"[Russia] is a place where if you don't have powerful connections your life is a bit of a tightrope walk. If something goes wrong you can be in very deep trouble very quickly." Terry volunteered to lead our group discussion given his experiences of running various businesses in Russia in the 90's. Miller does an incredible job at creating the backdrop of the lawlessness and corruption involved in the banking and business enterprises with which the main character, Nick finds himself. Terry regaled us with stories of his attempts to establish a pizza restaurant, a Ben and Jerry's, a clothing store, a bar and a vodka store. As described in Snowdrops, investment experiences involving Terry looking over his shoulder sometimes with armed body guards and managing the changing rules and procedures.
Given how well the setting was developed, the group, on whole, was disappointed in the character development. Nick, the lawyer seemed superficial. Masha, his lover was even less developed. The structure of the novel being a letter to his fiancee confessing his love and failures in Russia was puzzling to us. Whereas Nick is applauded for his honesty, whether his soon to be life partner does indeed agree to marry him was a question in our minds.
We selected Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan for our next meeting, June 27th at Chrysanne's house. Cindy will facilitate the discussion. We hope Kate and Fred will be able to make it.
Great summary Cindy! I never got in a thought
ReplyDeletewhich I had several times Wednesday evening: the very dark side of
Russia and the Russian people is at least partially offset by the
wonderful music and literature and the vastness and drama of the
country and the incredible bravery in WW II (for example the siege of
Leningrad mentioned in the book). They are crazy and nutty adventurers
and explorers and highly proficient spies (which it occurs to me
fits nicely with the talents described in Snowdrops) and the book
caught the grim flip side.
Happy Memorial Day! Ed