Michael Bucher
Contemporary Literature
Professor Kuelker
June 24, 2013
Havana Bay a Great Novel
Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith is a great novel. According to national bestselling author Shelly Thacker’s “10 Tips for a Top-Notch Novel,” a great novel starts with a surprising hook, doesn’t overload the beginning with background, characters possess strong goals, weaknesses and flaws, a powerful conflict with emotional impact occurs, it contains more dialogue than narrative maintaining a controlled point of view, is sure to eliminate clichés and finally uses polished writing skills. Havana Bay exceeds the reader’s expectations in all of these criteria confirming that it is a great novel.
Does the novel have a surprising hook? Shelly Thacker defines a surprising hook as the “first five pages…hook the reader with an opening line that surprises, intrigues, startles and makes (the Reader) want to know more.” In Havana Bay, the first five pages represent an extremely graphic and suspenseful hook. The novel begins by introducing us to five characters Arkady, Rufo, Captain Arcos, Sergeant Luna and Osorio leaving the reader curious as to what their role will be in the story. The description of a dead body being recovered out of the water will startle the reader with vivid lines such as “grabbed onto first the inner tube and then a foot hanging from it. The foot came off….as the foot turned into jelly”(4). Despite the great hook, Cruz Smith is careful not to overload the reader with background. He moves the reader right into the story from the very first line, “A police boat directed a light …”(1). Instead Cruz Smith does exactly what Thacker suggests “ weave that background in as you go.” In later chapters we learn much more detail about every character.
The characters in a great novel have strong goals, but they must also have weaknesses and flaws. For strong characters to have goals they, “must have motivation for what they do” (Thacker). Havana Bay’s character, Detective Osorio, offers a prime example of this. She is trying to discriminate against females in Havana through the sexual exploitation of women and corruption within the police department. In the beginning of chapter three, female discrimination in Cuba is represented, “Her best female students had been regulated to typing…the plates Ofelia used were washed twice” (33). In the next paragraph the sexual exploitation of women can be visualized by the reader, “when…men met Cuban girls in Cuba they were like gluttons…men became animals…be sure the tourist arrived with condoms”(33). At the end of the paragraph, it is pretty clear that Osorio is trying to fight the corruption. “She had put together an operation …against corrupt police”(33). Having strong motivation is one part of the characters’ identities, but there must also be character weaknesses and flaws that Havana Bay delivers. It has been said, “A good novel is a story of transformation … characters to grow and change” (Thacker). The main character of the story is Arkady. In the beginning, Arkady is cynical and depressed. We learn that his wife died recently as a result of a mistake made by a nurse while giving her a shot of something she was allergic to that will be referred to as being “inattention”(25). Arkady contemplates and decides taking his own life is the only way to deal with the suffering of his loss. When Arkady is moments from his own death, he is ironically interrupted. Rufo arrives in the scene and attempts to kill Arkady. Before Arkady could even figure out what was happening, Rufo was killed by the very weapon Arkady was going to use on himself. At this point, Arkady gets a renewed outlook on life and what he came to Havana to do. As the story continues there are many instances testing Arkady causing him to grow and change.
In addition to the above mentioned qualities of a novel, a great novel must have powerful conflict and emotional impact on the reader. Thacker said, “Conflict is what keeps the reader turning pages.” Emotional impact will cause readers to “feel what’s happening…to laugh, cry, hope, and worry”(Thacker). There is one scene in particular when Havana Bay offers the reader both elements of a “Top-Notch Novel.” It begins on page 25 with the passage, “Arkady went up alone” (25). Readers are shown the passion Arkady still has for his wife, Irina. We are told of the coat his wife had given him and how it had become his “lucky coat. Impervious to bullets” (25). Continuing on in the next few lines about the coat “ …Bore the faint lingering perfume…tactile sense of her…this scent was a final ally against her loss”(25). After Irina passes away Arkady becomes deeply depressed and the narrator informs the reader that “he would stay in bed for days...occasionally rising…to make tea….ignoring visits from colleagues”(25). The reader then learns about the origin of Arkady's anger. We find out that Irina was killed due to an “inattention to detail” (25). She had died from more than one “inattention” by the hospital staff. Depressed Arkady spends time wondering of the different ways to end his life. It is after the attack by Rufo mentioned previously that Arkady begins to change. This order of events written by Cruz Smith was done with the intention to force the reader to experience a feeling of love, sorrow, loathing, depression, betrayal, triumph and rejuvenation.
Continuing on, for a novel to be great it must draw the reader in with more dialogue than narrative and a controlled point of view. Havana Bay is absolutely full of dialogue making it very wonderful for the reader. Readers will feel as though they are in the scene with the characters instead of observing the interactions from a distance. Thacker states, “Don’t tell the reader (with narrative)…showing with action and dialogue creates vivid characters”. There is dialogue seemingly on every page of Havana Bay. Very simple exchanges between characters like the one on page 89 between Arkady and a man with a Jeep holding an air hose, “Needs air,” he said in Russian “I suppose so,” Arkady said. Cruz Smith offers a more detailed example when Arkady is attacked by Sergeant Luna. There is very little narrating throughout the scene. Most of the attack is done in dialogue. Controlling the point of view is done very well in Havana Bay. Cruz Smith does a wonderful job by sticking with one character’s point of view to only “switch between scenes,” and not going back and forth between characters “keeping (the ) reader emotionally involved”(Thacker).
The last tips Thacker offers as to what makes a great novel are to eliminate cliché and use polished writing skills. “Make your people, scenes, settings and situations fresh,” Thacker says to help with eliminating clichés. Cruz Smith is a master at this with Havana Bay. Arkady and Pribluda are both characters from a series of books Smith had previously written. The setting is in Cuba, a setting that is not used often. Cuba is not usually portrayed in the same way. Most writers would use more descriptions of the visual beauty of the land and tropical location. Cruz Smith identifies the darker side of Havana by describing the use of a corrupt police force, descriptions of the poor living conditions, prostitution that is rapid in Cuba, as well as the positives and negatives of both capitalism and communism. Thacker mentions for a “Top-Notch” novel the author must “polish your writing skills”. Cruz has successfully done this, not only in Havana Bay, but in other novels he has written such as Romano Grey, The Inquisitor series, Arkady Ranko books (including Havana Bay) along with eleven other individual titles. Without question Smith is a polished writer.
Havana Bay exceeds Shelly Thacker’s “10 Tips for a Top-Notch Novel.” The novel contains an opening hook, avoids overloading the beginning with too much background, and the characters have strong goals as well as weaknesses and flaws. The book offers powerful conflicts with emotional impact. There is more dialogue than narrative with a controlled point of view. Cruz Smith avoids the use of clichés and is a polished professional writer. In conclusion Havana Bay is a great novel told by a brilliant author.

Citations
Cruz Smith , Martin. Havana Bay. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1999. Print.
Thacker, Shelly. "10 Tips for a Top-Notch Novel ." Shelly Thacker's Writing Workshop. Shelly Thacker, n.d. Web. 20 Jun 2013. <www.shellythacker.com/betterbook.htm>.