Tag Archives: Romance

“A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian” by Marina Lewycka

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Houyhnhnm

Fun. It’s written in the person of a Ukrainian-British woman, telling the story of her father’s disastrous marriage in widowerhood to a more recent Ukrainian immigrant, the well-named and warhead-breasted Valentina. It’s very funny, but succeeds mostly I think because … Continue reading →

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“Unholyland” by Aidan Andrew Dun

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Houyhnhnm

Another step on Aidan Andrew Dun’s journey towards the poetic recognition he so deserves, and perhaps a major milestone: he now has his name and words fixed in stone at King’s Cross, and has attracted, for the cover of this … Continue reading →

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“Z for Zachariah” by Robert C. O’Brien

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

[Spoiler alert] A girl alone after nuclear war, running her family farm; a man walks in from the dead zone, in a unique suit and equipment that sustains life in radioactive environments. She romantically imagines marriage and a family; he … Continue reading →

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“He’s Just Not That Into You”

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

The kind of set-up that you find in foreign films at Curzon cinemas: the lives of several young people come together in different ways; subplots cross over and merge, weaving a meditation on love and humanity. This one though doesn’t … Continue reading →

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“Are We There Yet?”

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Awful comedy with some very funny gross bits (man holding a boy who’s urinating in a woman’s face; boy (same one) causing a near-pile-up by projectile-vomiting over a windscreen; and the man fighting a deer is funny too, albeit ungross. … Continue reading →

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