We Are All Made of Glue (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

I loved this warm, funny story about two lonely women who form an unlikely but very touching friendship.

When she's not editing online articles about adhesives, Georgie is penning her hilariously bad romantic novel 'The Splattered Heart' and dreaming of lantern-jawed heroes. There are some very funny moments but, as with Marina Lewycka's previous book, Two Caravans, there's a serious side as well.

After being named as her next of kin when Mrs Shapiro goes into hospital, Georgie unravels her neighbour's history through a series of hidden letters and photographs, spanning the rise of Hitler and the Arab-Israeli conflict, with some pretty shocking discoveries along the way.

Mrs Shapiro is a wonderfully colourful creation and Marina Lewycka's brilliant ear for dialogue is very much in evidence. Unfortunately there's no 'Dog' this time, but there are plenty of cats to keep animal lovers happy (I loved 'Wonder Boy').

After being a bit underwhelmed by Tractors (I blame the hype) but loving Caravans, I wasn't sure what to expect this time, but on the evidence of her latest book Marina Lewycka gets better and better. The 'message' is perhaps a little cheesy - something to do with the 'glue' that holds us all together - but totally forgivable as the endearing characters and gentle humour made this a really entertaining and uplifting read.

Marina Lewycka's book are like plain brown paper parcels that contain something wonderful titles about 'tractors' caravans' and 'glue' may not get your pulse racing but this is beautifully crafted, effortlessly funny stuff. I am not really fussed if I laughed a little bit less with this one than her previous books...laughs in fiction are few and far between so, I applaud anyone who genuinely put a big smile on my mush. I love the fact that while the touch is delicate - the issues can be heavyweight...painful conflicts, marital break-down, scandelous care of the elderly and a son obsessed with Armagedon.
I love the subtle homour....it's hard to give an example without blowing the plot but a suitably ditzy would-be novelist befriends an insane 'lady' of indeterminate age and origin and has to poke around her gruesomely smelly house - incontinent old ladies/many cats etc...the bathroom is suitably disgusting but, a fairy Godmother social worker dismisses the appalling state with a kindly "There's no accounting for cultural diversity"...a quote I'll memorise and use again I am sure.
great book...

Personally I think that this author just keeps getting better with each novel published. Or maybe it is just that I have just got used to her distinctive style of combining the hilarious with the tragic.

As in her previous novels I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent portrayal of her cast of characters. What a wonderful cast of characters they are from the two main protagonists Georgie Sinclair and the elderly Naomi Shapiro right down to the smallest bit parts. Even the seven cats in the story have characters of their own.

Marina Lewycka even manages to find something amusing in glue, by using the fact that her main protagonist writes trade articles on adhesives as a clever ruse for appropriate section and chapter names. Some bits were a little scientific and went over my head, but that didn't matter. If I had been so inclined I could have done some research on adhesives but no I am not that interested. I understood enough and it was clever using glue as an allegory for human relationships and bonds, excuse the pun! At least that is how I interpreted it.

Georgie Sinclair is a journalist and would be authoress working from home, dealing with almost adult children and a marriage that is slipping away from her. She gets to know by chance an eccentric old Jewish lady, Naomi Shapiro who lives in Canaan House a rambling but crumbling residence in the same locality. As if Georgie does not have enough to cope with, Naomi after a minor fall puts her in hospital names Georgie as her next of kin. So she finds herself with a lot more than a son obsessed with the end of the world and her daughter who keeps her distance to worry about. As she is drawn into the old woman's life, we meet a cast of eccentric characters from devious estate agents and social workers to handymen who just happen to be Arabs. Hilarious yes, but we also learn of the complexities of the Middle East Crisis. If you are at all sensitive you might find some of the descriptions of what happened to the Jews, yes glue again and the state of Naomi's residence might well make you feel slightly nauseous. Sadly the first is a fact of life and the second a sad possibility for a lonely old lady living alone. As Georgie tries desperately to put Naomi's life on a more even keel her own is falling apart. You will have realised by now that the coherence, yes glue again, of this story is not an easy one but I felt that Marina Lewycka's manages to tie up all the loose ends and give us a more than satisfactory ending although some may consider it a little trite.

I certainly recommend the work of this author and if you have enjoyed her previous novels will be surprised if you do not enjoy this one.