review by Aimee
This is one of those types of books that you never quite know what to expect until you’re half way through. It’s a pleasant read, not entirely exciting, heartbreaking, or novel, but pleasant nonetheless. It’s simple, and easily enjoyable, with a few comical elements thrown in for good measure.
It follows the lives of a family who lived, for the most part, in a commune. Doro, the hippy, free-love mother tells her tale of her struggle with ageing and issues with her allotment. The narrative also follows her three children, Clara, a school teacher, Serge, a PHD drop-out making millions in banking, and Oolie-Anna, Doro’s adopted daughter with down syndrome.
Each character tells part of their story, and they each have individual charms about them which really help to connect you to their plight. What really ties the book together are the references back to the commune days, and the various pets that the children attempted (and often failed) to care for.
Each character goes through a particular struggle, which usually becomes relatively amusing at their individual conclusions. The highlight of this book has to be Serge’s hopeless obsession with his coworker, ‘Princess’ Maroushka, for whom he writes awful attempts at poetry. This poetry will keep popping up, and it gets funnier every time.
This is one of those books that I’d recommend just for the sheer pleasure of reading it. Getting lost with the characters makes a great respite from everyday life, and it seems such a shame to finish the book, and end the connection you build with each character.
Publisher: Fig Tree
Date Published: 28 February 2013
RRP: £8.99
ISBN: 9780141044941
Synopsis: Take from WHSmith
Lentils, free love, radical politics and family truths…”Various Pets Alive and Dead” is the wonderfully funny fourth novel from Marina Lewycka, author of the bestselling “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian”. For twenty years Doro and Marcus lived in a commune, convinced lentils and free love would change the world. They didn’t. What they did do was give their children a terror of radicalism, dirt, cooking rotas and poverty. Their daughter Clara wants nothing less conformist than her own, clean bathroom. Their son Serge hides the awkward fact that he’s a banker earning loadsamoney. So when Doro and Marcus spring a surprise on their kids – just as the world is rocked in ways they always wished for – the family is forced to confront some thorny truths about themselves.
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