Reading 1001 discussion

How would you define Nikolai’s book, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, which is a book within the novel? Is it a history? A technical manual? A memoir? What does Nadia learn from reading this book, aside from facts about tractors? Consider also how it functions in the novel to provide crucial information for the reader about history and ideology. What does Nikolai accomplish through its writing?

I think through Nikolai's book on tractors his family got to see a whole different side of him. He seemed to have lost himself when he met Valentina but when he was reading from his book he seemed to be a lot more grounded and it gave a purpose to his life. I enjoyed the information about the tractors and found it very interesting.

It showed that Nikolai was an accomplished engineer with a broad intelligence, who was able to describe the development of the tractor in geopolitical terms. It was also a device for explaining the rise of the robber barons in nineteenth century America and twentieth century post-Soviet Russia and its satellites.

This was probably the device that got the book onto the 1001 list even if it's inclusion was short lived.

I agree with all of you!

Pip wrote: "It showed that Nikolai was an accomplished engineer with a broad intelligence, who was able to describe the development of the tractor in geopolitical terms. It was also a device for explaining the..."

I agree with Pip. The "book" within the book provided the vehicle to give us the historical background that impacted the story.

Perhaps also a salute to Lewycka's father who after resettlement in England ended up spending his career at the International Harvester tractor factory in Doncaster.

Is it a history? Yes
A technical manual? Yes
A memoir? Yes
It also gave him a sense of control in a situation which seemed out of control. I also viewed it as a love letter to Ukraine. I think Nikolai missed his home country despite all its misgivings.

I love the "love letter to Ukraine", Diane!

Still, the tractor book is really difficult for me. I could see what of the main story it reflected on in some chapters (when he wrote about the Valentine tank stuck with me most...) and completely failed to do so in others. I would have to do a closer reading on that, but frankly, I'm not that convinced of the literary merit of the book to do so. It's a nice read, but nothing that makes me want to dig deeper. Maybe it could have been better and more consequently fitted into the novel, to me it seemed a little glued on to it, a little forced, too much "I need to give this a twist so it is a little more than chick lit with historical background". I don't know. I liked it, since I like tractors and I'm interested in agriculture and I loved the geopolitcal dimension of it that Pip mentions. Actually, writing this I think I'd have liked more of Nicolai's book and less of the "frame narrative". :)

I too agree with Pip. I wasn't exactly sure what to make of the tractor book. Honestly, I found those sections very boring.

I agree with Pip and Manda