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Das Leben kleben
Georgie Sinclair hat gerade ihren Mann vor die Tür gesetzt, ihr Sohn entwickelt eine beunruhigende Vorliebe für Weltuntergangs-Websites, und ihren Job bei einem Klebstoff-Fachmagazin findet sie auch nur bedingt faszinierend. Da trifft sie eines Tages Mrs Shapiro, die allein in einem halb verfallenen alten Haus lebt. Die verschrobene Dame ist Jüdin und im Zweiten Weltkrieg nach London geflohen. Als Mrs Shapiro ins Krankenhaus muss, bittet sie Georgie, sich um das baufällige Haus zu kümmern. Gleich mit ihrer ersten Tat setzt sich Georgie gehörig in die Nesseln: Der Handwerker, den sie mit Reparaturen beauftragt, ist keineswegs Pakistani, wie sie dachte, sondern Palästinenser. Eine potenziell heikle Konstellation. Zusätzliche Komplikationen ergeben sich durch zwei geldgierige Immobilienmakler, eine arglistige Sozialarbeiterin und Georgies Ehemann.
460 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
79 people are currently reading
1733 people want to read
About the author
Marina Lewycka
35 books553 followersMarina Lewycka was a British novelist of Ukrainian origin.
Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany after World War II. Her family then moved to England. She was educated at Keele University and worked as a lecturer in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University.
In addition to her fiction, Lewycka has written a number of books giving practical advice for carers of elderly people, published by the charity Age Concern.
Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany after World War II. Her family then moved to England. She was educated at Keele University and worked as a lecturer in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University.
In addition to her fiction, Lewycka has written a number of books giving practical advice for carers of elderly people, published by the charity Age Concern.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 504 reviews
January 23, 2012
Here be spoilers. And swearing. AND ALL-CAPS!
1. There are too many plot lines to keep track of. By the time Stella, Pectoral Pete and Ottoline the Well-Endowed, or whatever the fuck her name was, were mentioned for a second time, I had long since forgotten who they were.
2. What is with the words used in this book? There's a part early in the book about Georgie's son using the internet too much—"what seas was he travelling?", she wonders—he says to her something like "I'm a cyberchild!" or "I'm a hypertext kid!" Stop it. No one talks like that. Ever.
The main character also uses cutesy names for people and things: Mrs Goodknee (Mrs Goodney), Bad Eel (Baddiel), duck tape (duct tape). It's not charming. In fact, Georgie is surprised to discover that "duck" tape doesn't involve quacking or waddling. Kill me now.
It's also unclear what the main character's name is. First she's Georgie, then she's Georgia, Georgette, Georganopoulous, et cetera. The other characters are calling her these names, which I thought was because they were old and/or foreign and oh-so-hilarious, but then Georgeawallawallabingbang reveals later in the story that she's going through different phases. What kind of a phase is it to change your fucking name 18 times a week? Is she supposed to have brain damage? If so, I don't think it's been clearly spelled out to the reader. Which brings me to…
3. Georgie. Fucking insufferable bint.
Her husband left her. He was too busy to put a toothbrush holder on the wall so she threw hot milk in his face. Y'know, as you do.
After he was gone, every man was a potential partner. Jesus. Lady, your life doesn't have to revolve around who you are, or aren't, or would like to be boning. It's called a vibrator, look it up. After she gets tied to the bed and fucked by a real estate agent on several different occasions, she has the nerve to freak the fuck over on a woman who she sees kissing her ex-husband. She shoves a banana in her face and up her nose. And then she proceeds to refer to that woman as the "Scarlet-mouthed slut" for the rest of the story. Pardon me, my dear, but Ottoline wasn't the one being reamed against a headboard wearing crotchless panties given to her by a man she hardly knew, OK?
Georgie is also a super shitty parent. Her son, Ben, is becoming a religious maniac, constantly surfing websites about the apocalypse and the end of days. Of course, being a shitty parent, Georgie doesn't think to really talk to her son, or, I don't know, maybe WATCH WHAT THE FUCK HE'S DOING ON THE INTERNET, until the halfway point of the book, and even at that point, she just sort of stumbles across it accidentally. And what does she do with this new-found knowledge? SWEET FUCK-ALL. Nothing happens with this stupid brat until he has a seizure and they go to the hospital and—ta-da—it was just photo-sensitive epilepsy that was turning him into a potential suicide-bomber. BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS.
I'm tired of writing now, but I haven't even covered most of the book. There's also the lady who lived in the house full of cat shit (the main story), the arabic man who fixed a lock, who had two nephews who Georgioarmani let move into the cat-shit lady's house while she was in the hospital, an ENTIRE CHAPTER devoted to the death and funeral of a character who is tertiary, at best, the glue references that were too forced to make sense, the thinly-veiled, um, allegory, I guess? to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the fact that this Georgie woman moves back in with her husband even though they clearly hate each other and I don't think they were even talking at the end but who knows because I had really given up on the book by the end and was mainly just skimming hoping for each new page to be the last oh and now look ive even given up on punctuation and capitalization because i think this book broke my brain
I think the cat threw himself under the car on purpose. Can't say I blame him.
1. There are too many plot lines to keep track of. By the time Stella, Pectoral Pete and Ottoline the Well-Endowed, or whatever the fuck her name was, were mentioned for a second time, I had long since forgotten who they were.
2. What is with the words used in this book? There's a part early in the book about Georgie's son using the internet too much—"what seas was he travelling?", she wonders—he says to her something like "I'm a cyberchild!" or "I'm a hypertext kid!" Stop it. No one talks like that. Ever.
The main character also uses cutesy names for people and things: Mrs Goodknee (Mrs Goodney), Bad Eel (Baddiel), duck tape (duct tape). It's not charming. In fact, Georgie is surprised to discover that "duck" tape doesn't involve quacking or waddling. Kill me now.
It's also unclear what the main character's name is. First she's Georgie, then she's Georgia, Georgette, Georganopoulous, et cetera. The other characters are calling her these names, which I thought was because they were old and/or foreign and oh-so-hilarious, but then Georgeawallawallabingbang reveals later in the story that she's going through different phases. What kind of a phase is it to change your fucking name 18 times a week? Is she supposed to have brain damage? If so, I don't think it's been clearly spelled out to the reader. Which brings me to…
3. Georgie. Fucking insufferable bint.
Her husband left her. He was too busy to put a toothbrush holder on the wall so she threw hot milk in his face. Y'know, as you do.
After he was gone, every man was a potential partner. Jesus. Lady, your life doesn't have to revolve around who you are, or aren't, or would like to be boning. It's called a vibrator, look it up. After she gets tied to the bed and fucked by a real estate agent on several different occasions, she has the nerve to freak the fuck over on a woman who she sees kissing her ex-husband. She shoves a banana in her face and up her nose. And then she proceeds to refer to that woman as the "Scarlet-mouthed slut" for the rest of the story. Pardon me, my dear, but Ottoline wasn't the one being reamed against a headboard wearing crotchless panties given to her by a man she hardly knew, OK?
Georgie is also a super shitty parent. Her son, Ben, is becoming a religious maniac, constantly surfing websites about the apocalypse and the end of days. Of course, being a shitty parent, Georgie doesn't think to really talk to her son, or, I don't know, maybe WATCH WHAT THE FUCK HE'S DOING ON THE INTERNET, until the halfway point of the book, and even at that point, she just sort of stumbles across it accidentally. And what does she do with this new-found knowledge? SWEET FUCK-ALL. Nothing happens with this stupid brat until he has a seizure and they go to the hospital and—ta-da—it was just photo-sensitive epilepsy that was turning him into a potential suicide-bomber. BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS.
I'm tired of writing now, but I haven't even covered most of the book. There's also the lady who lived in the house full of cat shit (the main story), the arabic man who fixed a lock, who had two nephews who Georgioarmani let move into the cat-shit lady's house while she was in the hospital, an ENTIRE CHAPTER devoted to the death and funeral of a character who is tertiary, at best, the glue references that were too forced to make sense, the thinly-veiled, um, allegory, I guess? to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the fact that this Georgie woman moves back in with her husband even though they clearly hate each other and I don't think they were even talking at the end but who knows because I had really given up on the book by the end and was mainly just skimming hoping for each new page to be the last oh and now look ive even given up on punctuation and capitalization because i think this book broke my brain
I think the cat threw himself under the car on purpose. Can't say I blame him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2019
WE ARE ALL MADE OF GLUE was our latest bookclub read, and I was surprised about the amount of unfavourable reviews out there. Luckily for me and our group, this was such a fun read, and made for a great discussion. It may also be one of the best audiobook narrations I have ever listened to, which greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the story. Narrator Sian Thomas really threw her heart and soul into the narration, lending each character a unique voice that gave this story an almost movie like quality. I can still clearly Mrs Shapiro in my mind (and hear her delightful accent), and what a colourful character she was!
I don't read many funny, feel-good stories that make me laugh, but this one had me chortling aloud one minute, and swearing the next, as the evil real estate guys are trying to steal the old lady's house from under her nose. Brimming with an eclectic mix of characters, some intriguing mystery and an interesting setting, this book made for a light-hearted, fun read. There were plenty of topics to discuss in our group, too. I recommend it to any audiobook lover who is looking for a solid performance and a story that warms your heart and is both funny as well as thought provoking.
I don't read many funny, feel-good stories that make me laugh, but this one had me chortling aloud one minute, and swearing the next, as the evil real estate guys are trying to steal the old lady's house from under her nose. Brimming with an eclectic mix of characters, some intriguing mystery and an interesting setting, this book made for a light-hearted, fun read. There were plenty of topics to discuss in our group, too. I recommend it to any audiobook lover who is looking for a solid performance and a story that warms your heart and is both funny as well as thought provoking.
September 16, 2009
Too little of too many things, and not enough substance, nor worthwhile humor.
It’s a quick read, but there are just too many elements in the plot & theme for any one to be addressed at depth.
Glue is presented as the central metaphor in this story. Most of the chapter titles highlight this (Uses of superglue, Adhesives around the home, A gummy smile, The right glue for the materials, The adhesion consultant, and so on) but it’s not clear why glue in particular is thematically important, except to the narrator herself. She makes a living writing/editing for a glue trade journal; yet her interaction with her other 'glue' colleagues is peripheral to the plot.
Georgie is also an aspiring romance novelist, and that too becomes a running commentary throughout the story, as she relates the ‘real’ events to her ‘fictive’ manuscript. Again, this element doesn’t really go anywhere; it’s more of a distraction and a page-filler, rather than adding depth to her interaction with the other characters. The only justification is that it explains why she falls for the real estate agent Mark Diabello (or is he Diabolo?). I wonder whether there is an autobiographical element to all this, as Lewycka has worked on writing ‘industry’ material (manuals for professional carers to the elderly & the infirm) before turning to fiction. Otherwise, it’s all fluff.
The central symbol of the old, unkempt, but valuable property (aptly named Canaan House) being sought after by two real estate agencies is an appropriate metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I actually think this concept has a lot of potential; it's a light but precise way to explain the political situation that so many find inscrutable.
However, there is no substantial interaction between the characters themselves on this issue (Mrs. Shapiro couldn’t care less, and the bumbling Palestinian immigrant workers show no bitterness towards her) to give a depth and complexity that the issue merits. Eventually, when an Israeli enters the scene and there are finally two characters discussing the current developments in the occupied territories, it is too far into the book to be of any importance on the novel’s outcome, and even then the matter is dealt with superficially.
Lewycka introduces the element of religious hysteria (the end-of-days prophecies not only as explanation for the Mideast conflict, in fact as a key to all political developments in general) into the picture, with Georgie’s son Ben being caught up in religious-based conspiracy theories flying about the Internet, but that too is swiftly set aside as merely a teenage obsession that is cured by a visit to the hospital.
Somehow even the satire doesn’t cut deep, the humor is forced, relying on stereotypical characterizations (Mrs. Shapiro’s & Mr. Ali’s heavily accented speech) then devolving into cheap slapstick: the banana snot incident, the unstable ladder and the Uselesses, the cat meeting its untimely death during the barbecue gathering....
Maybe I'm a bit prejudiced on all of the above, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 'background' is very familiar to me, and I am likely to be bothered by a superficial treatment of the events that I have lived up close and personal.
Another thing that I couldn't help noticing is the striking similarity the plot has with Stephanie Kallos' novel Broken for You.
It’s a quick read, but there are just too many elements in the plot & theme for any one to be addressed at depth.
Glue is presented as the central metaphor in this story. Most of the chapter titles highlight this (Uses of superglue, Adhesives around the home, A gummy smile, The right glue for the materials, The adhesion consultant, and so on) but it’s not clear why glue in particular is thematically important, except to the narrator herself. She makes a living writing/editing for a glue trade journal; yet her interaction with her other 'glue' colleagues is peripheral to the plot.
Georgie is also an aspiring romance novelist, and that too becomes a running commentary throughout the story, as she relates the ‘real’ events to her ‘fictive’ manuscript. Again, this element doesn’t really go anywhere; it’s more of a distraction and a page-filler, rather than adding depth to her interaction with the other characters. The only justification is that it explains why she falls for the real estate agent Mark Diabello (or is he Diabolo?). I wonder whether there is an autobiographical element to all this, as Lewycka has worked on writing ‘industry’ material (manuals for professional carers to the elderly & the infirm) before turning to fiction. Otherwise, it’s all fluff.
The central symbol of the old, unkempt, but valuable property (aptly named Canaan House) being sought after by two real estate agencies is an appropriate metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I actually think this concept has a lot of potential; it's a light but precise way to explain the political situation that so many find inscrutable.
However, there is no substantial interaction between the characters themselves on this issue (Mrs. Shapiro couldn’t care less, and the bumbling Palestinian immigrant workers show no bitterness towards her) to give a depth and complexity that the issue merits. Eventually, when an Israeli enters the scene and there are finally two characters discussing the current developments in the occupied territories, it is too far into the book to be of any importance on the novel’s outcome, and even then the matter is dealt with superficially.
Lewycka introduces the element of religious hysteria (the end-of-days prophecies not only as explanation for the Mideast conflict, in fact as a key to all political developments in general) into the picture, with Georgie’s son Ben being caught up in religious-based conspiracy theories flying about the Internet, but that too is swiftly set aside as merely a teenage obsession that is cured by a visit to the hospital.
Somehow even the satire doesn’t cut deep, the humor is forced, relying on stereotypical characterizations (Mrs. Shapiro’s & Mr. Ali’s heavily accented speech) then devolving into cheap slapstick: the banana snot incident, the unstable ladder and the Uselesses, the cat meeting its untimely death during the barbecue gathering....
Maybe I'm a bit prejudiced on all of the above, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 'background' is very familiar to me, and I am likely to be bothered by a superficial treatment of the events that I have lived up close and personal.
Another thing that I couldn't help noticing is the striking similarity the plot has with Stephanie Kallos' novel Broken for You.
June 7, 2010
What a decidedly odd book.
How many novels, after all, attempt to cover the falling apart of a suburban marriage; youthful religious fundamentalism and the coming apocalypse; relations between Israelis and Palestinians; and the properties of various glues? Unfortunately none of these elements really work in of themselves, and certainly don’t combine together well as a whole.
Firstly, the marriage break-up. The book opens with the narrator and her husband separating. From then on she shapes her life without him and even has a wild fling. Even so a ‘will they/won’t they get back together’ question hangs over the novel, but the problem is the reader never really gets to know the husband so it’s difficult to care. We’re given some flashbacks of them courting, but never a sense of them as a married couple. Therefore it’s hard to know whether the narrator is better or worse off without her husband.
Then there’s the narrator’s son, who becomes a religious zealot with a strong belief in the imminent end of the world. (In one of the book’s few good jokes, Prince Charles is suspected of being the antichrist.) However this doesn’t go anywhere, and is all wrapped up in a truly perfunctory fashion. The word ‘padding’ springs to mind.
In amongst this is the genuinely more serious issue of Middle East tensions, and in particular relations between the Israelis and Palestinians. The centre of the book is the narrator’s friendship with Mrs Shapiro, an elderly Jewish lady with a dilapidated house. A Palestinian handyman and his two useless nephews are hired and move in, and matters are further complicated by the arrival of the Israeli son of the man who might be the real owner. It’s far from a subtle or deep thinking analogy of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, and genuinely does resolve with someone expressing the sentiment: “Hey everybody! Can’t we all just get along and live together?”
And finally, properties of various glues. One of the truly irritating quirks of this book is that the narrator links any human problem back to a different sort of glue. (She works for a glue magazine, you see.) I don’t know if Marina Lewycka has any particular interest in glues, or whether she just bought a guide to use the subject as a hook. I suspect the latter.
The chatty prose style does make it an easy read, but it’s far from good literature. It’s not as clever, funny or incisive as it would like to be; and a lot of characters fail to raise themselves about the level of cipher. The narrator I found particularly irritating, insipid and wet without any real passion. She also has the extremely annoying habit of not returning phone calls when the plot calls for her to be in ignorance.
This might be a good read if you’re feeling hung-over and about to embark on a long train ride and therefore don’t want anything too demanding, but otherwise I couldn’t really recommend it.
How many novels, after all, attempt to cover the falling apart of a suburban marriage; youthful religious fundamentalism and the coming apocalypse; relations between Israelis and Palestinians; and the properties of various glues? Unfortunately none of these elements really work in of themselves, and certainly don’t combine together well as a whole.
Firstly, the marriage break-up. The book opens with the narrator and her husband separating. From then on she shapes her life without him and even has a wild fling. Even so a ‘will they/won’t they get back together’ question hangs over the novel, but the problem is the reader never really gets to know the husband so it’s difficult to care. We’re given some flashbacks of them courting, but never a sense of them as a married couple. Therefore it’s hard to know whether the narrator is better or worse off without her husband.
Then there’s the narrator’s son, who becomes a religious zealot with a strong belief in the imminent end of the world. (In one of the book’s few good jokes, Prince Charles is suspected of being the antichrist.) However this doesn’t go anywhere, and is all wrapped up in a truly perfunctory fashion. The word ‘padding’ springs to mind.
In amongst this is the genuinely more serious issue of Middle East tensions, and in particular relations between the Israelis and Palestinians. The centre of the book is the narrator’s friendship with Mrs Shapiro, an elderly Jewish lady with a dilapidated house. A Palestinian handyman and his two useless nephews are hired and move in, and matters are further complicated by the arrival of the Israeli son of the man who might be the real owner. It’s far from a subtle or deep thinking analogy of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, and genuinely does resolve with someone expressing the sentiment: “Hey everybody! Can’t we all just get along and live together?”
And finally, properties of various glues. One of the truly irritating quirks of this book is that the narrator links any human problem back to a different sort of glue. (She works for a glue magazine, you see.) I don’t know if Marina Lewycka has any particular interest in glues, or whether she just bought a guide to use the subject as a hook. I suspect the latter.
The chatty prose style does make it an easy read, but it’s far from good literature. It’s not as clever, funny or incisive as it would like to be; and a lot of characters fail to raise themselves about the level of cipher. The narrator I found particularly irritating, insipid and wet without any real passion. She also has the extremely annoying habit of not returning phone calls when the plot calls for her to be in ignorance.
This might be a good read if you’re feeling hung-over and about to embark on a long train ride and therefore don’t want anything too demanding, but otherwise I couldn’t really recommend it.
January 10, 2010
I think Marina Lewycka has surpassed herself this time with We Are All Made of Glue. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much reading any novel, until this one. What I really mean is I’ve never laughed so much and at the same time flipped pages at the same time.
Georgie Sinclair has just broken up with her hunky husband Rip. He’s tall, heavily-built, with broad shoulders but a too big head, but still gorgeous to Georgie. In fact most of the men she meets throughout this book are of that ilk: the wickedly delectable Mr Diabello, his equally delicious partner in estate agency, Nick, Nathan her editor, and the pair of handsome Palestinian Uselesses, nephews to Mr Ali, a cuddly hamster of a man. All this comes across like some trashy romance novel because Lewycka, or rather, Georgie, has managed to transport some of the elements of Georgie’s novel she’s re-writing after a rejection that mentions the over-use of adjectives.
Georgie puts her wiles on Nathan but the shorter but still hunky Nathan is already in a relationship, with one Raoul. However she manages to put out for Diabello, allowing him to Velcro-strap her in the wrists to her bed and have his way with her while Rip is not living in her house anymore and her son Ben is not back from school yet. As slutty as she seems, Diabello is the only man, after Rip, she lets drop her red knickers for. By the way, Georgie uses her other black knickers on her head to keep the light out of her eyes while she sleeps.
In between all of this sex Georgie is also involved in, in no way sexually at all, with a woman. She first meets ancient Naomi outside her house riffling through her husband’s stuff that she’s thrown out. At the same time she also meets another male of a different kind, an absolutely macho Tom named Wonder Boy, who plays an important role in the outcome of the intrigue involving hospital care workers, social services and rival estate agents, all wrangling to have their claws on Naomi’s huge house Canaan House while she’s incapacitated in hospital and later in an old folk’s home. Georgie is steeped into helping Naomi prevent her house from being grabbed by these people, whom she manages to keep at bay by allowing Ali’s nephews stay in the house while they help repair and renovate it.
Thus Georgie has taken on many roles, as a hot forty-something babe rolling in the bed with Diabello, as a mother after this when Ben comes home from school, as Naomi’s friend and unofficial caretaker and next of kin and matchmaker to Nathan’s father Tati, as Queen of the Cats, with Naomi’s cats following behind her, as screaming, furious harridan when she catches Rip with another woman, as an adventurer plotting to help Naomi escape from the old folks home, as house-carer and occasionally sitter; and finally as a yet-unpublished romance writer taking on freelance work writing articles for a publication all about glue, Adhesives in the Modern World.
Despite Lewycka being an award winner of literary fiction, any reader who knows nothing of this would have a rollicking good read with this book, thinking it’s the best-written chick lit ever come across.
Georgie Sinclair has just broken up with her hunky husband Rip. He’s tall, heavily-built, with broad shoulders but a too big head, but still gorgeous to Georgie. In fact most of the men she meets throughout this book are of that ilk: the wickedly delectable Mr Diabello, his equally delicious partner in estate agency, Nick, Nathan her editor, and the pair of handsome Palestinian Uselesses, nephews to Mr Ali, a cuddly hamster of a man. All this comes across like some trashy romance novel because Lewycka, or rather, Georgie, has managed to transport some of the elements of Georgie’s novel she’s re-writing after a rejection that mentions the over-use of adjectives.
Georgie puts her wiles on Nathan but the shorter but still hunky Nathan is already in a relationship, with one Raoul. However she manages to put out for Diabello, allowing him to Velcro-strap her in the wrists to her bed and have his way with her while Rip is not living in her house anymore and her son Ben is not back from school yet. As slutty as she seems, Diabello is the only man, after Rip, she lets drop her red knickers for. By the way, Georgie uses her other black knickers on her head to keep the light out of her eyes while she sleeps.
In between all of this sex Georgie is also involved in, in no way sexually at all, with a woman. She first meets ancient Naomi outside her house riffling through her husband’s stuff that she’s thrown out. At the same time she also meets another male of a different kind, an absolutely macho Tom named Wonder Boy, who plays an important role in the outcome of the intrigue involving hospital care workers, social services and rival estate agents, all wrangling to have their claws on Naomi’s huge house Canaan House while she’s incapacitated in hospital and later in an old folk’s home. Georgie is steeped into helping Naomi prevent her house from being grabbed by these people, whom she manages to keep at bay by allowing Ali’s nephews stay in the house while they help repair and renovate it.
Thus Georgie has taken on many roles, as a hot forty-something babe rolling in the bed with Diabello, as a mother after this when Ben comes home from school, as Naomi’s friend and unofficial caretaker and next of kin and matchmaker to Nathan’s father Tati, as Queen of the Cats, with Naomi’s cats following behind her, as screaming, furious harridan when she catches Rip with another woman, as an adventurer plotting to help Naomi escape from the old folks home, as house-carer and occasionally sitter; and finally as a yet-unpublished romance writer taking on freelance work writing articles for a publication all about glue, Adhesives in the Modern World.
Despite Lewycka being an award winner of literary fiction, any reader who knows nothing of this would have a rollicking good read with this book, thinking it’s the best-written chick lit ever come across.
April 22, 2012
I am still in two minds about this; I have heard and read good things about her previous work, but this was merely ordinary. An easy bed time read with a plot with enough holes in it to make it sieve like.
The main character Georgina has a marraige that is falling apart (after he left when G threw hot milk in his face becasue he refused to put up a toothbrush holder), a son drifting into religious extremism via the internet, an elderly woman round the corner who seems to have adpoted her and a job writing articles about glue for a trade periodical. The glue job sort of holds things together throughout the book. Georgina is irritating and has the self-awareness of an amoeba. She physically attacks her husband's new girlfriend with a banana not long after she has been cavorting with a handsome local estate agent (I won't mention the red crotchless panties and velcro handcuffs).
The story revolves around Mrs Shapiro the elderly neighbour, her squalid living conditions and multiple cats with bad habits.
The characters and situations are vivid and not entirely believeable; a malevolent social worker with no knowledge of the law,better social workers who still have no knowledge of the law, assorted Palestinian builders, a care home more tightly regulated than Colditz, unscrupulous estate agents (well; I can give her that one), assorted members of the jewish community to name but a few.
I'm getting confused just writing this!!
The story is pleasant and amusing and there is a warm, fuzzy ending, if you like that sort of thing. There are worthy passages about the state of the Palestinian people and how everyone should learn to live together like they do in the book. Just too many holes and factual inconsistencies for me. There are a couple of laugh out loud moments (did I mention the velcro handcuffs, but too much confusion.
The main character Georgina has a marraige that is falling apart (after he left when G threw hot milk in his face becasue he refused to put up a toothbrush holder), a son drifting into religious extremism via the internet, an elderly woman round the corner who seems to have adpoted her and a job writing articles about glue for a trade periodical. The glue job sort of holds things together throughout the book. Georgina is irritating and has the self-awareness of an amoeba. She physically attacks her husband's new girlfriend with a banana not long after she has been cavorting with a handsome local estate agent (I won't mention the red crotchless panties and velcro handcuffs).
The story revolves around Mrs Shapiro the elderly neighbour, her squalid living conditions and multiple cats with bad habits.
The characters and situations are vivid and not entirely believeable; a malevolent social worker with no knowledge of the law,better social workers who still have no knowledge of the law, assorted Palestinian builders, a care home more tightly regulated than Colditz, unscrupulous estate agents (well; I can give her that one), assorted members of the jewish community to name but a few.
I'm getting confused just writing this!!
The story is pleasant and amusing and there is a warm, fuzzy ending, if you like that sort of thing. There are worthy passages about the state of the Palestinian people and how everyone should learn to live together like they do in the book. Just too many holes and factual inconsistencies for me. There are a couple of laugh out loud moments (did I mention the velcro handcuffs, but too much confusion.
November 25, 2011
A few chapters in I found myself wondering whether Marina Lewycka might have the ultimate perfect writing style – the way she gets in and out of a sentence with just the right number of words, never over-writes, ends her sections long before they have a chance to get boring, and adds just the right amount of humour to keep it bouncing along. The perfect balance!
In this novel we find the familiar Eastern European/elderly persons axis, as well as a kaleidoscope of additional themes ranging from Arthur Scargill to Armageddon , B&Q to bondage, as well as a Kippax fixation, all fused together quite literally with glue. Not content with that, in an admirable display of boldness the author rolls up her trouser legs and wades into the Israeli-Palestinian question. It was here that the perfect balance I was so admiring in the early prose threatened to falter, as a determined effort not to be preachy or didactic became visible beneath the surface. Like trying to slice the last piece of cake exactly down the middle I could sense the work that was going into being even handed. Some of the later discourses seemed to go on a mite too long with each ‘side’ in the debate demonstrating how they had suffered.
But that’s just a minor criticism. I loved this big, eventful, ambitious novel. I laughed, I cried, I learned and I don’t ask any more from a book.
In this novel we find the familiar Eastern European/elderly persons axis, as well as a kaleidoscope of additional themes ranging from Arthur Scargill to Armageddon , B&Q to bondage, as well as a Kippax fixation, all fused together quite literally with glue. Not content with that, in an admirable display of boldness the author rolls up her trouser legs and wades into the Israeli-Palestinian question. It was here that the perfect balance I was so admiring in the early prose threatened to falter, as a determined effort not to be preachy or didactic became visible beneath the surface. Like trying to slice the last piece of cake exactly down the middle I could sense the work that was going into being even handed. Some of the later discourses seemed to go on a mite too long with each ‘side’ in the debate demonstrating how they had suffered.
But that’s just a minor criticism. I loved this big, eventful, ambitious novel. I laughed, I cried, I learned and I don’t ask any more from a book.
October 8, 2020
Relationships are like glue, some bonding forever, some at one time bonded; now disintegrating, some on the verge of bonding, some lost forever. We have them all.
Georgie Sinclair has a tiff with her husband Rip and throws his stuff out, that is how she meets Naomi Shapiro browsing through her old vinyl records.
Naomi, crazy and old, living in a filthy house, strikes a friendship with Georgie which leads Georgie to Ali and Chaim as well as to the very unscrupulous Social worker Goodman and the Realtors.
Lewycka, pokes a dainty finger at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but does not venture too deep. After all the entire Holocaust scenario is volatile, but does try a friendship between Ali the displaced Palestinian and Chaim, the son of Naomi's husband, whose mother has gone to the desert to build a garden.
However I do wonder why Lewycka always tends to make old people extremely dirty living in utter squalor. Tagging elderly people as dirty and their houses as squalid is in my opinion sad and callous.
It takes courage to be old, you are tired and your body does not work but old people try very hard to keep their act together.
Yes, I am old and work hard to keep my house very clean and it is hard.
Georgie Sinclair has a tiff with her husband Rip and throws his stuff out, that is how she meets Naomi Shapiro browsing through her old vinyl records.
Naomi, crazy and old, living in a filthy house, strikes a friendship with Georgie which leads Georgie to Ali and Chaim as well as to the very unscrupulous Social worker Goodman and the Realtors.
Lewycka, pokes a dainty finger at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but does not venture too deep. After all the entire Holocaust scenario is volatile, but does try a friendship between Ali the displaced Palestinian and Chaim, the son of Naomi's husband, whose mother has gone to the desert to build a garden.
However I do wonder why Lewycka always tends to make old people extremely dirty living in utter squalor. Tagging elderly people as dirty and their houses as squalid is in my opinion sad and callous.
It takes courage to be old, you are tired and your body does not work but old people try very hard to keep their act together.
Yes, I am old and work hard to keep my house very clean and it is hard.
December 21, 2018
Fun fact 1
jedina knjiga koju sam od Levicke zelela da procitam bila je ' Kratka istorija traktora na ukrajinskom' i to samo zato sto mi je naslov bio zabavan.
Od tada je proslo par godina, i ja sam procitala dve Levickine knjige ali ne i ' Traktore' i obe su bile masovno razocarenje.
Fun fact 2,
iako ne razumem svoje motive, i dalje zelim da procitam te proklete Traktore.
Za razliku od sture, stereotipne i povrsne ' Dve Prikolice' , ' Svi smo mi od istog lepka' je preobimna, prenatrpana svastara bez glave i repa.
Sacuvajte vreme za neko bolje stivo.
Cujemo se kad procitam Traktore.
jedina knjiga koju sam od Levicke zelela da procitam bila je ' Kratka istorija traktora na ukrajinskom' i to samo zato sto mi je naslov bio zabavan.
Od tada je proslo par godina, i ja sam procitala dve Levickine knjige ali ne i ' Traktore' i obe su bile masovno razocarenje.
Fun fact 2,
iako ne razumem svoje motive, i dalje zelim da procitam te proklete Traktore.
Za razliku od sture, stereotipne i povrsne ' Dve Prikolice' , ' Svi smo mi od istog lepka' je preobimna, prenatrpana svastara bez glave i repa.
Sacuvajte vreme za neko bolje stivo.
Cujemo se kad procitam Traktore.
February 9, 2021
A decent fun light read with themes related to - Jews, Israel Palestine conflict, Arabs, armageddon, old age, divorcee life, real estate agents, and some technical jargons from adhesives, glues, bonding etc. Found the title and cover interesting, and it was advertised as "funny" - now that sounds funny after reading this!
Set in a small London community, the protagonist Georgina goes through her husband (Rip) leaving her and their 2 kids out due to her crankiness. She has a little empathy on her very old neighbor (Mrs Shapiro) living alone. Amidst her own married life falling apart, the neighbor gets admitted to a hospital and lists Georgina's name as closest kin for emergency contact. There is a bit of mystery thrown in when she tries to find Mrs Shapiro's past sneaking through her belongings. There appear a few people who are interested to sell Mrs Shapiro's house and get a piece of pie for themselves. While Georgina is helping the old lady to prevent the house from falling in the hands of real estate agents, she falls in love with one of them.
The biggest takeaway for me was the depiction of Israel Palestine conflict, with a backdrop of Jew migration. Other than that, it failed to make me chuckle (or smile) even once.
Overall: An okayish light time pass read. I would pass this and hunt for something better.
Set in a small London community, the protagonist Georgina goes through her husband (Rip) leaving her and their 2 kids out due to her crankiness. She has a little empathy on her very old neighbor (Mrs Shapiro) living alone. Amidst her own married life falling apart, the neighbor gets admitted to a hospital and lists Georgina's name as closest kin for emergency contact. There is a bit of mystery thrown in when she tries to find Mrs Shapiro's past sneaking through her belongings. There appear a few people who are interested to sell Mrs Shapiro's house and get a piece of pie for themselves. While Georgina is helping the old lady to prevent the house from falling in the hands of real estate agents, she falls in love with one of them.
The biggest takeaway for me was the depiction of Israel Palestine conflict, with a backdrop of Jew migration. Other than that, it failed to make me chuckle (or smile) even once.
Overall: An okayish light time pass read. I would pass this and hunt for something better.
May 29, 2011
Lewycka's third novel is something of a mess. If her second novel was more unpleasant and inconsistent than the generally delightful A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, then We Are All Made of Glue is a wildly overstuffed and messily organised collection of events loosely tied together by a thoroughly unsympathetic heroine. We Are All Made of Glue tries to be everything at once, including flighty chick-lit. Lewycka has gone from including me in her audience to severely reducing it to the genre faithful, and I can't say I like it.
A toothbrush holder causes Georgie Sinclair to separate from her husband. In their time apart she meets one Naomi Shapiro, an allegedly 96 year old woman who lives in squalor. Through Mrs. Shapiro Georgie meets a series of increasingly unlikely characters, while on the homefront she ignores all contact from her husband and tries to understand why her son is obsessed with the end times.
Lewycka has been very busy. At first it seems that she might be content for Georgie's meeting with Mrs. Shapiro to culiminate in a story within a story, of her long-deceased husband's travails in World War II - but no. There will be only some of that here. Mrs. Shapiro's history is brief, and takes mere pages to tell. What Mrs. Shapiro opens up onto is a half-arsed exploration of the bureaucracy of aged care, eventually culminating in the book becoming another preachy entry in the "Israel and Palestine: Can't We All Just Get Along?" canon.
If you want you can choose to combine this with sexual interludes with an estate agent, along with fierce marital double standards. This book is not without its pleasures, but overall one has to wonder why Lewycka chose to layer this all on and then expect us to appreciate that everyone is connected because we are all made of glue. Bloated, with a weak heroine the likes of which you'll find in countless books by inferior authors, We Are All Made of Glue is another book you don't need to bother with.
A toothbrush holder causes Georgie Sinclair to separate from her husband. In their time apart she meets one Naomi Shapiro, an allegedly 96 year old woman who lives in squalor. Through Mrs. Shapiro Georgie meets a series of increasingly unlikely characters, while on the homefront she ignores all contact from her husband and tries to understand why her son is obsessed with the end times.
Lewycka has been very busy. At first it seems that she might be content for Georgie's meeting with Mrs. Shapiro to culiminate in a story within a story, of her long-deceased husband's travails in World War II - but no. There will be only some of that here. Mrs. Shapiro's history is brief, and takes mere pages to tell. What Mrs. Shapiro opens up onto is a half-arsed exploration of the bureaucracy of aged care, eventually culminating in the book becoming another preachy entry in the "Israel and Palestine: Can't We All Just Get Along?" canon.
If you want you can choose to combine this with sexual interludes with an estate agent, along with fierce marital double standards. This book is not without its pleasures, but overall one has to wonder why Lewycka chose to layer this all on and then expect us to appreciate that everyone is connected because we are all made of glue. Bloated, with a weak heroine the likes of which you'll find in countless books by inferior authors, We Are All Made of Glue is another book you don't need to bother with.
August 24, 2018
4 stars!
Das Leben kleben has been another little adventurous trip into a genre I am feeling less comfortable with and once again it has been worth it. I really enjoyed this story and the characters have been amazing! A lot of reviewers said that this book has not enough substance and that the author has been trying to hard to integrate many different topics into her book: an old woman living with a million cats and having trouble to stay alone at her home, state and private institutions trying to get her out of her house and into a nursing home, a broken relationship and a difficult mother-son relationship and last but not least the never-ending Palestine/Israel conflict. Yes - after listing the major topics of this book, they look like a lot, but I didn't have the feeling that they didn't work out. I loved that the characters didn't take themselves too serious, that's what made this story a very light and entertaining read, while working around some very important topics in society.
Das Leben kleben has been another little adventurous trip into a genre I am feeling less comfortable with and once again it has been worth it. I really enjoyed this story and the characters have been amazing! A lot of reviewers said that this book has not enough substance and that the author has been trying to hard to integrate many different topics into her book: an old woman living with a million cats and having trouble to stay alone at her home, state and private institutions trying to get her out of her house and into a nursing home, a broken relationship and a difficult mother-son relationship and last but not least the never-ending Palestine/Israel conflict. Yes - after listing the major topics of this book, they look like a lot, but I didn't have the feeling that they didn't work out. I loved that the characters didn't take themselves too serious, that's what made this story a very light and entertaining read, while working around some very important topics in society.
July 11, 2018
Second read: 2018
Still loved it just as much! After reading some reviews it seems that most people consider this to be their least favourite Lewycka novel which makes me very excited to try some other ones out... Yes... I still haven't read anything else by her... Shame...
First read: 2016
4.5 stars, absolutely loved and adored this book! Knocked down half a star because I would have liked to see more talking between Georgie and her husband at the end of the book.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to pick up and read every other book written by this author!
Still loved it just as much! After reading some reviews it seems that most people consider this to be their least favourite Lewycka novel which makes me very excited to try some other ones out... Yes... I still haven't read anything else by her... Shame...
First read: 2016
4.5 stars, absolutely loved and adored this book! Knocked down half a star because I would have liked to see more talking between Georgie and her husband at the end of the book.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to pick up and read every other book written by this author!
March 29, 2024
Eine frisch getrennte Frau kämpft dafür, dass die schrullige Nachbarin den Immobilienhaien nicht zum Opfer fällt, und enthüllt dabei die Familiengeschichte. Unterhaltsame Lektüre für zwischendurch. Allerdings habe ich keinen Zugang zur Hauptfigur gefunden, was vermutlich auch daran lag, dass es mehr um das Leben der Nebenfiguren ging.
Read
June 13, 2017Some serious issues lie behind this quirky comedy. I'm not sure how well it all works.
January 3, 2021
I read this wickedly funny book by Ukrainian-British writer Marina Lewycka shortly after it came out in 2009. Here's the Goodread's synopsis: "Georgie Sinclair's life is coming unstuck. Her husband's left her. Her son's obsessed with the End of the World. And now her elderly neighbour Mrs Shapiro has decided they are related...As Georgie tries her best to put Mrs Shapiro's life back together, somehow she must stop her own from falling apart."
Okay, I thought at the time, even though Georgie spends a good deal of time doing technical writing, frequently about glue, this analogy seemed a bit forced. Was Lewycka running out of material, was she casting too far in an attempt to add a layer of symbolism and metaphor to what was a very good story about life in modern cities?
Then I put that questioning away: it no longer seemed relevant after I read her Various Pets Alive and Dead which is also very funny, yet serious, and with the best explanation of the 2008 financial crisis I've come across in fiction. She obviously knows where to look for good stories, and how to write them convincingly.
But I returned to my question about Glue when when I was working on my book Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future. As I read and read, I stumbled upon Cement a Novel which is considered early example of Soviet realist fiction. Much more than a novel about a pedestrian, ordinary material, it is an elegy to something that at the time was a symbol of the great changes planned for the new empire. The story line is simple: a cement plant had been closed during the Russian Civil War, and now it's up to the good Soviets to put it back into service in order to build a new and improved society. At one point the hero Gelb Chamalov muses: "The significance of cement is that, like socialism, it creates a bond between the mass of loose particles....We produce cement. Cement is a firm bond. Cement is us, comrades--the working class."
In the end Chamalov and his comrades prevail. Here's how Gladkov describes the re-opening:
"The myriad crowd yelled and thundered... They were dancing and leaping there beneath the high platform, on the rocks and mountain slopes, where the banners flashed liked wings of fire, and the bands rang like thousands of grand bells.”
Aha, I thought, I bet Lewycka had a sly reference to this Soviet classic in mind when she started working on her story. Nowhere in the reviews I've read does anyone suggest the connection, but I'd love to ask her about it.
Okay, I thought at the time, even though Georgie spends a good deal of time doing technical writing, frequently about glue, this analogy seemed a bit forced. Was Lewycka running out of material, was she casting too far in an attempt to add a layer of symbolism and metaphor to what was a very good story about life in modern cities?
Then I put that questioning away: it no longer seemed relevant after I read her Various Pets Alive and Dead which is also very funny, yet serious, and with the best explanation of the 2008 financial crisis I've come across in fiction. She obviously knows where to look for good stories, and how to write them convincingly.
But I returned to my question about Glue when when I was working on my book Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future. As I read and read, I stumbled upon Cement a Novel which is considered early example of Soviet realist fiction. Much more than a novel about a pedestrian, ordinary material, it is an elegy to something that at the time was a symbol of the great changes planned for the new empire. The story line is simple: a cement plant had been closed during the Russian Civil War, and now it's up to the good Soviets to put it back into service in order to build a new and improved society. At one point the hero Gelb Chamalov muses: "The significance of cement is that, like socialism, it creates a bond between the mass of loose particles....We produce cement. Cement is a firm bond. Cement is us, comrades--the working class."
In the end Chamalov and his comrades prevail. Here's how Gladkov describes the re-opening:
"The myriad crowd yelled and thundered... They were dancing and leaping there beneath the high platform, on the rocks and mountain slopes, where the banners flashed liked wings of fire, and the bands rang like thousands of grand bells.”
Aha, I thought, I bet Lewycka had a sly reference to this Soviet classic in mind when she started working on her story. Nowhere in the reviews I've read does anyone suggest the connection, but I'd love to ask her about it.
February 2, 2022
A disappointing and messy read.
I've enjoyed Lewycka's previous novels, but this had too many characters that Lewycka seemed to be frantically trying to tie together with situations and storylines that at times felt almost farcical.
An attempt to address some important historical issues just felt forced, and the main characters' own family situation, the events surrounding her marriage and what seemed to be a very dire problem that was going on with her son just all fizzled out to nothing...
The effort to try to be quirky and humorous really fell flat for me with this one.... one lonely star rating I'm afraid :-(
I've enjoyed Lewycka's previous novels, but this had too many characters that Lewycka seemed to be frantically trying to tie together with situations and storylines that at times felt almost farcical.
An attempt to address some important historical issues just felt forced, and the main characters' own family situation, the events surrounding her marriage and what seemed to be a very dire problem that was going on with her son just all fizzled out to nothing...
The effort to try to be quirky and humorous really fell flat for me with this one.... one lonely star rating I'm afraid :-(
April 16, 2020
Heartwarming and fascinating.
September 1, 2021
Da, svi smo. No, knjiga me je naučila da nije dovoljno da se zalijepimo za nekoga koliko da taj lijepak opstane i prkosi svojom strukturom, nalik adhezivu i adherenatu. Pa i kad nas sila razdvoji, da nam ne povuče dio nas...Iznenađujuće poučna knjiga, dugo odlagana. Na momente dosadna, ali poučna.
October 25, 2013
Dear Ms. Lewycka,
Please stop trying so hard to be entertaining. Just have a cup of tea and try to calm down.
Sincerely,
Your Readers
The plot: Georgie is in the middle of the breakup of her marriage when she meets an old woman who lives in her neighborhood. The old woman, Mrs. Shapiro, is seemingly a crazy old cat lady/hoarder. But she has some sort of secret that Georgie really wants to figure out. Meanwhile, Georgie's teenage son has become convinced it's the end of the world, causing problems of his own.
My issues with this book (and I had many): It was way too descriptive about the disgusting sights, smells and foods in Mrs. Shapiro's house. If it makes my stomach turn on every page, I'm probably not having a good time reading your "comic novel." The word "gunge" doesn't need to appear on every page. Also, if it's supposed to be funny, you may want to consider that describing this woman wearing old, dirty clothes in her filthy home eating spoiled food and having her cats urinating on everything is not actually going to be funny to a lot of people, just sad.
Georgie reads like someone who has recently arrived on planet Earth. She doesn't know anything about anything; it's a major revelation for her when she realizes that a revenge scenario wouldn't work because *gasp* she completely forgot that men don't sit down to pee. (Seriously.) It's a running "joke" in the book that she mishears everything. Fine, but she accepts whatever she originally hears as though it must be fact. Yes, I'm sure the woman's name is Mrs. Goodknee, and the nursing home is called Nightmare House. In return, people keep getting her name wrong, calling her Georgia, Georgiana, Georgina, etc. (oh, the hilarity). But when someone who thinks her name is Georgia asks her teasingly, "The US state or the country?" about her name, she can only mumble "I'm not good with geography." This is because Georgie is an idiot.
Georgie is also a budding writer, so we're treated to bits and pieces from her romance novel. They are intentionally terrible, I guess, although it's never made clear that Georgie should have all her fingers broken to keep her from continuing her writing aspirations. The problem with including fictional bad writing in your book is that it has to be appreciably more terrible than the book we're actually reading. In this case, I think it's a draw.
Oh, and hey, among all this other nonsense, the book is about World War II, and Jews and Palestinians and the conflicts over a homeland for both of them. If you're thinking "Uh, I'm not sure how that could fit in with everything else previously described in any sort of way that's not either shoehorned in or completely inappropriate," you're getting the idea. It's both.
Recommended for: people who like watching comedians struggling to be funny and failing, people who watch Hoarders and laugh though it.
Quote: "In the bottom of the fridge I found three black, wizened human fingers. It took me a moment to realise they were carrots."
Please stop trying so hard to be entertaining. Just have a cup of tea and try to calm down.
Sincerely,
Your Readers
The plot: Georgie is in the middle of the breakup of her marriage when she meets an old woman who lives in her neighborhood. The old woman, Mrs. Shapiro, is seemingly a crazy old cat lady/hoarder. But she has some sort of secret that Georgie really wants to figure out. Meanwhile, Georgie's teenage son has become convinced it's the end of the world, causing problems of his own.
My issues with this book (and I had many): It was way too descriptive about the disgusting sights, smells and foods in Mrs. Shapiro's house. If it makes my stomach turn on every page, I'm probably not having a good time reading your "comic novel." The word "gunge" doesn't need to appear on every page. Also, if it's supposed to be funny, you may want to consider that describing this woman wearing old, dirty clothes in her filthy home eating spoiled food and having her cats urinating on everything is not actually going to be funny to a lot of people, just sad.
Georgie reads like someone who has recently arrived on planet Earth. She doesn't know anything about anything; it's a major revelation for her when she realizes that a revenge scenario wouldn't work because *gasp* she completely forgot that men don't sit down to pee. (Seriously.) It's a running "joke" in the book that she mishears everything. Fine, but she accepts whatever she originally hears as though it must be fact. Yes, I'm sure the woman's name is Mrs. Goodknee, and the nursing home is called Nightmare House. In return, people keep getting her name wrong, calling her Georgia, Georgiana, Georgina, etc. (oh, the hilarity). But when someone who thinks her name is Georgia asks her teasingly, "The US state or the country?" about her name, she can only mumble "I'm not good with geography." This is because Georgie is an idiot.
Georgie is also a budding writer, so we're treated to bits and pieces from her romance novel. They are intentionally terrible, I guess, although it's never made clear that Georgie should have all her fingers broken to keep her from continuing her writing aspirations. The problem with including fictional bad writing in your book is that it has to be appreciably more terrible than the book we're actually reading. In this case, I think it's a draw.
Oh, and hey, among all this other nonsense, the book is about World War II, and Jews and Palestinians and the conflicts over a homeland for both of them. If you're thinking "Uh, I'm not sure how that could fit in with everything else previously described in any sort of way that's not either shoehorned in or completely inappropriate," you're getting the idea. It's both.
Recommended for: people who like watching comedians struggling to be funny and failing, people who watch Hoarders and laugh though it.
Quote: "In the bottom of the fridge I found three black, wizened human fingers. It took me a moment to realise they were carrots."
January 12, 2019
Mein Fazit lautet: toller Roman, der sich als äußerst vielschichtig und gehaltvoll entpuppt, mit einer Prise 'lehrreich' noch dazu.
Beginnen tut er erst einmal wie ein 'Frauenroman'. Georgie ist frisch getrennt von ihrem Mann und trifft beim Entsorgen seiner Sachen auf eine äußerst kauzige Nachbarin, die sie bald näher kennen lernt als ihr eigentlich lieb war. Die alte Frau kommt nämlich unverhofft ins Krankenhaus, derweil muss sich natürlich jemand um die vielen Katzen kümmern. Und ganz nebenbei gilt es auch noch, das Haus davor zu bewahren, dass es sich die gierige Sozialarbeiterin des Krankenhauses unter den Nagel reißt.
Ungerechte Behandlung treibt mich ja immer in den Wahnsinn, selbst wenn ich es 'nur' in Büchern lesen muss. Das hat mich auch schon am Debüt von Marina Lewycka "Eine kurze Geschichte von Traktoren..." verrückt gemacht - wo die 'eingekaufte' Frau ihren neuen Mann nach Strich und Faden ausnehmen wollte. Hier sind es nicht nur Privatleute, gegen die unsere Heldin kämpfen muss, sondern auch die Behörden. Und da ist es ungleich schwerer gegen anzukommen. Wie Mrs. Shapiro im Pflegeheim regelrecht inhaftiert wird fand ich unglaublich.
Aber zum Glück ist das nicht der einzige Erzählstrang. Da gäbe es noch den religiös-fanatischen Sohn Ben, mit dessen Vorstellungen vom Leben Georgie nicht mehr genau umzugehen weiß. Ich habe mich an der Stelle selbst gefragt, was ich tun würde, um meinen Sohn davon abzuhalten aus lauter Verzweiflung Selbstmord oder auch eine Amoktat zu begehen. Ich wüsste es ehrlich gesagt nicht.
Dann gibt es noch die Liebeskomponente zwischen Georgie und ihrem neuen Verehrer Mr. Diabello (ich hab im Buch ständig 'Diabolo' gelesen, aber ganz so teuflisch ist er ja nicht), und auch ihr Ehemann Rip ist noch nicht ganz aus dem Rennen.
Auch das Politische wird nicht außer Acht gelassen, in dem der Konflikt zwischen den israelischen Juden und den Palästinensern mal aus der Sicht von letzteren geschildert wird. Diesen Punkt fand ich persönlich am interessantesten, da mir vieles davon überhaupt nicht bekannt war. Trotzdem ich die Attentate der Palästinenser immer noch nicht gut heiße (genauso wenig wie die der Juden), sehe ich jetzt doch einiges immerhin mit zwei Augen statt nur einem.
Die soziale Schiene ist abgedeckt durch die bereits angesprochene Geschichte mit den Sozialarbeitern, Krankenhäusern und Heimen. Aber auch die zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen zwischen all den verschiedenen Charakteren fallen ja hier drunter. Und alle werden von einem gemeinsamen Klebstoff zusammengehalten. Ich fand es sehr gut, wie Lewycka diese Metapher an den verschiedensten Stellen immer wieder passend angebracht hat.
Auch das Ende war dann wieder sehr versöhnlich und ein toller Abschluss. Auf seine Art und Weise ist für jeden doch ein Stückchen Glück übrig geblieben.
Beginnen tut er erst einmal wie ein 'Frauenroman'. Georgie ist frisch getrennt von ihrem Mann und trifft beim Entsorgen seiner Sachen auf eine äußerst kauzige Nachbarin, die sie bald näher kennen lernt als ihr eigentlich lieb war. Die alte Frau kommt nämlich unverhofft ins Krankenhaus, derweil muss sich natürlich jemand um die vielen Katzen kümmern. Und ganz nebenbei gilt es auch noch, das Haus davor zu bewahren, dass es sich die gierige Sozialarbeiterin des Krankenhauses unter den Nagel reißt.
Ungerechte Behandlung treibt mich ja immer in den Wahnsinn, selbst wenn ich es 'nur' in Büchern lesen muss. Das hat mich auch schon am Debüt von Marina Lewycka "Eine kurze Geschichte von Traktoren..." verrückt gemacht - wo die 'eingekaufte' Frau ihren neuen Mann nach Strich und Faden ausnehmen wollte. Hier sind es nicht nur Privatleute, gegen die unsere Heldin kämpfen muss, sondern auch die Behörden. Und da ist es ungleich schwerer gegen anzukommen. Wie Mrs. Shapiro im Pflegeheim regelrecht inhaftiert wird fand ich unglaublich.
Aber zum Glück ist das nicht der einzige Erzählstrang. Da gäbe es noch den religiös-fanatischen Sohn Ben, mit dessen Vorstellungen vom Leben Georgie nicht mehr genau umzugehen weiß. Ich habe mich an der Stelle selbst gefragt, was ich tun würde, um meinen Sohn davon abzuhalten aus lauter Verzweiflung Selbstmord oder auch eine Amoktat zu begehen. Ich wüsste es ehrlich gesagt nicht.
Dann gibt es noch die Liebeskomponente zwischen Georgie und ihrem neuen Verehrer Mr. Diabello (ich hab im Buch ständig 'Diabolo' gelesen, aber ganz so teuflisch ist er ja nicht), und auch ihr Ehemann Rip ist noch nicht ganz aus dem Rennen.
Auch das Politische wird nicht außer Acht gelassen, in dem der Konflikt zwischen den israelischen Juden und den Palästinensern mal aus der Sicht von letzteren geschildert wird. Diesen Punkt fand ich persönlich am interessantesten, da mir vieles davon überhaupt nicht bekannt war. Trotzdem ich die Attentate der Palästinenser immer noch nicht gut heiße (genauso wenig wie die der Juden), sehe ich jetzt doch einiges immerhin mit zwei Augen statt nur einem.
Die soziale Schiene ist abgedeckt durch die bereits angesprochene Geschichte mit den Sozialarbeitern, Krankenhäusern und Heimen. Aber auch die zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen zwischen all den verschiedenen Charakteren fallen ja hier drunter. Und alle werden von einem gemeinsamen Klebstoff zusammengehalten. Ich fand es sehr gut, wie Lewycka diese Metapher an den verschiedensten Stellen immer wieder passend angebracht hat.
Auch das Ende war dann wieder sehr versöhnlich und ein toller Abschluss. Auf seine Art und Weise ist für jeden doch ein Stückchen Glück übrig geblieben.
October 13, 2010
Georgie Sinclair is in her 40’s. Her smug husband, Rip, has left her for his ‘progressive projects’. Her son, Ben, spends his life in cyberspace, obsessed with Armageddon. Her daughter is away at college. Other than writing for the adhesive publications, hence the title, Georgie doesn’t have much of a life. Until she meets Mrs Shapiro, her eccentric neighbour, when she throws all of Rip’s belongings into the skip. Naomi Shapiro seems to be a bag lady with a trolley, obsessively collecting other people’s rubbish. She claims Rip’s collection of classical Russian music.
When Naomi falls and is hospitalised, she names Georgie as her next of kin. Georgie is drawn into a bizarre world filled with dubious social workers and estate agents who seem to want to take the old lady’s home away from her. Canaan House becomes a desirable property, with prices of £7 000 000, 00 bandied about. When Naomi is almost kept prisoner in a home by one of them, Georgie is forced to act. She gets Mr Ali and his useless nephews to move in and make the house liveable. When Naomi’s son arrives from Israel, chaos ensues.
Georgie is a wonderful character. I cheered when she had a fling with Marc Diabello, the smooth estate agent. I enjoyed her novel writing attempts scattered through the book, and her reaction to seeing her estranged husband with another woman is great.
The one weakness in the novel is Lewycke’s delving into the past. The forays into the history of Mrs Shapiro and Mr Ali were heavy going and do not suit the genre. What should have remained back story was given prime time.
Otherwise, Lewycke is a great observer of modern society. She is funny, appealing and entertaining. Highly recommended.
When Naomi falls and is hospitalised, she names Georgie as her next of kin. Georgie is drawn into a bizarre world filled with dubious social workers and estate agents who seem to want to take the old lady’s home away from her. Canaan House becomes a desirable property, with prices of £7 000 000, 00 bandied about. When Naomi is almost kept prisoner in a home by one of them, Georgie is forced to act. She gets Mr Ali and his useless nephews to move in and make the house liveable. When Naomi’s son arrives from Israel, chaos ensues.
Georgie is a wonderful character. I cheered when she had a fling with Marc Diabello, the smooth estate agent. I enjoyed her novel writing attempts scattered through the book, and her reaction to seeing her estranged husband with another woman is great.
The one weakness in the novel is Lewycke’s delving into the past. The forays into the history of Mrs Shapiro and Mr Ali were heavy going and do not suit the genre. What should have remained back story was given prime time.
Otherwise, Lewycke is a great observer of modern society. She is funny, appealing and entertaining. Highly recommended.
July 8, 2013
A wonderful story blending history and modern life together, highlighting the "glue" that bonds both together.
Georgie is having marriage problems and while trying to work through her own issues meets the lovable Mrs. Shapiro rooting around in the skip she has ordered to throw out all her husband's things.
So starts a tempestuous and eccentric friendship between the two that teaches both values and an insight into the other's life.
When Mrs. Shapiro ends up in hospital its upto Georgie to keep things going at her home, including feeding and caring for her numerous cats, trying to clean and fix the house as social services has stuck their noses into Mrs. Shapiro's home life and how able she is to cope independently and also the devious interest of both the local estate agents who have set their hearts on acquiring her house.
Georgie is at her wits end trying to cope with everything at once, including a whirlwind romance with one of the nefarious estate agent's and her teenage son's obsession with religion and the end of the world.
Not to mention the arrival of the "Uselesses," a local handyman called Mr. Ali and his nephew and his friend who with their hearts in the right place try their hardest to look after the old house and fix it up for Mrs. Shapiro's eventual return.
Can Georgie manage to rescue Mrs. Shapiro from the clutches of the social services and the old folks home they put her in and in the process also save her home, her cats, her marriage her son and also unravel the mysteries of Mrs. Shapiro herself and her checquered and colourful past.
At times absolutely hilarious and at other times terribly sad this book is a lovely, easy and enjoyable read with a whole host of memorable characters and told in the author's own unique, quirky style.
Georgie is having marriage problems and while trying to work through her own issues meets the lovable Mrs. Shapiro rooting around in the skip she has ordered to throw out all her husband's things.
So starts a tempestuous and eccentric friendship between the two that teaches both values and an insight into the other's life.
When Mrs. Shapiro ends up in hospital its upto Georgie to keep things going at her home, including feeding and caring for her numerous cats, trying to clean and fix the house as social services has stuck their noses into Mrs. Shapiro's home life and how able she is to cope independently and also the devious interest of both the local estate agents who have set their hearts on acquiring her house.
Georgie is at her wits end trying to cope with everything at once, including a whirlwind romance with one of the nefarious estate agent's and her teenage son's obsession with religion and the end of the world.
Not to mention the arrival of the "Uselesses," a local handyman called Mr. Ali and his nephew and his friend who with their hearts in the right place try their hardest to look after the old house and fix it up for Mrs. Shapiro's eventual return.
Can Georgie manage to rescue Mrs. Shapiro from the clutches of the social services and the old folks home they put her in and in the process also save her home, her cats, her marriage her son and also unravel the mysteries of Mrs. Shapiro herself and her checquered and colourful past.
At times absolutely hilarious and at other times terribly sad this book is a lovely, easy and enjoyable read with a whole host of memorable characters and told in the author's own unique, quirky style.
July 15, 2017
I gave this an 8/10 or 4 stars. I've read several books by Marina Lewycka and she has the ability to pull together a story that has humour at it's heart. It's a thought provoking read though and perfect for reading groups with so many things that can be discussed.
I loved the relationship that developed between Georgie and her newly found relative Mrs Shapiro. The relationship between them both was hilarious at times. Tasked with looking after the Mrs Shapiro's house, Georgie is keen to find out more about her elderly neighbour. In doing so, she opens a can of worms in some respects and not all is as it at first seems.
Two particular observations by Marina Lewycka made me smile and both were aimed at men ~
'The B & Q store was tattier than the one at Tottenham and almost empty, silent with a hush of reverence - like a temple, I thought, dedicated to some male peculiar cult.' We always said that B & Q was my brothers church on a Sunday as he never seemed to be away from it.
'Have you ever noticed the similarity between BBQ and B & Q? My theory is that that's why men feel the urge to take over cooking on these occasions.' She's probably right you know, as men do seem keener to cook when it's a BBQ rather than a normal night's tea.
Marina Lewycka certainly has a knack of making great observations and weaving them into a great story.
I loved the relationship that developed between Georgie and her newly found relative Mrs Shapiro. The relationship between them both was hilarious at times. Tasked with looking after the Mrs Shapiro's house, Georgie is keen to find out more about her elderly neighbour. In doing so, she opens a can of worms in some respects and not all is as it at first seems.
Two particular observations by Marina Lewycka made me smile and both were aimed at men ~
'The B & Q store was tattier than the one at Tottenham and almost empty, silent with a hush of reverence - like a temple, I thought, dedicated to some male peculiar cult.' We always said that B & Q was my brothers church on a Sunday as he never seemed to be away from it.
'Have you ever noticed the similarity between BBQ and B & Q? My theory is that that's why men feel the urge to take over cooking on these occasions.' She's probably right you know, as men do seem keener to cook when it's a BBQ rather than a normal night's tea.
Marina Lewycka certainly has a knack of making great observations and weaving them into a great story.
July 21, 2016
Two stars seemed unnecessarily harsh, so I've gone for three. This is quite an odd book. On the face of it, quite a cheery romp through the end of a marriage, and an unlikely friendship with an eccentric old woman. However, there are sub-themes of Middle Eastern history and politics and religious cults all bound together with the metaphor of glue. I read it willingly enough, but at the same time, I rather wanted to get it over with so I could get on with something more worthwhile.
October 5, 2009
This was by far my favourite of her three books - a nice, funny read with the usual cast of endearing and eccentric characters but a serious theme underneath. Thought the "glue" theme was a tad superfluous really, but not to the detriment of the book. And the cast of cats was as wonderful as the people!
February 21, 2021
So this was a quick and easy read, which I'm glad of because it was the next book club read that I had forgotten about. It has an intriguing mystery with Mrs Shapiro and the house, and the potential to be something great, but so much of it just didn't work for me.
1) The glue theme was too much of a stretch. It seemed a totally unnecessary add-on that bored me.
2) Her romantic fiction. Georgie is a writer by profession, yet the fiction she is attempting to write is so incredibly painful and basic that it just doesn't add up. Is it supposed to be comical? Well, it's not.
3)Characters who you would think should be quite major, are given very little air time. I need to know more about them for the relationships to be understood and for them to feel genuine. Her two children! I had forgotten who Stella even was by the time she turned up.
4) Ben's medical diagnosis completely changing the course of the road he was heading down was very convenient and entirely, nauseatingly, unrealistic.
6) The cats. In. So. Much. Detail.
5) And most importantly, Georgie. A terrible main character. So self-absorbed, yet zero self-awareness. The slut-shaming, the double-standards. The ignorance. The lack of interest or concern for her children or husband's lives....
I was interested in finding out Mrs Shapiro's story, and I did learn some things about the history of Palestine and Israel, but it wasn't enough to save it.
I know disliking a main character is not a reason to dislike a book...except when it is.
1) The glue theme was too much of a stretch. It seemed a totally unnecessary add-on that bored me.
2) Her romantic fiction. Georgie is a writer by profession, yet the fiction she is attempting to write is so incredibly painful and basic that it just doesn't add up. Is it supposed to be comical? Well, it's not.
3)Characters who you would think should be quite major, are given very little air time. I need to know more about them for the relationships to be understood and for them to feel genuine. Her two children! I had forgotten who Stella even was by the time she turned up.
4) Ben's medical diagnosis completely changing the course of the road he was heading down was very convenient and entirely, nauseatingly, unrealistic.
6) The cats. In. So. Much. Detail.
5) And most importantly, Georgie. A terrible main character. So self-absorbed, yet zero self-awareness. The slut-shaming, the double-standards. The ignorance. The lack of interest or concern for her children or husband's lives....
I was interested in finding out Mrs Shapiro's story, and I did learn some things about the history of Palestine and Israel, but it wasn't enough to save it.
I know disliking a main character is not a reason to dislike a book...except when it is.
August 29, 2021
A quick and easy read, I found this sufficiently entertaining for a holiday novel. While the writing style was ok generally, the plot was too much for me - too many things going on and some that I found really odd, not believable. Georgia’s writing exercise book - what was that about? It failed to add another dimension to her processing the break up with her husband and a brief affair with Mark. And how did super attractive and confident Mark ended up with Ms Bad Eel? This turn did not have any substance apart from linking two odd characters together in the happy ending. Funeral of the bonkers lady? Could have been left out.
I didn’t even find that many funny bits, probably only chuckled once in the whole book.
I did like the cats characters - they were more entertaining than some of the people!
Overall - I can see how other people might like this book a lot, it’s just not my style.
I didn’t even find that many funny bits, probably only chuckled once in the whole book.
I did like the cats characters - they were more entertaining than some of the people!
Overall - I can see how other people might like this book a lot, it’s just not my style.
March 18, 2024
A charming book with numerous lovable characters. I loved Mr Ali and Mrs Shapiro, both of them were such sweet elderly people that I cared for and rooted for. It's definitely an easy read, but that doesn't mean it does not lack substance with many interludes into the history of Palestine and Israel, as well as exploring the family history of characters who lived during WWII. I also thought that the portrayal of hospital admissions for the elderly which highlighted the obsession with a package of care that is not necessarily guided by the opinions of the older person involved reasonably accurate.
The main character's relationship with her son is also very believable, I see a lot of my mum's relationship with my brother in their dynamic.
Ultimately this isn't a piece of high brow literature with metaphors to unpack every other page, but it was such a pleasure to read and despite the chaotic turns in the plot I was convinced by this endearing story to read more by Marina Lewycka in future.
The main character's relationship with her son is also very believable, I see a lot of my mum's relationship with my brother in their dynamic.
Ultimately this isn't a piece of high brow literature with metaphors to unpack every other page, but it was such a pleasure to read and despite the chaotic turns in the plot I was convinced by this endearing story to read more by Marina Lewycka in future.
April 22, 2025
Dit was echt een banger. Love de tweedehands boeken uit mijn oma’s boekenkast <3
En: Onverwachts een hele plezierige manier om meer te leren over het conflict tussen Palestina en Israël. Met goede personages die de geschiedenis en het heden prachtig weten te verbinden door alle menselijke kanten te belichten.
De personages waren hilarisch, maar ook diep diep menselijk en het boek had katten(!).
Wel af en toe wat opmerkingen die in 2025 toch niet meer zo gewaardeerd worden… af en toe door me tanden lucht naar binnen moeten ademen. Maar ja, dat genegeerd te hebben, echt een banger.
En: Onverwachts een hele plezierige manier om meer te leren over het conflict tussen Palestina en Israël. Met goede personages die de geschiedenis en het heden prachtig weten te verbinden door alle menselijke kanten te belichten.
De personages waren hilarisch, maar ook diep diep menselijk en het boek had katten(!).
Wel af en toe wat opmerkingen die in 2025 toch niet meer zo gewaardeerd worden… af en toe door me tanden lucht naar binnen moeten ademen. Maar ja, dat genegeerd te hebben, echt een banger.
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