Havana Bay so far

I love Arkady Renko best when he's a sad sack. I think Martin Cruz Smith does too. Thus, his long-pined for Irena managed to marry Renko and then die some unspecified time later in a Russian hospital clusterfuck all in the interval between books 3 and 4.

There is a pretty good map in the book (hooray for books with maps.) Havana is on the western end of the eponymous bay and Casablanca (where the Che Guevera Museum and giant Jesus statue are) is on the east. Jinetera literally means "jockey" but, in Cuba at least, has come to mean a prostitute. As always, Smith is somehow able to capture the mindset of citizens of various rotting Socialist nations, I guess because he's made it his prime subject for the last 20+ years.

Apparently, the USSR kept the Cuban economy afloat for many years and at least some Russians blame them for the collapse (and here I thought that was the one good thing Reagan did.) The Cubans refer to the time after the end of Soviet support as the "Special Period." All things Russian are anathema and speaking Russian is no longer a symbol of prestige. I wonder how difficult it is for Spanish speakers to learn Russian. They already have the "R" rolling. Also, Cuba has a very favorable doctor to patient ratio (never saw that Michael Moore flick or I'd know that already.) They also claim to have one of, it not the, highest rates of crime resolution but in a dictatorship it's hard to take that statistic to heart.

Poor Renko. Steals an embalming needle to kill himself and ends up using it to kill his translator who for some reason wants to kill him. My guess: his friend Pribluda was mixed up in a Cuban cigar forgery racket. Is forgery the right word for that? Eh, fuck it.

Anyways, here are some great lines thus far. As you see, a depressed Renko is a funny Renko:

"There will be an investigation," Arcos promised, "But of what is the question. Everything you do is suspicious: your attitude to Cuban authority, reluctance to identify the body of a Russian colleague, now this attack on Rufo Pinero." 

"My attack on Rufo?"

"Rufo's the one who is dead," Arcos insisted.

"The captain thinks I came from Moscow to attack Rufo" Renko asked Ofelia. "First Pribluda and now me. Murder and assult. If you don't investigate that, what exactly do you people investigate?"

Her mother maintained an expression of innocence until Ofelia hung up.

"What was it?"

"It's about the Russian," Ofelia said. "He killed someone." 

"Ah, you were meant for each other."

[Renko, traveling in the car with Ofelia, sees a graffiti that says "Venceremos!" and tries to figure it out]

"'Venceremos!'" means 'We will win!' In spite of America and Russia, we will win!" said Ofelia.

"In spite of history, geography, the law of gravity?"

"In spite of everything!" You don't have signs like that in Moscow anymore, do you?"

"We have signs. Now they say Nike and Absolut." 

He got a glance from Osorio no worse than the flame of a blowtorch. When they reached the embassy apartment, the detective told him that a driver would gather him in two hours for the airport. "And you will have your friend['s remains] to travel with." 

"Let's hope it really is the colonel."

Osorio was stung worse than he'd intended. "A live Russian, a dead Russian, it's hard to tell the difference."

"You're right."

[from a conversation between Renko and the Cuban ballet dancer Isabel, who is desperate to escape from Cuba where her father is considered a traitor and dance in Moscow]

"If I were hard on myself, I'd cut my throat," she said.

"Don't do that."

"Why not?"

"I've noticed that few people are good at cutting their own throat."

"Interesting. A Cuban man would have said, 'Oh, but it's such a pretty throat.' Everything with them leads to sex, even suicide. That's why I like Russians, because with them suicide is suicide."

"Our talent."

...Wonderful, the two most depressed people in the house had connected like magnets.

[a conversation between Erasmo and Renko]

..."Russians know nothing about women," said Erasmo.

"You think so?"

"Describe a woman to me."

"Intelligent, humorous, artistic."

"Is this your grandmother?"
......
"When you called me on the street, you said 'Bolo.' What does that mean?"
"Bowling ball. That's what we call Russians. Bolos."
"For our.....?"
"Physical grace." Erasmo unveiled a vicious grin.

[on Renko finally guessing Pribluda's Windows password--the name of his pet turtle Gordo]

Twenty-five years in the KGB and an agent used a turtle's name as his password. Lenin wept.