The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid

I have enjoyed all Marina’s previous books but with a growing realisation that she has never quite been able to recapture the inventive genius of the “short history of tractors”.At the end of her latest novel she acknowledges the help of a large number of people who helped her with “improvements”. Sadly that number was clearly not nearly sufficient.The problems start with the preposterous plot. Internet and bank-related fraud, the nefarious activities of Albanians (quite a slur on a whole country, I think) and divisions in the UK where the nation is still split into Leavers and Remainers - that’s all fine as it goes. What is not fine is the way she fuses comedy and serious point-making. It doesn’t really work. The cops-and-robbers chase across most of Europe by the leading characters (and yes, quite magically, one of the women just happens to have the right amount of euros at the ready to pay a taxi-driver, when she scarcely had time to grab basic essentials before the chase started) is just one example of how Lewycka attempts to liven up a creaky plot. But then comes dark tragedy: people whose organs are being harvested without anaesthetics (and we are not spared the gruesome details), mafia-style killings and the poor chickens! Yes, pages and pages are devoted to the description of what the chickens are doing before some of them get their heads shot off. Funny this is not. In fact, real humour is in very short supply: one character confuses hair conditioner with depilatory cream. You can work out the consequences.Lewycka gets one of her main characters to say near the very end: “But sometimes the unlikely happens. We live in strange times.” There is a huge difference between making that kind of statement and the utterly far-fetched. How can we seriously believe in an educated 79 year-old who vacillates between being utterly stupid (gaga even), driven by wild surges of libido (all without a single Viagra), and then acting semi-responsibly for a man who is nearly eighty?Little things irritate too, again and again. Lewycka is behind the times: she should be talking about Year 11s when she talks about fifth-formers. And the faux foreign accents and imperfect and unidiomatic English attributed to foreigners have to be consistent. That is not the case here. Idioms are supposedly not understood but complicated theory and linguistically complex matters are. It is all, quite frankly, a mess. I wonder what she was doing during her time in Singapore to make her concoct such patent nonsense. Entertaining it most certainly ain’t.

Although this book deals with some very deep, dark subjects it also manages to remain a good fun read. The characters seem real and down to earth, the situation towards the end is a bit daft but, who cares? I certainly didn't I was too busy not wanting it to end. Here I am in a dilemma, in some ways it is too short but, would I really have wanted it to be drawn out for the sake of it? Simple answer is no. I don't know what Marina does with the rest of her life but, sadly her novels are few and far between. I dread to think how long I will have to wait for the next one.

What a beautifully written story about a group of ordinary people who are inadvertently transported into an underworld of drugs, sex trafficking and organ harvesting. Very bizarre and such juxtaposition but somehow it works. At the end, the characters find it hard to believe what has happened and it leaves the reader feeling much the same, as if it were a dream. A brilliant heartwarming tale ultimately about friendship and family and the fact that money isn't the be all and end all.

What this author does more than most others is to show human nature in all its facets without prejudice. You may sympathise with the errant husband, the discarded wife, the mistress next door, or even the exasperated son - or none of them, but you will be swept along by the narrative as they bumble through their hapless adventures in money laundering.

I enjoy Marina Lewycka's writing very much. I found this a little rambling and repetitive just past halfway through, but it's still a worthwhile read. I love Marina's throwaway lines, which alwaysHer make me chuckle. style of humour is quite disarming, and fun to read.