Arkady Renko

[lordtiberius]

I recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Tatiana-Arkady-Renko-Martin-Smith/dp/1439140219

Martin Smith Cruz gives a minor critique of the Putin regime and celebrates the life of the murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Politkovskaya

[jone]

The entire Arkady Renko series, beginning with Gorky Park is worth reading.  It is a real treat following crime/drama through the eyes of the author, from classic Soviet times up through present day modern Russia.  I believe we are at 8 or 9 books now.

Aside from Gorky Park, which pitches Mr. Smith as one of the original MOBers (his woman makes it to America) I have specifically enjoyed Stalin's Ghost, among others.

[lordtiberius]

This book takes place in Kalingrad.  I met a girl from Kalingrad once.  My buddy ended up marrying her.  Glad I didn't.  She was a very accomplished physicist, a good dancer and good looking but she had opinions.

Anyone ever been to Kalingrad?

Jone, what is your favorite Arkady book?  Is Arkady Ukrainian?

[missAmeno]

... but she had opinions.

 

Have you ever met woman without opinions?

[Daveman]

Have you ever met woman without opinions?

Footprints of said anomalies have been reported up near that area in northern Siberia where the 30 yo virgins and the Almasty are purported to have been glimpsed, Big Foot crossed into Alaska, as well as the site of the first alien abductions prior to their decision to relocate to trailer parks in the Ozarks.

[jone]

I thought all of the double wides were here in Southern California.  I know that mine is not unique, but one of many.

The best Martin Cruz Smith book and the one that tells the details of Arkady Renko is the first, Gorky Park.  Irina, his love interest is a classically flawed Soviet dissident who yearns to escape to the west.  In this first book we also find that Renko is the son of a Hero of the Soviet Union and General of the Army.  But his dark past is also revealed in that his mother was so despondent over her lifestyle that she had committed suicide rather than live the life assigned her.

Renko is a Chief Investigator for the Militsiya.  In this novel he follows Irina to America, but finds it as corrupt as the Soviet Union.  At the end of the book we find him returned home to his job and a forlorn life.

These novels (I think Polar Star and Red Square were also set in Soviet times) present a serviceable view of life in the former Soviet Union but bring to life the vibrant lifestyle of Soviet citizens, the decisions they make and the motivating factors of their lives.  A GREAT read.

From an American detective novel point of view the books are entertaining.  From an expat point of view they are invaluable for understanding the underpinnings of a society no longer in place.

[lordtiberius]

Thanks man!  I have to check it out.  What did you think of the film.  Did you watch it?  Is it worth watching?

[mendeleyev]

I enjoyed Gorky Parky much more than Stalin's Ghost, although Ghost was good. Cruz is a good writer and until you posted this I wasn't aware of some of his other works which I intend to check out soon.

I've been to Kaliningrad. It is an old city, some 750 years old, and has a primarily German history. It was a spoils of war for Stalin after WWII and gave Russia an ice-free port to the Baltic. It was a closed city when home to the Soviet Baltic Fleet. With the loss of the Baltic states, its importance for Russia has increased although it is isolated from the rest of Russia.

Even though the German citizens were expelled and the area repopulated, it is still a very "German" city, deeply confused by her real history and by what the Russians would like for the history to have been. No matter how many Cyrillic signs are mounted on the German housetops, Königsberg (now supposedly Kaliningrad) is still the home of Immanuel Kant.

[lordtiberius]

post some pictures

Martin Cruz Smith wrote about this example of Soviet architecture: