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Chargement... Deux caravanes (2007)par Marina Lewycka
Chargement...
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Boring, didn’t finish it. ( ) Tragedy and comedy cleverly combined. Couldn't get into this story first time around and gave up after a few pages. 10 years later, I swept through the entire book in a few days. A very good read, although I preferred the 'Short History of Tractors..'. The first person narrative where the characters think as if they were speaking a foreign language felt slightly contrived, as did the convenient reappearance of some of the characters in unlikely places. It is obvious that Lewycka decided to experiment with shifting formats, producing a unique blending of first and third person narration, including epistolary (Emmanuel’s narration takes the form of letters written to his sister) and the all caps grammar-deficient monologues of a stray dog. Part romance, part adventure, part social commentary, Lewycka attempts to tackle a number of serious social issues – illegal immigration, worker exploitation, environmental activism, factory farming, – from an almost tragicomic perspective. The migrant workers dreams of “freedom” and the ability to earn good money is quickly shown to be a thinly veiled illusion, which would have made for completely depressing reading except for the naïve innocence of some of the characters, with a focus on humour first, social commentary second. Overall, as much as I enjoyed the growing romance between Irina and Andriy and the use of fractured English and the language barrier to produce comic moments, the manner in which Irina continues to encounter the sleazy Eastern European gangster/exploiter Vulk (in the most unlikely of places) is fanciful in the extreme. That and the fact that some of the story just comes across as rather ‘odd’. An okay read but IMO, not as good as Lewycka’s debut novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. I have found the dictum that “any book which describes itself on the dust cover as ‘hilarious’, won’t be” to be pretty reliable. This one does; and it isn’t. In fact I would be a bit worried about whoever at Penguin thought it was. Its actually a serious and thought-provoking story of abuse and misuse of migrant workers – it would be more accurately described as a misery memoir. So those who wanted a serious book won’t buy it; and those who wanted something “hilarious” will be disappointed. I didn’t like it much for other reasons (the over reliance on coincidence, the clichéd role of the brave, faithful dog etc.); as well as feeling I had been mis-sold a book. Perhaps there is a regulator – the Publishers Association for example - from whom I can claim compensation? Ultimamente leggo libri bellissimi quanto tristi: questo in particolare mi ha colpito molto per la leggerezza e allo stesso tempo la profondità con cui tratta un tema difficile come quello dello sfruttamento dei lavoratori stagionali. Irina arriva in Inghilterra dall'Ucraina, dopo un viaggio infinito in pullman: il suo sogno è quello di migliorare il suo inglese scolastico e di conoscere dal vero il Paese che ha imparato ad amare sui libri. Finisce a raccogliere fragole presso un fattore viscido e sfruttatore, insieme ad altri sventurati come lei: conoscono poco la lingua e per niente i propri diritti, finendo per essere imbrogliati da chi ne sa più di loro. Ci sono Yola, la capogruppo, Marta, sua nipote, due cinesine note come Numero Uno e Numero Due, Tomasz dai piedi puzzoni, Vitalij l'opportunista, Emmanuel l'ingenuo, Andreij il figlio di un minatore. Ognuno è arrivato in cerca di fortuna e di un domani migliore. In seguito a un incidente, il gruppo si ritrova in una fuga rocambolesca per l'Inghilterra, su una scassata Land Rover cui è attaccata un'altrettanto scassata roulotte: tra un lavoro e l'altro, sempre più sfruttati e mal pagati, cercando di schivare le proposte poco pulite dei cosiddetti "agenti di collocamento", scoprono ognuno la propria strada, certamente diversa da quanto avevano sperato. Romanzo letto con trepidazione e paura di una tragedia imminente, a suo modo ha un lieto fine con lacrimoni obbligatori. Il mio personaggio preferito è Cane, che parla tutto in maiuscolo senza punteggiatura, innocente, simpatico e sveglio più degli uomini. "IO CANE IO FELICE IO CORRO FACCIO PIPÌ FIUTO HO I MIEI PADRONI FANNO PIPÌ NEL BOSCO (...)ANNUSO NIENTE ODORI DI CANI LASCIO IL MIO ODORE DI CANE IO CORRO IO FACCIO PIPÌ IO CANE IO CANE FELICE" aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Prix et récompenses
In a Kent field and around their caravans a group of strawberry pickers celebrates a birthday. But what lies behing the buy-one-get-one-free offers at the supermarket and who picks the strawberries? The Ukrainians, the Poles, the Chinese, and although he can't pick strawberries, there's also the dog. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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