Valentina is ready for anything to obtain the coveted comforts of Western life that the Westerners take for granted. Coupled with a slightly senile old man for a husband, two feuding sisters, and their mother, still very alive in spirit, all with colorful personalities of their own, you have a cast of characters made for a comedy show.

Enter Valentina: stage right, a ruthless, cunning and beautiful woman who seduces the old man into marriage believing that, as someone who has forged a life in a Western country, he must have money, and who intends, through wedlock to make a better life for herself and her gifted son. The main characters (both sisters, their dead mother and elderly father) are interesting and reasonably well developed, meaningful without sliding into caricature, apart perhaps from Valentina. Lewycka non nasconde l’amarezza, ma la coniuga con commozione e tenerezza, il tono è essenzialmente leggero, comico, a tratti davvero divertente. Filled with eccentric characters (none more so than the elderly father and Valentina), passion, purpose, and desperation, it is at once very funny and moving. There is so much humour in this book, so much sadness, so much tragedy and so much happiness that to explain it would be to spoil it for anyone who wants to read it.I felt so sympathetic to the storyline, particularly to the elderly father ( I am 92 myself) and the younger daughter. What I really enjoyed about writing this book is being able to put all those unacceptable thoughts into words: the rows and arguments, the uninhibited bitchiness with which the sisters accost Valentina and each other, the sheer brutality with which Valentina abuses the old man, and the old man’s unbridled dottiness.

This book is an entertaining read attempting a number of different messages and to a large extent pulling them off. Q.Valentina is a remarkably forceful character, both for the people in your book and for the reader. De sub stratul de dialoguri spumoase (de mult timp nu am mai citit un dialog așa extins care să fie relaxant și natural) scot capul fragmente de istorie dureroasă, trecutul tragic al Ucrainei sovietice și prezentul ciopârțit de capitalismul sălbatic, în căutare de fortă de muncă ieftină. What would you do if you had a parent or family member who seemed to be entering into such a flawed allegiance? To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.Am râs mult cu familia asta ucraineano-engleză excentrică și cu "invadatorii" lor ucraineni, care caută o viață mai bună in Occident, dar găsesc cu totul altceva decât și-au imaginat.