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It's about a man in his 80's with 2 grown up daughters. The wife dies and 2 years later he marries a 36 Ukrainian woman - much to the daughters disapproval.
It is about an old man falling for a Ukrainian bimbo who turns out to be after his money (surprise). Most of the book is about this man's senile antics, the bimbo being a bimbo, and the daughters dispairing about it all.
It was slightly funny at parts, but I didn't think it was interesting at all.
I'm afraid I didn't get on with it at all, found it dull and didn't warm to the characters. My DH and mum, however, couldn't put it down, thought it was great.
Stopped reading it, but the cover is fabulous if you're a graphic design type person like me. Never judge a book by a cover unless it's for your coffee table.
I didn't really enjoy it - it started promisingly enough, but I thought from the early part of the book that it would be much funnier than it turned out to be. It kind of lost pace for me, and became a bit dreary.
Oh dear, was just about to start it. May try Missing by Susan Lewis instead. Struggling with The Standing Pool by Adam Thorpe but determined to finish it.
I found it disappointing as well. Mildly amusing in places but never lived up to its promise. The tractor bit was very dull as well. At least it was short though so I didn't feel I'd "wasted" too much time on it
I laughed out loud when i read Tractors and read 2 Caravans immediately after. Tractors is my favorite - the characters were brilliant and I would love to see it made into a film.
I know the 'tractor' bits are boring - but I think this just emphasies how 'boring' the old man is, therefore making the coupling even more mis-matched IYSWIM.
You're obviously a lot younger than me, Abbafan. In 1965 a village primary school in Aberfan, Wales, was suddenly smothered when the slag heaps (from the coal industry) behind it collapsed, killing many children. Almost a whole class was wiped out I think.
I loved Tractors, noone's mentioned the part about the relationship between the two sisters and the war-time camp experiences of the elder sister and the parents.
I didn't enjoy Caravans quite as much, it was definitely more of a love story but also I thought a great story about the human race in general, what people will do in times of need and the circumstances of asylum seekers and economic migrants. It also for me had more effect than Jamie Oliver in making me determined to only buy free-range meat and poultry!
I felt it was a very accurate (and funny ) portrayal of a mixed cultural family. My dad was an immigrant and my mum british and their relationship was very similar, although my dad has died and he never had a blonde bimbo. I even recognised the father's speach patterns as similar to my dad's . My mum also found it laugh out loud funny as I suspect much of it was quite real to her.
Just like christywhisty, I loved the book for its familiarity. My grandfather was a Ukrainian immigrant and reading that book really brought him and the Anglo/Ukrainian context in which I grew up very much back to life.
is it all down-hill from here - I am only on p138! 
- perhaps I was just not 'getting' it. 
