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Description
Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: SHORTLISTED for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction An intense psychological drama that echoes sophisticated entertainments like Gorky Park and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Nick Platt is a British lawyer working in Moscow in the early 2000s�??a place where the cascade of oil money, the tightening grip of the government, the jostling of the oligarchs, and the loosening of Soviet social mores have led to a culture where corruption, decadence, violence, and betrayal define everyday life. Nick doesn�??t ask too many questions about the shady deals he works on�??he�??s too busy enjoying the exotic, surreally sinful nightlife Moscow has to offer. One day in the subway, he rescues two willowy sisters, Masha and Katya, from a would-be purse snatcher. Soon Nick, the seductive Masha, and long-limbed Katya are cruising the seamy glamour spots of the city. Nick begins to feel something for Masha that he is pleased to… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Laura400
I found this a bit disappointing for a book named to the 2011 Man Booker longlist. In the book's favor, it's a quick read, and the writing is solid and assured. Its portrayals of Moscow and Russia are very fine. The location, and its weather, are almost characters in the book. Unfortunately, the
Most frustrating for me was the narrative frame of the novel, which is presented as a letter to the narrator's fiancee. This interrupts the story regularly with asides about the narrator's yuppie London life. It puts the reader in the strange position of being addressed as the fiancee. But worst of all, for me, it leaches the tension from the story. You know, or can guess, what is going to happen from nearly the first page. I can't actually criticize this choice -- it's how he envisioned his novel, and more power to him for trying something different. But for me as a reader it didn't really work.
So in sum, I would classify this as a promising first novel, with a nice portrayal of the contemporary Russia, that wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped based on the Man Booker hype.
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actual human characters are thin. Most are mere sketches, even the narrator/main character.Most frustrating for me was the narrative frame of the novel, which is presented as a letter to the narrator's fiancee. This interrupts the story regularly with asides about the narrator's yuppie London life. It puts the reader in the strange position of being addressed as the fiancee. But worst of all, for me, it leaches the tension from the story. You know, or can guess, what is going to happen from nearly the first page. I can't actually criticize this choice -- it's how he envisioned his novel, and more power to him for trying something different. But for me as a reader it didn't really work.
So in sum, I would classify this as a promising first novel, with a nice portrayal of the contemporary Russia, that wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped based on the Man Booker hype.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Warning: some slight SPOILERS are included.
I really don’t know what to think of Snowdrops by A.D. Millar. It was obvious right from the start that the main character, Nick, was being set up in an elaborate hoax involving property fraud and most probably murder. But we eventually discover that
Speaking of the main character, I found him unlikeable, weak and pathetic. He convinces himself that his obsession with a Russian woman is love, and he simply ignores all the warning signs that he is constantly stumbling over. In fact, for the most part, this book is filled with sleazy, greedy people that I really couldn’t care about at all.
Knowing Snowdrops has been nominated for the Booker Prize leaves me scratching my head. I just don’t see anything in this book that is worth raving about. Maybe it’s me and I just can’t recognize great literature when I read it, but frankly this book left me feeling quite flat.
I really don’t know what to think of Snowdrops by A.D. Millar. It was obvious right from the start that the main character, Nick, was being set up in an elaborate hoax involving property fraud and most probably murder. But we eventually discover that
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this naïve shmuck is also getting conned at his workplace as well in a totally different racket. It was also obvious, since he was narrating the story in the future, that he was going to be bruised but not knocked out.Speaking of the main character, I found him unlikeable, weak and pathetic. He convinces himself that his obsession with a Russian woman is love, and he simply ignores all the warning signs that he is constantly stumbling over. In fact, for the most part, this book is filled with sleazy, greedy people that I really couldn’t care about at all.
Knowing Snowdrops has been nominated for the Booker Prize leaves me scratching my head. I just don’t see anything in this book that is worth raving about. Maybe it’s me and I just can’t recognize great literature when I read it, but frankly this book left me feeling quite flat.
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LibraryThing member nikon
the story was okay but it tended to be more of a continual description of old russian buildings, roads, parks and side streets bit of a shame really
LibraryThing member teresa1953
Wow this is a good read. "Snowdrops" is written in the form of a confession to the main character's wife to be. Nicholas is recalling time spent in Moscow and events that he was drawn in to...events that he is deeply ashamed of. Indeed he is very unsure whether his fiancee will want to marry him by
It is a fast paced novel, intelligently written and absolutely gripping. It's all there...corruption, intrigue, murder and scams. Our character also visits other parts of Russia and it has to be said that the country, particularly Moscow, isn't going to win 5 stars on Trip Advisor on the strength of A D Miller's descriptions, but it makes fascinating reading.
This is a convincing illustration of how an ordinary and seemingly intelligent lawyer can be duped in to a well organised scam and I don't think I am giving anything away by telling you that a "snowdrop", in Russian slang, is a "corpse that lies buried or hidden in the winter snows, emerging only in the thaw".
A must read
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the time the story ends.It is a fast paced novel, intelligently written and absolutely gripping. It's all there...corruption, intrigue, murder and scams. Our character also visits other parts of Russia and it has to be said that the country, particularly Moscow, isn't going to win 5 stars on Trip Advisor on the strength of A D Miller's descriptions, but it makes fascinating reading.
This is a convincing illustration of how an ordinary and seemingly intelligent lawyer can be duped in to a well organised scam and I don't think I am giving anything away by telling you that a "snowdrop", in Russian slang, is a "corpse that lies buried or hidden in the winter snows, emerging only in the thaw".
A must read
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LibraryThing member martin1400
Probably worth reading for the descriptions of life in Moscow in the period it's set in and, interestingly, for the sense it gives of the rigours of a Moscow winter, but the characters are two-dimensional and there are little holes in the plot which add up to making it less than 100% credible. It's
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also so relentless and world-wearily knowing in its cataloging of the brutishness of it Moscow life at this time that it ends up a bit predictable and leaves one wanting a bit more complexity in the characters, relationships and situations. Show Less
LibraryThing member simting
To avoid disappointment it is probably best not to expect a thriller or even a mystery with Snowdrops, which is odd because the setting (Shady goings-on in post-Soviet Russia) and the style (first person confessional) all seem to point in that direction. Instead it is more like a psychological
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sketch of a hollow, unloveable man, living in a hollow, unloveable age. It has some wonderfully observed descriptions of the harshness of a russian winter, and the story is full of frosty exchanges between people who seem to have forgotten how to care. There are only three warm characters in the book (three people who you would like to talk to and get to know) and interestingly they are all over sixty. But Miller doesn't let you get that close to these characters, because the story isn't really about them. Show Less
LibraryThing member maneekuhi
"Snowdrops" is about a Brit lawyer working in Moscow for the past 3-4 years for his London firm. He meets a beautiful young Russian woman and her sister and becomes involved in three complex situations each with various locals. Our lawyer anti-hero proves to be rather naive and is the only one who
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doesn't see not one, but two scams, coming. The story is told in an open letter to his intended back in the UK, a tell-all. What I liked about this book - it's a richly detailed and fascinating picture of what the "new" Russia is like and what it is like for a Russian-fluent Westerner to live and work there. More negatives - OK, so most readers will see "it" coming before Lawyer does, but it takes about 80%+ for the set-up to peak, and the whole pyramid begin to crumble (we get helpful hints throughout that something bad is coming). Then it ends. Not exactly a powerful climax. And who believes anyone would want to marry this guy after reading this memoir. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
Unutterably tedious. Books as poor as this should come with the Samaritans' phone number printed on the cover!
LibraryThing member LizARees
Well-written and very readable literary thriller, though not of the quality I would expect from a Booker nominee.
The device of the invisible, unknown and undescribed recipient of the "confession" gets a bit tedious. I would be reading the account, then suddenly jerked back to a reminder that the
The device of the invisible, unknown and undescribed recipient of the "confession" gets a bit tedious. I would be reading the account, then suddenly jerked back to a reminder that the
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story wasn't being related to me. Why not? Show Less
LibraryThing member infjsarah
Another dud from my reading group. This was a really depressing book. None of the characters has any redeeming features and nothing much happens. Its only redeeming feature is its style which is easy to read.
LibraryThing member jody
I found myself disappointed with Snowdrops. From the first encounter in the Metro, Miller had me intrigued, but the enthusiasm wained and in the end I simply found Kolya annoying and could see exactly where he was heading.
The commentary to his current fiance left us in little doubt as to what Koyla
My prediction is that it will not survive to the shortlist.
The commentary to his current fiance left us in little doubt as to what Koyla
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was thinking while being hyjacked by the tantilising Masha and Katya, and I can't help but think without it we could have been treated to a much more dramatic story.My prediction is that it will not survive to the shortlist.
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LibraryThing member otterley
Snowdrops is a very readable novel, giving interesting insights into the life of an ex pat in modern Russia. Is it a Booker novel? I'd say not for the following reasons - (a) - it's unambitious in terms of narrative, technique and characterisation. There's nothing unfamiliar or new in the way this
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book is written - (b) - the set up is highly implausible - no-one writes an exculpatory note to their new fiancee about their dodgy past in the form of a 300 page novel. They specially don't focus on how gorgeous other women are, or indulge in page after page of fine descriptive writing. To be fair, most of the time Miller seems to forget that this is what the book is meant to be, but that makes the random excursions back into dialogue with the current fiancee even more jarring - (c) - the first person narrative is a surprisingly difficult thing to pull off, and I think here just makes the characterisation quite thin. The narrator is a pretty bland person, and his impressions of the other characters are thin and formulaic. Perhaps the best drawn is the old lady communist veteran, who is a piquant presence. Having said all that, the narrative races along like a train, Miller makes us feel as if we are getting insider knowledge of a dangerous world open usually only to insiders and the descriptive passages are often well written and evocative. I'd recommend reading it, but I don't think it will have a very long shelf life - others like this come along pretty often. Show Less
LibraryThing member Steve38
A well written slow paced story of deception and disappointment of an expat in Moscow. Good observation of the unavoidable aspects of life as a well paid foreigner in the Russian capital with a well constructed story. But the device of the story teller baring all confessionally to a new partner is
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unnecessary and annoying and the plot and outcome are too easily seen too far ahead. But then the inevitability of the final outcome being seen by both the teller and the audience is really part of the experience that is being related. Although the principal character is duped and disappointed and leaves Moscow in gloomy failure the final sentence of 'I miss Moscow.' revealingly tells how Russia and Moscow get under the skin of foreigners who spend time there. Show Less
LibraryThing member Vikz.Richards
This the last book from the booker short list and it left me cold. I could see that it had merit. But, it did little to move me. It covers a westerners view of modern day Russia. I could see that the main character was having a rough time but did not care for him. The other characters seem to be
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stereotypes; the corrupt, party oligarch come tycoon and the gold digging Russian women. I know these people exist but there must be more to them than this. Russia itself comes across as a stereotype, full of corruption and stupid western business. Show Less
LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
This is the synopsis of a book that judges of this year’s Man Booker Prize for fiction selected for the Prize’s shortlist
“… a riveting psychological drama that unfolds over the course of one Moscow winter, as a young Englishman’s moral compass is spun by the seductive opportunities
Here’s a synopsis of the book I read
…a predictable drama that appears to have been borrowed from the set of whatever local version of Neighbours they have in Russia that unfolds over the course of one Moscow winter (they got that bit right), as a nearly middle-aged Englishman sets his moral compass aside with nary a thought because a pretty girl offered to sleep with him. There are quite a few train rides, and a visit to a strip club (or maybe two, I forget) and lots of snow. Old people do not fare well. Snowdrops is a bland story of mild lust in a moral vacuum. It is dull, languorous and has the momentum of a somnambulant tortoise which threatens to bore the reader into a coma.
On the bright side the book I read was mercifully short, the writing itself was rather good (the problem being more that there was nothing of much interest written about) and it did deliver an atmospheric sense of place (though my cynical self says this bordered on the caricature at some points but having never been I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt).
“… a riveting psychological drama that unfolds over the course of one Moscow winter, as a young Englishman’s moral compass is spun by the seductive opportunities
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revealed to him by a new Russia: a land of hedonism and desperation, corruption and kindness, magical dachas and debauched nightclubs; a place where secrets – and corpses – come to light only when the deep snows start to thaw… Snowdrops is a chilling story of love and moral freefall: of the corruption, by a corrupt society, of a corruptible man. It is taut, intense and has a momentum as irresistible to the reader as the moral danger that first enchants, then threatens to overwhelm, its narrator.”Here’s a synopsis of the book I read
…a predictable drama that appears to have been borrowed from the set of whatever local version of Neighbours they have in Russia that unfolds over the course of one Moscow winter (they got that bit right), as a nearly middle-aged Englishman sets his moral compass aside with nary a thought because a pretty girl offered to sleep with him. There are quite a few train rides, and a visit to a strip club (or maybe two, I forget) and lots of snow. Old people do not fare well. Snowdrops is a bland story of mild lust in a moral vacuum. It is dull, languorous and has the momentum of a somnambulant tortoise which threatens to bore the reader into a coma.
On the bright side the book I read was mercifully short, the writing itself was rather good (the problem being more that there was nothing of much interest written about) and it did deliver an atmospheric sense of place (though my cynical self says this bordered on the caricature at some points but having never been I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt).
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LibraryThing member PIER50
I assumed from the explanation of the meaning of the term 'Snowdrops' that this would be a crime story with bodies turning up everywhere. Actually, it is more about a socially and morally corrupt Russia with a rather ordinary story of a duped Englishman set against it. A reasonably well written
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book that keeps the reader interested on the basis that you assume something exciting will happen - unfortunately, it doesn't! Show Less
LibraryThing member pgmcc
Snowdrop was an interesting glimpse at post Soviet Russia when Western banks were trying to gain position in the country recently converted to Capitalism. It is a well written tale and feels authentic. One of the ladies at our book club is a lawyer who spent a lot of time in Moscow in the period
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when the story was set. She said it ties in exactly with her experience of the corruption when she was there. Being a story about corruption in a place where we are led to believe a low price is put on human life, the story is not about nice things and people behaving well. It is a good read but be prepared for some people to do not nice things. Show Less
LibraryThing member deargreenplace
Snowdrops would probably have raised several establishment eyebrows if it had won the Man Booker prize. I wouldn't class it as literary fiction, but it's a very readable crime thriller.
Nick Platt is a lawyer working in Moscow on a large oil deal. At 38, he's not sure of the direction he wants his
At first glance, Nick appears to have adapted well to life as a Muscovite. He speaks Russian, handles four sub-zero winters and drinks vodka shots with the best of them. The masculine business world is very different to that in London (I hope!), and bribery and corruption are rife, as is random violence.
The book is written from Nick's perspective as a guilt-ridden confessional to his soon-to-be wife in London. For in Russia he met Masha and Katya, sisters who draw him into helping their aunt Tatiana move flat - an enterprise that isn't all that it seems.
Nick's neighbour Oleg gets the best lines. Although sad and lonely, he seems to have Nick's best interests at heart - though Nick has little time for Oleg - and his words of wisdom are wonderful. For instance: "only an idiot smiles all the time" and "the only place with free cheese is a mousetrap". Aunt Tatiana is also a sympathetic character, having survived the war and the loss of her husband.
So here are my issues with Nick Platt. Firstly, are we really expected to believe that an educated Englishman is so damn gullible when it comes to women? I could be mischievous here and say that it's just typical of men to take it for granted that a beautiful 24 year-old would fall in love with them. He does acknowledge early in the book that he probably doesn't have as much money as he thinks Masha would like, but why then fall in love with someone you know to be a gold digger?
Platt is also portrayed as curiously amoralistic, which I found to be strange. He doesn't bat at an eye at the widespread bribery in the city, except for when he refuses to pay a policeman to look into the disappearance of Oleg's friend, which doesn't interest him much anyway. He goes along with the way business deals are done in Russia, usually involving strip bars, prostitutes and lots of vodka (I know, I'm sounding naive here), and expresses no opinion either way on how the culture in Moscow must jar with his experience and upbringing in London. He presented to me as a weak and deluded man, willing to go along with the desires and manipulations of a young woman who would never love him so long as he could be with her.
I wonder if the wife-to-be goes through with the wedding? I wouldn't.
Nick Platt is a lawyer working in Moscow on a large oil deal. At 38, he's not sure of the direction he wants his
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life to take, and jumps at the chance to move from the monotony of his life in London, where all of his university friends were having children or adopting cats.At first glance, Nick appears to have adapted well to life as a Muscovite. He speaks Russian, handles four sub-zero winters and drinks vodka shots with the best of them. The masculine business world is very different to that in London (I hope!), and bribery and corruption are rife, as is random violence.
The book is written from Nick's perspective as a guilt-ridden confessional to his soon-to-be wife in London. For in Russia he met Masha and Katya, sisters who draw him into helping their aunt Tatiana move flat - an enterprise that isn't all that it seems.
Nick's neighbour Oleg gets the best lines. Although sad and lonely, he seems to have Nick's best interests at heart - though Nick has little time for Oleg - and his words of wisdom are wonderful. For instance: "only an idiot smiles all the time" and "the only place with free cheese is a mousetrap". Aunt Tatiana is also a sympathetic character, having survived the war and the loss of her husband.
So here are my issues with Nick Platt. Firstly, are we really expected to believe that an educated Englishman is so damn gullible when it comes to women? I could be mischievous here and say that it's just typical of men to take it for granted that a beautiful 24 year-old would fall in love with them. He does acknowledge early in the book that he probably doesn't have as much money as he thinks Masha would like, but why then fall in love with someone you know to be a gold digger?
Platt is also portrayed as curiously amoralistic, which I found to be strange. He doesn't bat at an eye at the widespread bribery in the city, except for when he refuses to pay a policeman to look into the disappearance of Oleg's friend, which doesn't interest him much anyway. He goes along with the way business deals are done in Russia, usually involving strip bars, prostitutes and lots of vodka (I know, I'm sounding naive here), and expresses no opinion either way on how the culture in Moscow must jar with his experience and upbringing in London. He presented to me as a weak and deluded man, willing to go along with the desires and manipulations of a young woman who would never love him so long as he could be with her.
I wonder if the wife-to-be goes through with the wedding? I wouldn't.
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LibraryThing member Daftboy1
This is set in Moscow, main character is Nick an Englishman who falls for Masha he meets on the Metro.
Masha and her pretend sister/cousin slowly rip Nick off. Nick kind of sees it coming but he is so loved up with Masha.
This is a good book and describing what Moscow is really like and how cold it
Masha and her pretend sister/cousin slowly rip Nick off. Nick kind of sees it coming but he is so loved up with Masha.
This is a good book and describing what Moscow is really like and how cold it
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can be. Well written easy to read book. Show Less
LibraryThing member tippycanoegal
Not so long ago I asked a friend from Moscow if he preferred living in Hong Kong (our home at the time) or if he missed Moscow. He laughed and said that if I had ever visited Moscow, I would not even have to ask that question.
This novel, Snowdrops, gives me a good idea of what he meant. The city
This novel, Snowdrops, gives me a good idea of what he meant. The city
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itself is a character in this dark narrative about a British expat attorney whose desire for a beautiful Russian woman propels him into particularly shady territory. It is hard to believe that the protagonist would be quite that stupid, but I guess this particular story of willful blindness is one of the oldest in the world. Overall, I would say that the real reason to read this book is because the author knows Moscow so well that his writing comes fully alive when describing the place, the quirks of language, and the people who live there. My guess is that this visceral sense of place must have been the reason that the novel was on the Booker prize shortlist in 2011. Show Less
LibraryThing member Melanielgarrett
I first heard about this novel on The Review Show on BBC2 and was intrigued enough by the discussion to break my resolution about not buying any more books until (a) they were available for Sony eReader; and (b) I was ready to read them.
But right from the exquisite jacket design, I was so gripped
As first time novels go, this is an enormous achievement. The prose is dazzling and Moscow is evoked in a way that makes this the Gorky Park of the new millennium. The plot is entirely linear, and is essentially the inevitable forward motion of one man’s failure to swerve any of the moral hazards he encounters while working as an expat lawyer in Russia. The narrator is very clear about what a flawed and cowardly creature he is, and yet it is a joy to read on because of the insights he offers into Russian culture and society.
As someone who has lived and worked as an expat in two European countries, I felt this book really nailed that heady sense of possibility that comes with the early stages of living abroad; the feeling that you can be who you want to be, run risks you never would normally take because you’ve stepped out of time for a bit.
To me, this was neatly underlined by the notion that the text was effectively a long, confessional letter from the narrator to his fiancée. During discussion on The Review Show there were those who felt this narrative conceit didn’t quite work, but personally I found it added real resonance to the novel. By quietly reminding us now and then that the narrator did actually want his wife-to-be to have a good opinion of him, and to accept him depraved past and all, we were reminded that the real stakes here are moral jeopardy. Depravity is only interesting if those engaging in it have their doubts, and so find their own behaviour wanting.
All in all, this a novel to thoroughly enjoy and admire, and I would have given this five stars if not for two things which began to grate by the end. Firstly, I’d have been happier if the two parallel strands of the plot had amplified each other more in some way, rather than simply being two different examples of the same character’s moral indifference. Secondly, I found the prose relied a bit too heavily on unwarranted foreshadowing, which then tended not to deliver as big a bang as promised somehow.
But overall, there is no shortage of things for the reader to be gripped by, and to admire. I only hope A.D. Miller is out there somewhere right now putting the finishing touches on his next novel.
But right from the exquisite jacket design, I was so gripped
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with this book that I decided a physical copy was in order. I picked up Sunday evening, and would have happily read it in one sitting if only life hadn’t been so tortuously in the way. As first time novels go, this is an enormous achievement. The prose is dazzling and Moscow is evoked in a way that makes this the Gorky Park of the new millennium. The plot is entirely linear, and is essentially the inevitable forward motion of one man’s failure to swerve any of the moral hazards he encounters while working as an expat lawyer in Russia. The narrator is very clear about what a flawed and cowardly creature he is, and yet it is a joy to read on because of the insights he offers into Russian culture and society.
As someone who has lived and worked as an expat in two European countries, I felt this book really nailed that heady sense of possibility that comes with the early stages of living abroad; the feeling that you can be who you want to be, run risks you never would normally take because you’ve stepped out of time for a bit.
To me, this was neatly underlined by the notion that the text was effectively a long, confessional letter from the narrator to his fiancée. During discussion on The Review Show there were those who felt this narrative conceit didn’t quite work, but personally I found it added real resonance to the novel. By quietly reminding us now and then that the narrator did actually want his wife-to-be to have a good opinion of him, and to accept him depraved past and all, we were reminded that the real stakes here are moral jeopardy. Depravity is only interesting if those engaging in it have their doubts, and so find their own behaviour wanting.
All in all, this a novel to thoroughly enjoy and admire, and I would have given this five stars if not for two things which began to grate by the end. Firstly, I’d have been happier if the two parallel strands of the plot had amplified each other more in some way, rather than simply being two different examples of the same character’s moral indifference. Secondly, I found the prose relied a bit too heavily on unwarranted foreshadowing, which then tended not to deliver as big a bang as promised somehow.
But overall, there is no shortage of things for the reader to be gripped by, and to admire. I only hope A.D. Miller is out there somewhere right now putting the finishing touches on his next novel.
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LibraryThing member jeniwren
The setting for this novel is Russia, gloomy, dark and covered in snow. The tone is menacing with a heady mix of corruption that begins with our protagonist Nicholas an English lawyer and a chance meeting with two 'predatory' women. This encounter sets in motion shady dealings with Nicholas slowly
This is a fine debut and I was gripped from beginning to end. Very wry, witty and written in an engaging style. Recently longlisted for the Man Booker and deservedly so.
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losing his grip on morality. Told as a confession to his future bride to be and a means of gaining some insight into his amoral behaviour.This is a fine debut and I was gripped from beginning to end. Very wry, witty and written in an engaging style. Recently longlisted for the Man Booker and deservedly so.
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LibraryThing member sparemethecensor
I loved this book, but I think most of my love comes from the fact that I have always been intrigued by Russia and studied abroad there while in college. Many of the words, places and events were already familiar to me, and the overall feel (which captured 90s Russia perfectly) really took me back.
All this said, I don't think readers who aren't as enamored with Russia (or even with reading about it) will be nearly so engaged. There are parts of the story that kind of meander, and none of the characters are ever drawn clearly enough to understand their motivations. (I think this is on purpose, since our narrator doesn't understand who Masha, Katya, or even Tatiana really are, but readers hoping for clearly drawn characters won't care for them.) Similarly, mystery readers expecting everything to be tied up neatly at the end, with no unknown details remaining, will hate the ending. I myself was hoping for more. But readers who enjoy intriguing literary fiction with mysterious characters and perhaps the most enigmatic setting of all -- Russia! -- will thoroughly enjoy this novel.
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Another reviewer favorably compared the feel to Tom Rob Smith's [Child 44], and I agree with that assessment -- Snowdrops is even better, even more compelling, even more able to capture what Russia felt like for a foreigner during the 90s. I loved that about the book.All this said, I don't think readers who aren't as enamored with Russia (or even with reading about it) will be nearly so engaged. There are parts of the story that kind of meander, and none of the characters are ever drawn clearly enough to understand their motivations. (I think this is on purpose, since our narrator doesn't understand who Masha, Katya, or even Tatiana really are, but readers hoping for clearly drawn characters won't care for them.) Similarly, mystery readers expecting everything to be tied up neatly at the end, with no unknown details remaining, will hate the ending. I myself was hoping for more. But readers who enjoy intriguing literary fiction with mysterious characters and perhaps the most enigmatic setting of all -- Russia! -- will thoroughly enjoy this novel.
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
Snowdrops is one of the books most people were surprised to find on the longlist, including the author himself, and it was apparently even more surprising to see it shortlisted. The reason for this largely appears to be the fact that it was slotted into the “thriller” genre pigeonhole –
Snowdrops follows Nick Platte, a thirty-eight year old British lawyer who has been living and working in Moscow for several years, one of those expats who isn’t happy with his life but would be even unhappier if he went home. One summer afternoon he saves a girl named Masha and her sister Katya from a mugging in the Metro, and soon becomes Masha’s lover; however, there is a mysteriousness behind the two girls, which slowly draws Nick into a dark and dangerous tale of duplicity and corruption.
I can see why it’s considered a thriller, but my own store had it placed it general fiction (even before it was longlisted) and that’s the right decision. Miller is a far more talented writer than any of the Scandinavian hacks whose grisly titles sully our back corner. He has a knack for language, spinning a beautifully atmospheric description of Moscow, and of the terrible haze of theft and savagery and predation that hangs over post-Soviet Russia. He is particularly good at concisely capturing awkward social situations:
It could have been nice. There was no reason for it not to be nice. It was just that we’d gone our separate ways and lost each other, leaving nothing much in common but a couple of soft-focus anecdotes, featuring donkey rides and ice-cream overdoses, that you’ve heard a dozen times, plus some old irritations that flare up like a phantom itch when we get together.
So it’s not a thriller. Just because it’s psychologically disturbing and set in a snowy foreign locale and involves crime and missing people and murder, doesn’t make it a thriller.
Is it a good book? Yes, but not a great book. The climax felt like a bit of a let-down; the book is rife with foreshadowing and ominous portent, which in the end doesn’t amount to what I expected it to. It’s readable, and creates a brilliant atmosphere, and Miller clearly has more talent than the average writer – whether they’re thriller writers or general fiction writers. But in the end, Snowdrops doesn’t really do anything new or particularly memorable. That’s perfectly fine for a debut novel, but it does mean that…
BOOKER VERDICT
…it doesn’t deserve the Booker prize, and won’t win it.
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wrongly, in my opinion. I’m finding it an interesting experience to read all the comments and reviews and hearsay about the shortlisted novels, and then notice the gap between the reality and the truth when I read the actual novels.Snowdrops follows Nick Platte, a thirty-eight year old British lawyer who has been living and working in Moscow for several years, one of those expats who isn’t happy with his life but would be even unhappier if he went home. One summer afternoon he saves a girl named Masha and her sister Katya from a mugging in the Metro, and soon becomes Masha’s lover; however, there is a mysteriousness behind the two girls, which slowly draws Nick into a dark and dangerous tale of duplicity and corruption.
I can see why it’s considered a thriller, but my own store had it placed it general fiction (even before it was longlisted) and that’s the right decision. Miller is a far more talented writer than any of the Scandinavian hacks whose grisly titles sully our back corner. He has a knack for language, spinning a beautifully atmospheric description of Moscow, and of the terrible haze of theft and savagery and predation that hangs over post-Soviet Russia. He is particularly good at concisely capturing awkward social situations:
It could have been nice. There was no reason for it not to be nice. It was just that we’d gone our separate ways and lost each other, leaving nothing much in common but a couple of soft-focus anecdotes, featuring donkey rides and ice-cream overdoses, that you’ve heard a dozen times, plus some old irritations that flare up like a phantom itch when we get together.
So it’s not a thriller. Just because it’s psychologically disturbing and set in a snowy foreign locale and involves crime and missing people and murder, doesn’t make it a thriller.
Is it a good book? Yes, but not a great book. The climax felt like a bit of a let-down; the book is rife with foreshadowing and ominous portent, which in the end doesn’t amount to what I expected it to. It’s readable, and creates a brilliant atmosphere, and Miller clearly has more talent than the average writer – whether they’re thriller writers or general fiction writers. But in the end, Snowdrops doesn’t really do anything new or particularly memorable. That’s perfectly fine for a debut novel, but it does mean that…
BOOKER VERDICT
…it doesn’t deserve the Booker prize, and won’t win it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TerryWeyna
A.D. Miller’s first novel, Snowdrops, has been shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, one of the British Commonwealth’s most prestigious writing awards. It’s a fine novel, telling a story that hasn’t been told elsewhere: what Moscow looked like, felt like, how it did business and how it
The first person narrator, Nick Platt, is a British lawyer who has lived in Moscow for four years at the time the story starts. The book is his explanation to his fiancée about his time in Russia:
"You’re always saying that I never talk about my time in Moscow or about why I left. You’re right, I’ve always made excuses, and soon you’ll understand why. But you’ve gone on asking me, and for some reason lately I keep thinking about it – I can’t stop myself. Perhaps it’s because we’re only three months away from “the big day,” and that somehow seems a sort of reckoning. I feel like I need to tell someone about Russia, even if it hurts. Also that probably you should know, since we’re going to make these promises to each other, and maybe even keep them. I think you have a right to know all of it. I thought it would be easier if I wrote it down. You won’t have to make an effort to put a brave face on things, and I won’t have to watch you."
Combined with the appearance of a corpse as the book opens – a “snowdrop,” a body hidden by the snow that becomes obvious only in the spring thaw – this is perfect foreshadowing for what follows. The reader cannot read a single page without a sense of foreboding, wondering what happened and when, who the corpse is, what Nick did (is he a murderer?), until one is in the middle of a brutally cold Moscow winter with Nick, almost helplessly acting as an accomplice to a crime or two. Nick is not a nice man, it seems, but neither is he evil; he is simply weak.
The source of his weakness is Maria Kovalenko – Masha, as she is called by her friends. In a chance meeting in the subway, Nick rescues Masha and her sister, Katya, from a purse snatcher. Nick is immediately attracted to Masha, even though their meeting is brief. He begins wondering whether she is “the one” from his first sight of her. Why? That he can’t seem to explain, though he admires her irony, he says: “She had an air that suggested she already knew how it would end, and almost wanted me to know that too.” The fact that she is beautiful certainly helps.
Masha and Katya introduce Nick to their aunt, Tatiana Vladimirovna, an old widow who is a relic of the Soviet system down to her bowl-cut hair – and especially to her lovely apartment, given to her for services to the Fatherland. Tatiana is soon to retire, and is considering moving to a smaller apartment in the country. Masha and Katya ask Nick to help Tatiana with the papers necessary to the apartment swap; and that’s where things start to get ugly.
There is a subplot involving a Cossack who seeks financing from Nick’s banking and investment clients. Just as we can tell from the beginning that Nick’s romance with Masha is doomed, we can see from the outset that the Cossack is basically a crime lord. Does Nick see this from the beginning, or is this so obvious only in retrospect? Does Nick really care? He refers to those days in Russia as a “gold rush,” a time when Russia was wide open to both capitalism and crime and the two were indistinguishable. Everything is about money. Indeed, an acquaintance of Nick’s, a reporter who fell in love with Russia and has never left, says to him, “In Russia, there are no business stories. And there are no politics stories. There are no love stories. There are only crime stories.”
The frigid Moscow winter, as Miller describes it, is an analogy to the frigid principal characters in Snowdrops. This is a dark and depressing novel, a snapshot of a time and place so foreign that it is almost past understanding. The hapless Nick is in love not only with Masha, but with the energy of this new, lawless Russia. Nick can only partake of this energy passively, sadly; he has lost who he is with the melting snow. Nick is himself a “snowdrop.”
One doesn’t exactly enjoy Snowdrops; it is too dark for that. It combines the Russian bleakness of Anton Chekhov with the English bleakness of Thomas Hardy. But one must admire Miller’s writing. The sights and especially the smells; the bite of the cold and the heat of the sauna; the food and the sex are all described sparingly, yet vividly. The plotting is strong, with the story opening up to meet the foreshadowing with precision. It is more assured than one expects a writer’s first novel to be.
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was criminal in the days just after the fall of the Soviet Union.The first person narrator, Nick Platt, is a British lawyer who has lived in Moscow for four years at the time the story starts. The book is his explanation to his fiancée about his time in Russia:
"You’re always saying that I never talk about my time in Moscow or about why I left. You’re right, I’ve always made excuses, and soon you’ll understand why. But you’ve gone on asking me, and for some reason lately I keep thinking about it – I can’t stop myself. Perhaps it’s because we’re only three months away from “the big day,” and that somehow seems a sort of reckoning. I feel like I need to tell someone about Russia, even if it hurts. Also that probably you should know, since we’re going to make these promises to each other, and maybe even keep them. I think you have a right to know all of it. I thought it would be easier if I wrote it down. You won’t have to make an effort to put a brave face on things, and I won’t have to watch you."
Combined with the appearance of a corpse as the book opens – a “snowdrop,” a body hidden by the snow that becomes obvious only in the spring thaw – this is perfect foreshadowing for what follows. The reader cannot read a single page without a sense of foreboding, wondering what happened and when, who the corpse is, what Nick did (is he a murderer?), until one is in the middle of a brutally cold Moscow winter with Nick, almost helplessly acting as an accomplice to a crime or two. Nick is not a nice man, it seems, but neither is he evil; he is simply weak.
The source of his weakness is Maria Kovalenko – Masha, as she is called by her friends. In a chance meeting in the subway, Nick rescues Masha and her sister, Katya, from a purse snatcher. Nick is immediately attracted to Masha, even though their meeting is brief. He begins wondering whether she is “the one” from his first sight of her. Why? That he can’t seem to explain, though he admires her irony, he says: “She had an air that suggested she already knew how it would end, and almost wanted me to know that too.” The fact that she is beautiful certainly helps.
Masha and Katya introduce Nick to their aunt, Tatiana Vladimirovna, an old widow who is a relic of the Soviet system down to her bowl-cut hair – and especially to her lovely apartment, given to her for services to the Fatherland. Tatiana is soon to retire, and is considering moving to a smaller apartment in the country. Masha and Katya ask Nick to help Tatiana with the papers necessary to the apartment swap; and that’s where things start to get ugly.
There is a subplot involving a Cossack who seeks financing from Nick’s banking and investment clients. Just as we can tell from the beginning that Nick’s romance with Masha is doomed, we can see from the outset that the Cossack is basically a crime lord. Does Nick see this from the beginning, or is this so obvious only in retrospect? Does Nick really care? He refers to those days in Russia as a “gold rush,” a time when Russia was wide open to both capitalism and crime and the two were indistinguishable. Everything is about money. Indeed, an acquaintance of Nick’s, a reporter who fell in love with Russia and has never left, says to him, “In Russia, there are no business stories. And there are no politics stories. There are no love stories. There are only crime stories.”
The frigid Moscow winter, as Miller describes it, is an analogy to the frigid principal characters in Snowdrops. This is a dark and depressing novel, a snapshot of a time and place so foreign that it is almost past understanding. The hapless Nick is in love not only with Masha, but with the energy of this new, lawless Russia. Nick can only partake of this energy passively, sadly; he has lost who he is with the melting snow. Nick is himself a “snowdrop.”
One doesn’t exactly enjoy Snowdrops; it is too dark for that. It combines the Russian bleakness of Anton Chekhov with the English bleakness of Thomas Hardy. But one must admire Miller’s writing. The sights and especially the smells; the bite of the cold and the heat of the sauna; the food and the sex are all described sparingly, yet vividly. The plotting is strong, with the story opening up to meet the foreshadowing with precision. It is more assured than one expects a writer’s first novel to be.
Show Less
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2011)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Mystery/Thriller — 2011)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2011)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Shortlist — Fiction — 2011)
British Book Award (Shortlist — Audiobook — 2011)
Waverton Good Read Award (Shortlist — 2011)