Valentina, il nome della bomba bionda minacciosa, non si muove cauta, ma con ferrea determinazione: sposa Nikolaj, e incurante dell’arrocco figliare, usa il suo conto in banca per appropriarsi di tutti i simboli di consumo della civiltà occidentale, iniziando dai vestiti.

The father, obsessed with technology and "Ukrainianism", the feuding sisters, a mutual hatred between father and daughter, and the death of the mother who kept this little dysfunctional family together. His daughters, Vera and Nadezhda, unite in horror to defend their father and what remains of his pension. miközben kifejezetten szakszerűen interpretálja az első és második generációs bevándorlók lehetőségeit és motivációikat, még arra is jut ideje, hogy betekintést nyújtson az olvasónak a vérzivataros ukrán történelembe*. It reminds us that what comes before moulds us into who we are today, and what some will do (or settle for) to get what they want.The father is particularly well drawn, a mixture of your standard dilapidated elderly man and intellectually sharp, slightly Aspergerish Eastern European intellectual.

The two of them collaborate, investigating, intervening consoling, counseling, as Nikolai can be quite the stubborn old man, set in his ways and sometimes convoluted ideals. Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their UmigrU engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. Told by the character of Nadezhda, this is the tale of her father’s second marriage to the much-younger Valentina. As a Pole I found the idea of hoisting a cooker onto a roof rack of a Rolls-Royce hilarious while realistic, after all I have myself been an enthusiastic participant in the process of loading an old Siemens washing machine onto a sailing yacht in Kiel, Germany circa 1984! The deliberate comic tone of voice that the author adopted was jarring, in view of the fact that extremely serious matters like the abuse of the elderly was being described.Even when, presumably, the people speaking would be doing so in Ukrainian and would have no reason whatsoever to sound like they're two days off the boat. Doesn't she realise that some things must be covered up and buried, so the shame of them doesn't taint the next generation? I'm not a tractor enthusiast but the reference to Harry Ferguson had me smiling as he was born not far from where I live. So instead of sympathizing with all the characters, you feel like they all deserved what they got, and should just go on being miserable. A. When I was writing for Age Concern, I spent a lot of time listening to the stories of older people, and their loving but exasperated sons and daughters.

After the farcical golddigging-hussy-is-trying-to-marry-my-father story comes the what-my-dad-did-in-the-holocaust section. All of which is true and important, but I'm really not seeing where the laughs are, which made this a slightly bewildering experience. Nikolai's reading of excerpts of the book is interspersed with the main narrative throughout the novel, which though informative, failed to meld with the main story.Esplose nella nostra vita come una soffice granata rosa, smuovendo le acque scure, facendo venire a galla una morchia di ricordi incrostati, dando ai fantasmi di famiglia un bel calcio nel sedere. Nadezhda’s father is well-developed as a character as well, having the stubbornness familiar to old men everywhere, backed with a horrific personal history.