“Loop and stone in the green grass” - a detective story. At least, the surname of the authors testifies to this. The Weiner brothers are the most popular detective writers in the Soviet Union. The book “A Loop and a Stone in the Green Grass” refers to the investigation of a crime that was once committed in reality, but its fictional characters lead it . This work of art differs significantly from the others in the work of Weiners. What are the features of the novel?
Time of lies
The events of the novel take place in the seventies. Stalin's body has long been taken out of the mausoleum and buried. The bloody meat grinder is stopped, hundreds of thousands of people are freed from the camps. But although Stalin is no longer there, the state machine created by him works without interruption.
No murders are committed in the basements of the Lubyanka, cars do not drive in the middle of the night for new victims. But the apparatus of violence is still omnipotent and powerful. Fear, grafted over the years, does not leave, it would seem, even intelligent and educated people. They are ready to condemn colleagues and comrades for a fictitious misconduct. And this despite the fact that the time of investigation rooms and stages at Kolyma has long passed.
Culturalists blaspheme their colleagues. They are not threatened by the fate of the camp. The most cruel thing that can happen is a ban on traveling to France or a refusal to publish a new book. It is all about fear that has penetrated deeply into the consciousness of Soviet citizens. And self-interest and fear of losing a warm place deprives people of the latest moral principles. In this atmosphere of lies and fear, the heroes of the novel “A Loop and a Stone in the Green Grass” live, act and die.
Plot
In the center of the work is the fate of the Jewish woman Sulamith Ginzburg and the Russian writer Alexei Yepanchin. “Loop and stone in green grass” is a kind of chronicle of the life of one family. Yepanchin’s father is a former head of the “organs”. He at one time worked under Stalin, Yezhov, and Beria. Now he is retired, but has a "general's apartment", rations and respect for others. His children are worthy sons of their father. Except one - Alexey.
The book “A Loop and a Stone in the Green Grass” tells of the love of a general’s son for a Jewish girl. The protagonist - Alexei - is not an official or intelligence figure. He, contrary to family traditions, went to literature. His beloved is the daughter of a writer who mysteriously died in 1948. It was the death of Father Sulamith that pushed Alexei to an independent investigation.
The murder of Ginzburg is directly related to the death of the politician Solomon Mikhoels. Therefore, it is with a search for the culprits in the death of this famous man that Alex begins his investigation. Attempts by Alexei and Ula (Shulamith) to find the truth lead to the fact that a woman is expelled from the country. The writer miraculously avoids arrest, however, broken in spirit, drunk in solitude.
Detective or historical novel?
The fact that the book is only the truth and nothing but it is stated in the introduction by Weiners. “Loop and stone in green grass” - is this, therefore, not a detective? But the work naturally combines both real-life personalities and those whose characters and fates are nothing but the fruit of a writer's fantasy. What did Arkady and Georgy Vaynery mean when speaking about the truth ? “Loop and stone in green grass” is a novel in which the main role is played not even by heroes with their difficult destinies, but by time.
The atmosphere that reigned in the "era of stagnation" is depicted in the book exclusively in gray and black colors. Everywhere, cowardice, denunciations and hatred - this is how writers saw the distant seventies. This is their truth. However, readers who remember that time disagree with the opinion of Weiners. This is evidenced by numerous angry reviews about the book. “Loop and stone in green grass” is, apparently, a work that has a lasting impression on readers of the younger generation. For those who know little about the social and political situation that prevailed in our country in the second half of the last century.
Jewish question
Anti-Semitism in the USSR was manifested in different areas and in different ways. Starting from small altercations and elements of xenophobia in the kitchens of Moscow communal apartments, ending with crimes of state scale. The hero of the novel often witnesses quarrels between neighbors. His close relatives - parents and brothers - do not feel sympathy for the Jews. But Alexei, representing a rebellious personality, starts an affair with a woman of Semitic origin.
The protagonist of the novel riots quietly, almost imperceptibly. His modest protest is expressed in the drinking of alcohol and in the fact that he does not want to use the material goods available to him. But, having learned that Ula, thirty years later, is still striving to find out the names of the executioners of his father, he undertakes a detective investigation. The assassination of Solomon Mikhoels is one of the events with which the drama of the Jewish people in the Soviet Union began. And this acute social theme is central to the novel.
The death of the artist
Solomon Mikhoels was not only a politician, but also a famous actor and director. In addition, this man directed the Moscow Jewish Theater. The circumstances of his death began to be revealed only after the death of Stalin. Until 1953, the official version of the death of Mikhoels and his colleague was an accident.
As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the murder was organized at the direct direction of Stalin. The perpetrators of the crime were arrested, but apparently not all. In any case, the Weiner novel refers to the fact that the killers are still at large. And the truth-seeker Alexei is doing his best to find the thread that will lead to the real organizers of this vile deed.
Title
The noose and stone in the green grass are symbols of the Feme tribunal, an organization fighting dissidents. In the first chapter, the hero, half asleep, sees a strange dream. He was sentenced to death for freethinking and wisdom. His executioners are the leaders of the aforementioned organization. Regarding the name, the authors did not say anything in their short introduction. But perhaps it has a twofold meaning.
Childhood memories
The hero of the novel is the son of wealthy parents. From childhood, he does not know what poverty is. But with external prosperity, Alexei suffers from an early age, disgusted with lies and silence of crimes, which occurs everywhere. He witnesses the mass deaths of hundreds of people at the funeral of Stalin. The father, an employee of the MGB, returning home after a working day, expresses his feelings to his wife: he is sorry for a colleague who is likely to be removed from office after an unfortunate incident in central Moscow. Hundreds of innocent victims do not cause pity in him.
In his dream, Alexei dies at the hands of the judges of the tribunal only because he read the case of "Feme". And only judges are allowed to do this. Any crimes, whether mass killings or removal from office of an uncomfortable person, were not discussed in the Soviet Union. Similar issues were resolved by the staff of the state apparatus. Thus, “Feme” is a symbol of the MGB.
Soviet society
Readers' opinion about the novel is twofold. The plot captures, constantly keeps in suspense. However, the background of this literary work is depressing. What is Soviet society shown in the novel “A Loop and a Stone in the Green Grass”?
Reviews about the book are negative precisely because the citizens of the USSR at Vaynerov are depicted in the most disgusting quality. They are all sneaky, opportunists, scammers and alcoholics. Hatred of the Jews is their characteristic trait. Almost all the Russian characters in the book are anti-Semites. Not every reader can agree with such a vision. Xenophobia may have occurred in Soviet society, but not in such a concentrated form. By the way, the representatives of Jewish nationality in the novel are people of exceptional morality.
The disadvantages of this work of the Weiner brothers, according to readers, are a distortion of historical facts and an excessive emphasis on the so-called Jewish question. Advantages - an exciting plot and a vivid depiction of the life of the Soviet era.