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A review by wordsofclover
The Lubetkin Legacy by Marina Lewycka
3.0
3.5-4 stars
The Lubetkin Legacy follows Berthold Sidebottom and a young woman called Violet who are both residents in a council flat in London. Their lives become somewhat connected as they mingle with the different types of people found in the apartment block and they both struggle to figure out what they want to do in life - all the while Bert pretends an elderly Ukrainian woman living with him is his recently deceased mother so he won't be kicked out of the spacious flat he's lived in his whole life.
This was a bit of a weird one. It didn't follow a particular plot per se and seemed to go in a different direction every time I felt like I knew where it was heading. But while I saying that, I did enjoy the book. I definitely got what Lewcyka was trying to show us - the absolute diversity that is living in a city like London. The flat had English, Ukranian, Romanaian, African and all sorts of other people, cultures, traditions within it, yet while everyone seemed a bit different on the outside, they were all more or less the same on the inside.
I think I warmed to Bert more than Violet, I felt while Violet grew as a character, there was a bit more life and humor to Bert's story. I did like him but there were times he would think certain things that made him turn into a complete creep and I'd inwardly groan (like calling his penis 'the beast'). He also had a mild obsession with George Clooney. I felt like I didn't quite get enough out of Violet's story, I think I would have liked another chapter or two with her at the end.
The Lubetkin Legacy follows Berthold Sidebottom and a young woman called Violet who are both residents in a council flat in London. Their lives become somewhat connected as they mingle with the different types of people found in the apartment block and they both struggle to figure out what they want to do in life - all the while Bert pretends an elderly Ukrainian woman living with him is his recently deceased mother so he won't be kicked out of the spacious flat he's lived in his whole life.
This was a bit of a weird one. It didn't follow a particular plot per se and seemed to go in a different direction every time I felt like I knew where it was heading. But while I saying that, I did enjoy the book. I definitely got what Lewcyka was trying to show us - the absolute diversity that is living in a city like London. The flat had English, Ukranian, Romanaian, African and all sorts of other people, cultures, traditions within it, yet while everyone seemed a bit different on the outside, they were all more or less the same on the inside.
I think I warmed to Bert more than Violet, I felt while Violet grew as a character, there was a bit more life and humor to Bert's story. I did like him but there were times he would think certain things that made him turn into a complete creep and I'd inwardly groan (like calling his penis 'the beast'). He also had a mild obsession with George Clooney. I felt like I didn't quite get enough out of Violet's story, I think I would have liked another chapter or two with her at the end.