Scan barcode
A review by andrew_j_r
Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka
3.0
Odd to say, but I bought this book ages ago simply because it was the second book by an author I had never heard of, and I liked the cover of the first book!
Anyhow, this book is billed as "hilarious" on the front cover, but that is the one thing it is not. It is hard to get into, because the narrative switches between two characters, one whose story is told in the first person and the other whose is told in the third, plus a couple of other oddities such as letters home telling the story of a third character and even brief moments told from the point of view of a stray dog!
When you get past that, the story is actually very dark. It is about exploited Eastern European workers who come to the UK because a simple job, like picking strawberries, pays better then many jobs in their own country. But it is tinged with a horrible darkness as well. There are two characters (known as Chinese Girl One and Chinese Girl Two) who are sent to Amsterdam for a life of prostitution, and once they leave the story you never know what happens to them. It is realistic - if you were in a group of people controlled by people smugglers and someone left you probably never would know what happens to them - but the thought of then being repeatedly raped for money is quite shocking.)
Although the story is not that great - it is essentially about a group of strawberry pickers who have to make their lives work after the jobs vanish, wondering around aimlessly trying to make ends meet - the author does do a very good job of making the familiar (England) seem very alien from the eyes of these people. And it is thought provoking, because we all know this kind of thing happens, possibly is even happening to people we pass on the street every day. But it loses points because although you want to care about these people, it is hard to really empathise with them, because they keep making bad decisions in order to find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which experience should have told them by now is just not there.
Anyhow, this book is billed as "hilarious" on the front cover, but that is the one thing it is not. It is hard to get into, because the narrative switches between two characters, one whose story is told in the first person and the other whose is told in the third, plus a couple of other oddities such as letters home telling the story of a third character and even brief moments told from the point of view of a stray dog!
When you get past that, the story is actually very dark. It is about exploited Eastern European workers who come to the UK because a simple job, like picking strawberries, pays better then many jobs in their own country. But it is tinged with a horrible darkness as well. There are two characters (known as Chinese Girl One and Chinese Girl Two) who are sent to Amsterdam for a life of prostitution, and once they leave the story you never know what happens to them. It is realistic - if you were in a group of people controlled by people smugglers and someone left you probably never would know what happens to them - but the thought of then being repeatedly raped for money is quite shocking.)
Although the story is not that great - it is essentially about a group of strawberry pickers who have to make their lives work after the jobs vanish, wondering around aimlessly trying to make ends meet - the author does do a very good job of making the familiar (England) seem very alien from the eyes of these people. And it is thought provoking, because we all know this kind of thing happens, possibly is even happening to people we pass on the street every day. But it loses points because although you want to care about these people, it is hard to really empathise with them, because they keep making bad decisions in order to find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which experience should have told them by now is just not there.