Cuban writer narrates the tragic story of Trotsky and his assassin

Shorty after beginning the novel, I realized that this was a first-rate narrative “fiction.” I want to emphasize the fictional part of it as the author – the Cuban writer Leonardo Padura – states: “keep in mind that it’s a fiction novel, despite the exhausting presence of history in every one of its pages…”

The fascinating plot of “The Man Who Loves Dogs” (Tusquets Editores, 2009) takes us through Liev Davidovich Bronstein’s life, also known as Trotsky, and that of his murderer, the Catalan Ramon Mercader.

The novel begins in 2004, when Ivan, a Cuban writer, reminisces about a chapter of his life that happened in 1977 after his wife’s death. He then met an enigmatic character who walked on the beach alongside two beautiful Russian greyhounds (borzois). After several encounters, the stranger begins to share unique confidences that touch on Trotsky’s murderer, Ramon Mercader, providing intimate insights. Due to these confidences, Ivan is able to reconstruct the paths of Trotsky and Ramon Mercader, and how they became victim and executioner.

The great events that shocked and transformed the twentieth century serve as the backdrop of the novel: from the dawn of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia – with Stalin’s unstoppable ascent to power, Trotsky’s removal and impious persecution and his real or imaginary followers, continuing with Hitler’s equally unstoppable rise in Germany, the Spanish Civil War, War World II, to the fall of Socialism in 1989 and its repercussion in Cuba.

Leonardo Padura, with a master’s touch that few have, draws a psychological plot that develops with total freedom of space and time. One moment, we are in Russia at the beginning of the revolution, then we jump to Cuba after the fall of socialism; from the Spanish Civil war, to decadent Paris right before the German invasion and then on to Trotsky’s temporary refuge in Norway.

Through the many characters that parade across the book, we discover loyalties and betrayals, great ideals and limitless vileness. One instance is the protagonist who not only assassinates the “great traitor,’ but who also keeps his silence – despite enduring 20 years of torture during his imprisonment, without betraying the cause, only to then become a like a plague victim to those who miserably used him.

The author draws an excellent portrait of Trotsky as a revolutionary, activist and intellectual who tries to survive the efforts to eliminate him while maintaining the permanent flame of the revolution and establishing the IV Socialist International.

The other protagonist is Stalin: an undisputed and merciless leader capable of imposing his will through systematic terror. He obliterated millions of people through forced collectivism—such as the one in Ukraine at the start of the 1930’s—massive deportations, labor camps, and expeditious trials that ended with thousands of victims executed by a shot to the head. Padura writes about Stalin’s fake trials against both historic revolutionaries—such as Zinoviev and Kamenev—and their executioners, such as Yagoda or Yeshoz, chiefs of the regime’s politic police and responsible for the reign of repression and terror.

Padura sorts out tough history lessons with courage not common to those who write and publish in today’s Cuba. Through his characters, Padura consciously explores what happened and still happens in his country, showing us a reality without ideological deformations. One can tell he knows what he’s talking about because he crafts the characters’ psychology, the historic and fictional plot, in a refined narrative structure. But, there is an extra treat is found in the writing: in an exquisite style where the dialogues and characters are credible all wrapped up in a refined Spanish.

In conclusion, it’s an indispensable novel to those that enjoy a classic contemporary literary piece.