The Weakness of the Bolshevik

The weakness of the Bolshevik is the third novel by the writer Lorenzo Silva. Published in 1997, it was a finalist for the Nadal Award that same year.

Plot

The life of a disenchanted and bored man takes a new turn after a traffic accident. The protagonist crashes his car into the one in front of him. This belongs to a hysterical executive who covers him with insults and he makes the decision of his life: he will dedicate himself body and soul to the moral annihilation of that woman. What began as a revenge becomes the obsession of a mature man with a teenager.

Source of title

The title comes from an anecdote explained by the protagonist in the work through a photograph, which dates back to the XX century. The protagonist identifies with the feelings of a Bolshevik who, upon breaking into the tsar's quarters, falls in love with a duchess, daughter of Nicholas II, who feels great contempt for mujiks like him. The Bolshevik rapes the duchess, who moments later is to be executed. This is the weakness of the Bolshevik: a utopian love, and impracticable.

Cinema

In 2003, this novel was made into a film by Manuel Martín Cuenca and starred Luis Tosar and the young María Valverde with the title of the same name.