August 14, 2009

We Are All Made of Glue - Marina Lewycka


I have not read any of Lewycka's books before but I have always been drawn to their titles and covers. When I saw that Samantha at RubyRed Books had enjoyed her latest novel, We Are All Made Of Glue, I thought it was about time I gave this author a go.

I am so glad I did!! Lewycka is now definitely one of my favourite authors - absolutely loved this book and her writing style.

We Are All Made Of Glue is set in present day London where the main character, Georgie Sinclair, is trying to adapt to life without her husband, Rip, who has left her after an argument about a toothbrush holder. Georgie's separation from Rip leads to a meeting with an elderly woman from the neighbourhood, Naomi Shapiro. Georgie is quite unintentionally drawn into Naomi's world and begins to discover secrets about her past and the grand, but very run down house that she lives in.

The author is trying to cover a lot of ground and subject areas in this book - politics, religion, war, the meaning of home, and family relations are just some of the topics covered in more or less detail. Usually when an author does this I just end up feeling lost and dissatisfied but I feel Lewycka covered the areas she chose to include well and did justice to them all in some way.

I love the use of humour in this book too - I laughed out loud on more than one occasion when reading this one which caused a lot of funny looks in my workplace lunch room!

16 comments:

Unknown said...

I have been tempted by this one a few times, but although Tractors in the Ukraine had some good bits it was only average overall. I really can't decide whether to give this one a try.

Karen said...

Hi Jackie - it's hard to say - you and I seem to share a lot of favourites but then there are others we completely disagree on! I think you could enjoy this one but there was a lot about the plot that was quite contrived in some ways - the characters kept it going for me though and I could see past that.

verity said...

I really loved this one and am glad you liked it - it was impressive the way that she covered so many themes and I found it funny too.

JoAnn said...

This does sounds tempting and I seem to like most of the same books you do, but I had a reaction similar to Jackie's with 'Tractors'. But I see Verity liked this one, too. I wonder if this book will happen to find its way to me...

Anonymous said...

I haven't read any more of her since Tractors and that I really enjoyed for the humour though at the book group I was in they ripped it apart abit and it lost some of its sheen. I do really fancy this one and Two Caravans which I believe I own somewhere.

Karen said...

Hi Verity - it was funny wasn't it? I thought it was really clever how she was able to cover such serious topics and yet make the book so funny at the same time.

Hi JoAnn - I think you should give it a go and see how it goes. The tone of the book is set quite early so you should be able to see if it is the book for you or not.

Hi SavidgeReads - I'm going to move on to Tractors next and see how I go! If I reflect too much on this one I can see there are a few things that aren't perfect about it - especially in terms of structure - but I still loved it!

kay - Infinite Shelf said...

It sounds interesting. I had seen that book and thought the title was funny, but didn't know what it was about. Thanks for the review! :)

Karen said...

Hi Kay - I think that is why I have stayed away from her books in the past - the title's have turned me off a little - but I'm keeping an eye out for them now.

Anonymous said...

i have yet to read any of lewycka's novels--i've actually never heard of her. :( the cover of this books is great--i'm interested but her novels seem to garner some mixed reviews.

i do love a book that makes me laugh out loud, though!

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

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Please email mypalamyATgmailDOTcom for information about YOUR Book Blogger Appreciation Week nomination.

Congratulations!!

Karen said...

Hi Booklineandskiner - definitely laugh out loud material!!

Hi Bethany - thanks for this info!

Samantha said...

I think Lewycka would be absolutely excellent airplane fair - involving, funny, not dumbed down but a page turner type of writer. I would definitely recommend you rush out and get A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian for your in flight reading :-)

Karen said...

Hi Samantha - we must be on the same wavelength because that is exactly what I did over the weekend!! Tractors is in my "on the plane" bag and ready to fly!!

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Penelope Sanchez said...

If you are looking for a well written entertaining book this is well worth the investment as it is one of those books that can be read time and time again and still make you laugh.

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