“A month seemed optimistic, though in Russia you never knew. They could wallow in mud and vodka for a decade, then conjure up a skyscraper or execute a royal family in an afternoon, if they put their minds to it and the incentives were right.”
Ever since I read Gorky Park when I was about 14, I’ve loved all things Russian. I went on to read many of the great Russian novels, including Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov, as well as many short stories by Chekov and Gogol. Then I was fascinated the last tsar’s family in Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. I even studied Russian independently for awhile, but it’s a tough language. I can still read it if it’s a person’s or city’s name or an American or scientific word, but unfortunately I can’t understand or participate in a Russian conversation.
When Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith got such good reviews and was longlisted for the Booker Prize, I read and loved it. Then Snowdrops was moved to the shortlist for the Booker this year, and I knew I had to read it and get my Russian fix.
The term ‘snowdrops’ refers to dead bodies found after the snow from the long Russian winters begins to melt. Right away from the first page, we find out that a ‘snowdrop’ has been found. The narrator, Nick, is a British lawyer working for British banks who finance Russian corporations. The story involves how the fall of communism has affected Russians in their everyday life, as well as the role of crime in modern day Russia.
Miller creates some memorable characters. Aside from Nick, we have Masha, his girlfriend, and her sister Katya. There is Oleg, Nick’s elderly neighbor, who needs help finding his missing friend. Tatiana is the girls’ aunt, who was given her apartment by Stalin’s regime, and then The Cossack, a shady figure in Nick’s business dealings. The gist of the story is that Nick is telling his future wife the whole tale of his time in Moscow and asking her whether or not she still wants to marry him.
The book’s inclusion on the Booker shortlist has raised a bit of a controversy. Some have loved the book and some have thought it just your average crime novel. I am of the former variety. I loved it not only because it involved a Russian setting, but also because it really made me think about the questions it raises at the end.
Another controversy is that some people have said it might be a little misogynistic. While I am all for calling out misogyny and have done so in previous book reviews, I don’t believe that is the case here, though I respect other people’s opinions. The reason I don’t think it applies is that misogynists, by definition, hate women. Nick himself didn’t hate women, though perhaps some of the other characters did. Yes, the book is full of women of dubious morals, but I never thought that was misogynistic in and of itself.
All in all, if you love anything Russian or crime novels in general, I definitely encourage you to read Snowdrops.
(2011, 262 pp.)
FTC Disclosure: I obtained this title from my local library
I never considered Snowdrops misogynistic. I thought some of the characters were a bit cliched but that was the men as well as the women. I thought the real star of the book was Moscow – the descriptions made me feel as though I already knew the city.
Louise recently posted..Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I haven’t really paid attention to this book before. I will have to look into it.
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