Posted on by Tess Summerfest

September, 2017: Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

Fellow Comrades, 

The People’s Commissariat is holding another meeting to discuss the recent activities in Gorky Park. It is highly recommended that all Bolshevik ladies attend, as our illustrious leader Mr Putin will be present and may possibly bring his American friend.  Bring plenty of cash if you plan to do business.
This event is planned for half past six, on Wednesday, the twentieth of September, 2017.  The new address for the current people’s representative is  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Free parking is limited on XXXXXXXXXXXXX or at the park; meter parking available on XXXXXXXXXXXXX.
The Committee for State Security is interested in knowing if you plan to attend.  Your support for the party will be duly noted.
Looking forward to receiving your response, Comrade S. M. XXXXXXXXXX

I had to miss this meeting due to illness but Chris picked up the thank you:

(Book #89) Thank you, Sharon, for an incredible evening in Moscow and environs (the roof deck setting for Gorky Park was particularly spectacular). Everything was wonderful. Obviously you’re a highly placed party member who gets to shop at all the best stores. The canapes were fabulously luxurious, and the champagne was perfect, even if it did come from Russia’s colony to the west. I think I’m the only one who didn’t have seconds of the beef Stroganoff, which wasn’t because I didn’t find it as delicious as everyone else did but because I had a very strong premonition that there was going to be a dessert that I’d find irresistible, and I was right. That walnut honey cake was one of the best I’ve tasted. If  you could pass on the recipe for the carrot salad, I know we’d all appreciate it. In exchange, I’d offer to call a temporary halt to my dissident activities, but I have no intention of doing that and therefore just rely on  your generosity.

Teresa, we all missed you and your quiz, and we hardly talked about the book, partly because only 3 of us had finished it and we didn’t want to spoil it for those who intended to keep reading. In fact we talked more about Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

There was also an interesting focus on the topic of penises, and I really can’t explain that at all, because I think they came up in a few different contexts. Sorry you missed it and hope you feel better soon!

Thanks again, Comrade Gonzalez, for a perfect evening.

The quiz had to be emailed:

Gorky Park Quiz

The movie starts with the scene of skaters on the ice at Gorky Park, among them a group of three, two men and a young woman. Is this how the book starts.

  1. Yes, this is how the book starts.
  2. No, the book starts with a description of two people being murdered in a remote area of the park. 
  3. No, the book starts with a skater discovering a snow-covered body.
  4. No. the book starts with investigators at the scene of three dead bodies in a remote area of the park.

In the movie, we see the woman who plays the music for the ice skaters, but the audience isn’t ware of the disability that Renko discovers in the book. What is it?

  1. She is blind.
  2. She is deaf.
  3. She is missing an arm.
  4. She has Attention Deficit Disorder.

In the movie, Renko’s famous father General Renko is mentioned several times but never seen.  Is this true in the book?

  1. Yes, he is mentioned numerous times but we never meet him.
  2. No, he is never mentioned and we never meet him.
  3. No, he is mentioned by several characters and Renko visits him at his dacha.
  4. No, he is never mentioned by other characters by Renko bumps into him at the bathhouse.

In the movie there is no sign of Renko having a wife.  Is he married in the book?

  1. Yes, he is happily married to Zoya.
  2. Yes, he is married to Zoya but she leaves him for another man.
  3. No, he was married to Zoya but she died.
  4. No, he is single.

In the movie we witness the shooting deaths of Golodkin (the black marketeer and Renko’s colleague Pasha. Is this true in the book?

  1. Yes, the shooting is described as it is happening.
  2. No, these two are not shot/killed in the book.
  3. No, we only learn of their deaths when Renko does.
  4. No, only Golodkin is shot and killed.

In the movie, Renko shows Irina the reconstructed head of Valelriya. Is that true of the book?

  1. Yes, he does to prove that Valeriya did not escape.
  2. No, because the reconstructed had had been reduced to dust by Iamskoy and his thug.
  3.  No he pretends to, showing her part of a head that Professor Andreev used for teaching.
  4.  Both 2 and 3.

In the movie the final shoot-out takes place in Stockholm, Sweden. Is that true of the book:

  1. No, they are in New York.
  2. No, they are in Moscow.
  3. No, they are in St. Petersburg.
  4. Yes, they are in Stockholm.

A favorite quote: “There are not many road signs in Russia you know. If you don’t know where the road goes, you shouldn’t be on it.”

Answers: 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4, and 1.