Verses, Vodka and Royalty

Verses AND VERSIONS

Vladimir Nabokov (Harcourt, $40) 

It is not enough that Vladimir Nabokov was one of the most gifted and prolific prose stylists of the 20th century, that he was a supremely talented chess player and a recognized expert in lepidoptery. He also was an outstanding translator of poetry and prose, his sensual multi-linguality an endless source of admiration and envy.

This collection of Nabokov’s translations of Russian poetic masterpieces into English was a half-century in the making, pursued and put off multiple times during the writer’s lifetime. It is finally published here with editing by Brian Boyd and Stanislav Shvabrin, with additional Nabokovian texts of criticism and, most notably, with Nabokov’s influential (and, for some, infuriating) ruminations on the art of translation. As an introduction to the crowning heights of Russian verse, this work is invaluable. As a testimony to Vladimir Nabokov’s skill as a translator and literary critic it is indispensable. 

the king of vodka

Linda Himelstein (Collins, $30) 

It is hard to ignore a story that starts with a penniless serf and ends with a $4 billion international vodka empire. So it is not surprising that business journalist Himelstein, despite having no Russian or background in the area, was sucked in by the biography of Pyotr Smirnov.

Pyotr Smirnov built one of Russia’s first brands, using sales and market-building techniques that were decades ahead of his time. Yet his success was hampered by the growing instability in Russia, war, a strengthening temperance movement, and a largely worthless brood. 

Hard going, indeed, but excellent grist for storytelling, and Himelstein is in her element, recounting one of the great business stories of the past century with insight and wit. This is not just an able portrait of this gentrifying merchant family, but a richly-textured account of life, love, labor and loss before and after the Bolshevik revolution. 

One thing: If you are eager to pour yourself 150 grams and hunker into a soft couch with this book, you have wait a bit. It doesn’t hit the shelves until May.

the last days of
the romanovs

Helen Rappaport (St. Martins, $26) 

Fascination with the murder of the Romanov family in July 1918 shows no sign of waning. This new book takes a micro approach, focusing in on the last 13 days of the family’s claustrophobic, tense life in Yekaterinburg.

Rappaport fills out her story with vivid detail and superb characterization, building the tension and drama to its brutal climax, sparing no stomach-turning details. She draws us in so well, that we very nearly smell the dusty drapes and taste the sweat hanging thick in the air of that tragic Siberian summer. We can’t stop reading, wondering what will happen next, even though we know full well what happens next. 

Meticulously researched and intimately drawn, this is a must read for anyone interested in the sad fate of the Romanovs, or for anyone interested in plumbing the depths of human depravity, witnessing the nobility of calm resignation, or reliving the tragedy that foretold the executions of hundreds of thousands of innocents in the decades to come.

the rebellion
of ronald reagan

James Mann (Viking, $28) 

The great thing about history is how, when it is done well, it can tear down your well-established notions of what happened and how.

In this extremely readable account  of White House politics, back-channel communications and foreign policy negotiations, Mann upends conventional wisdom about the end of the Cold War. Through meticulously researched stories, interviews and documentary evidence, he recon-structs the period in Ronald Reagan’s second term when events and personalities came together to make change happen. 

Included is the fascinating story of an unlikely emissary who influenced Reagan’s thinking on Russia long before the “experts” in the CIA and State “got it.” But the leading actor in the drama is of course Reagan, and Mann shows that it was not some pie-in-the-sky strategic initiative that brought the Cold War to an end. Instead, it was a combination of Gorbachev’s willingness to walk away from that War (to save his economy), combined with Reagan’s gut instinct that he should ignore the criticism of those on the right who said Gorbachev was just like all those who had gone before. The rest, as they say, is history.

THRILL PILLS

RussoThrillers have been showing up on best seller lists again. It’s a decidedly mixed bag.

★★★★ Volk’s Shadow, by Brent Ghelfi, is a nice, fast-paced thriller that rides the wave of paranoia brought to us courtesy of Putin, Inc. It is just the right length and depth to fill a transcontinental plane ride, and offers some good twists. The premise – crime syndicates wrapped around international alliances, corrupt businessmen and only slightly less corrupt cops – holds water and the hero, Volkovoy, is fairly believable and sympathetic. That said, Ghelf does have a few minor gaffes. And, like all authors in the genre, he slides in a graph here and there in The Voice of Experience, offering knowing summations on The Russian Conundrum. But these are minor quibbles; in toto, Ghelfi should be given high marks for respecting readers’ intelligence, and for expressing almost Le Carre-like moral ambivalence about Chechnya, and about things Russian in general. 

★ TSAR, by Ted Bell. I generally adhere to the maxim that, if you don’t have something nice to say... But there is also the maxim, caveat emptor. And with all the hype this book has gotten, buyers deserve to be warned. If you like novels with flat, unbelievable characters, wooden dialogue and wildly unbelievable plots, run out and grab Tsar. ‘Nuf said.

★★★ Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith, is an able and engrossing novel based on the case of Andrei Chikatilo (as is the 1995 movie ★★★ Citizen X, starring Donald Sutherland) – oviet Russia’s notorious serial murderer. Smith is a fine storyteller and adeptly recreates the mood of life in Stalinist Russia. But for the bit-too-nice ending (which is actually a bit welcome in so dark a tale), this is a thriller that hits on all cylinders.