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BOOK REVIEW:
GORKY PARK
BY MARTIN CRUZ SMITH
Copyright 2019 Christina M. Guerrero
DEDICATION
For my friend who recommended the book.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Finally finishing a book after almost forty years.
ABOUT THE DRAFTS
Third draft: Nothing yet.
Back in the old days, when I was in high school, a classmate recommended Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith.
It's been long enough that I don't remember what happened next. I might have gone to the library or to a bookstore and examined the book and then put it aside, most likely too busy or not ready to read it.
Fast forward to 2007, when I finally decided to buy a used paperback version of the novel. I bought it and waited for a decent opportunity to enjoy the story. I read the first few pages, then had to deal with life. When I had more time to read, I started where I had left off ... and had trouble connecting the previously-read pages with the current session.
So I started over. I read for a while, then had to stop and deal with life, picked up the book once more, hoped to resume reading, could not connect the different scenes because I had life on my mind ....
So I started over again.
This went on for twelve years.
There was one session when I sped-read through the book. But that did not feel any more satisfying than reading the same pages over and over.
Recently, despite life, I found myself deeper into the story. Many days later, I finally finished. Then I sat there and let the images linger. I thought about those last few scenes and words; they slowly faded like the notes of a fond melody. I felt sad that it was over, yet somewhat pleased because this is only the first in a series.
Then I went back to the beginning: to some of the most iconic lines in a mystery novel written by an American. (More on those later). What I thought the first time I read them: “So it is night time in Moscow and we are at a crime scene. Sounds way too much like real life. Not sure when I want to continue reading.”
When I finally moved past twelve years of not only being too busy to enjoy the paperback book, but also savoring the moment of being outside on a frosty Moscow night, I learned more about the crime scene and chief investigator Arkady Renko and and his attempts to solve the mystery in the park.
Martin Cruz Smith proceeds the way you think he might: Arkady has to deal with politics, enemies, and time-consuming procedures during the investigation. He has a personal life with its own challenges. He has friends, enemies, and frenemies. Most of this is serious and depressing ... until Smith adds dark humor in the most unexpected ways. I lost count of how many times I laughed out loud, or had to hold that back in a quiet environment. I began looking forward to more humor; Smith did not disappoint.
Likewise, there are no disappointments with learning a bit about Russian culture and language. Among other Russian past-times, the characters drink a lot of vodka, have a meeting in a bath house while barely dressed, discuss the pros and cons of political idealism and political apathy and political loyalty, and use profane words in profane ways (Russian swear words are incredibly creative, as I would find out while flipping through a book entitled Dermo! The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used). As for the language -- Smith includes a few sentences in Cyrillic letters -- you can't sound it out; you can't read it; you can't translate that backwards R unless you know exactly what it is. There are a few phonetic translations but the rest of the novel is English words describing Russians in Russia. Somehow it all feels foreign and unfamiliar.
Despite that, the novel reveals that no matter how foreign and unfamiliar our cultures are to one another, we have things in common: loyalties and betrayals, friendships and enemies (and those aggravating frenemies), ambitions and failures, humors and sorrows.
And as for those opening lines? They are haunting, almost every review of Gorky Park refers to them, and I am going to do so, as well. Read those first few sentences. I bet you’ll imagine yourself standing right there, at the investigator’s side, staring in confusion and sadness at the clearing in the park. When I finally reached the end, I found similar words, and I realized that this former newspaperman Smith made me think of that old riddle about what a newspaper is: black and white and red all over. Which made me laugh just a little bit more, and which made me think: All books should be so wonderful, all books should be so memorable, and all books should be so funny when you least expect it ... just like life.
SOURCES:
martincruzsmith.com
Smith, Martin Cruz. Gorky Park. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1981).
Topol, Edward. Dermo! The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used. (New York: Plume Books, Penguin Books, 1997).
wikipedia.com. “Martin Cruz Smith.” Retrieved November 1 to 5, 2019.
YouTube video. "Martin Cruz Smith Discusses His Work." November 6, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH0QZAVu2d8
YouTube video. "Martin Cruz Smith -- Talk to Al Jazeera." September 4, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8QxuasTUa0
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