the way this book was written, and the story line is very thought-provoking. It was recommended to me by a friend, and I will definitely be looking to read more titles by this author.The characters are described so well, and in subtle ways so you get to know them incredibly well in a short time (including the dog!). They are all so interesting with great back-stories - not necessarily likeable, but addictive.It is an unusual story which I found both fascinating and horrifying at the same time. I don't doubt that there is a strong thread of reality about some of the things that happen in this book, and that thought disturbs me.I strongly recommend this book - read it with an open heart and mind.

This is as good as her first book - a sometimes bleak and sometimes very funny story about the lives of Polish fruit pickers. The only thing is that it is the same book as Two Caravans, republished under a different title, which I already had. I think that this is a deplorable publishing tactic. If you haven't got it under either title, buy it - it's well worth a read. But don't get conned as I was.

Disappointing. Tractors was fresh and funny while still capturing something of the conflicted identity of an immigrated group. The writer has an ear for the inflections of non- English speakers of English but hasn't really got much descriptive power. The characters were unevenly realised and psychologically inconsistent (they express thoughts and observations which depend on a knowledge of the west that they could not have acquired.) The plotting is clumsy albeit with the odd arch nod to Chaucer or other models. The picture of greed, corruption and violence among the exploited casual workforce induces a pretty sharp sense of shame and anger but in the end you feel she's too tempted to play for an easy laugh. A bit more indignation would have helped.

Marina Lewycka continues to mine the seam she opened up in A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, of immigrants (mainly from Eastern Europe, but also some from China and Africa) coming to Britain - this time to earn money picking strawberries, working on a chicken farm, in a restaurant etc. The book shows how these immigrant workers are exploited: passports confiscated by the crooked and violent agents (Eastern European themselves), miserable wages, diminished by extortionate deductions for all sorts of things, including for the rent of the most awful accommodation. Very often migrant workers also cheat compatriots who trust them, and the prejudices that citizens of one East European country have for those of a neighbouring country are also well brought out. Illegal migrants from outside the EU who pretend to be legal immigrants from EU countries (e.g. Brazilians claiming to be Portuguese) are particularly vulnerable, as the gang masters well know. There is a horrific description of the way chickens are treated in battery farms.As in Tractors, the sombre nature of their ordeals is `lightened' by humour, though I didn't think the book was nearly as funny as the earlier book. There is again the hilariously fractured English spoken by some of the immigrants, though one of the girls, Irina, speaks remarkably good English. (She is the only character whose story is told in the first person.) The book focuses in turn on eight particular workers (and, very tediously, on the thoughts of a dog who follows them around), but the characterization is fairly shallow, certainly compared with the richness of the four central characters in Tractors. Being young, a lot of their thoughts are about sex (the naive Malawian, who had been educated by Catholic nuns, is eager to acquire canal - sic - knowledge; the letters he writes home to his sister are a lovely blend of high-flown language and delicious errors); and there is a stop-go love-story about bourgeois Irina from the anti-Russian Western Ukraine and working-class Andriy from the Donbas mining region in the pro-Russian Eastern Ukraine.The novel also has some of the characteristics of a road movie, as the characters travel up and down England in vans or caravans and meet up with various English `characters'. Towards the end, in a rather attractive section, they fall in with a group of tree-hut-dwelling eco-warriors. Less credible are the number of occasions when, in different parts of England, they run into the same sinister exploiters.

Bought this immediately after reading her bestselling debut " history of tractors" novel. I thought this was better with more depth and a disturbing undercurrent that really makes you think about what goes on in such circles in the UK today. Hwoever their is a lovely rich vein of innocent humour which runs through the book, the girl looking for her Mr. Right and not quite believing she may have found him. But for me the two undoubted stars are "DOG" and "Emanuel", what with the dog's commentary and all that "canal" knowledge its just a brilliant and enjoyable read.This author is causing me problems at home, once started I have to finish her books to find out how it all ends!

I'm not entirely in agreement with the simple description of this book as "hilarious," as there is far too much of a strong undercurrent of the nastier side of life in modern Britain. Yes, it is very funny and entertaining, as a group of immigrant workers moves around Britain meeting a variety of weird and wonderful people while they engage in the kind of low-paid job immigrants are often forced to take. But at the same time, it's a hard-hitting look at the problems of have-nots, as well as a description of how a chicken farm runs which could well make vegetarians of many readers. I'll never encounter the word "bagpipes" again without shuddering.

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This was my first foray into Marina Lewycka and I loved it, this was passed onto several of my friends who also.loved it. It's delicately funny and moving and a great read.