REVIEW: Two Caravans (From Essex County Standard)

REVIEW: Two Caravans

5:13pm Monday 22nd December 2008 in Leisure By Lynne Milford

by Marina Lewycka, RRP £7.99. The blurb on the back of the book promises it will be “hilarious and horrifying” but this is only partly true.

It tells the tale of a group of immigrant workers who have come to the UK to work and have ended up living in caravans and picking strawberries for very little money.

The book is difficult to read in places because different characters tell the story and it is not always immediately clear who is speaking.

The story is also told as it is happening and the English heavily accented which sometimes makes it difficult to understand.

To be honest I found it more frustrating than funny, watching the characters walking into dangerous situations but by the time I reached the middle of the book I found I genuinely cared what happened to them.

Lewycka has done her research on how migrant workers are treated, and it makes for compelling reading – even if it is sometimes difficult to understand.