The Oligarch's Daughter

Tatyana, Paul’s wife and Arkady’s daughter, is a complex and contradictory character. Initially, Paul does not realize that she is an oligarch’s daughter and comes from wealth. She is trying to make it as a photographer and lives in a modest rented apartment. She eventually explains to Paul that this is because she is uncomfortable with her father’s wealth and lavish lifestyle. She wants to make a name for herself, saying, “I [don’t] want to be known as his daughter. I [want] to have my own life” (93). Paul appreciates that she seeks to define herself on her own terms and values her independence. She even goes by her mother’s last name, Belkin, to avoid being associated with her father’s famous last name, Galkin.

However, as the novel progresses, she comes to embrace Arkady’s opulent taste and is happy to move into a large, expensive apartment that her father gifts her. She is equally comfortable on a trip on his massive yacht and openly enjoys the amenities that it provides. Paul struggles to understand this contradiction, coming to the conclusion that she is a stereotypical oligarch’s daughter who is content to embrace opulence despite her earlier objections. Yet Tatyana’s shift is tied to her love for her father, underscoring the theme of The Complex Nature of Family Loyalty. She adores her parents, and her acceptance of Arkady’s world, including its excess and crime, signifies her complete acceptance of him.

Tatyana’s kindness and compassion define her. She is devoted to her rescue dog, Pushkin, treating him with care that reveals her gentle nature. She also approaches art with empathy and sensitivity: She specializes in street photography that aims to preserve the humanity of people who are often marginalized by society.

Arkady is a powerful and charismatic Russian oligarch who embodies the theme of The Destructive Interplay of Money, Corruption, and Power. He is Tatyana’s father and Paul’s father-in-law. Physically, he is “a big bald man” who projects power and authority (86).

Arkady grew up during the resource-scarce days of the Soviet Union and is proud of his humble origins. Although he understands that in business settings, he must project wealth through both his demeanor and his clothing, during his free time, he wears simpler clothes and loves bargain hunting, often ordering discount items from catalogues. He enjoys the trappings of his wealth and advertises his success through his ostentatious home, massive yacht, and lavish private jet.

Arkady runs an investment firm, but he is willing to skate the boundaries of the law; rumors swirl that those who oppose him end up dead. He engages in insider trading and has no qualms about breaking the law. Arkady is involved in the shadowy worlds of both Kremlin-backed espionage and covert CIA operations. He is a double agent working for the Russian and American governments alike, and he has a distinct philosophy about this kind of work: He ascribes a distinct fluidity to power and does not see a marked difference between the Russian and American governments or their espionage agencies. Both organizations, in his estimation, are self-interested and willing to resort to violence in order to achieve their aims.

Despite his ruthlessness, Arkady is devoted to his family and adores his children. All of his hard work, he notes, is in service of his family’s happiness. He tells Paul that “true wealth” is family and that all the money he has earned has only been to protect his family.

Berzin is Arkady’s “chief of security” and a former colonel in the FSB, the Russian state security service (93). He is one of the novel’s antagonists. Prior to his work with the FSB, he was an officer in the KGB, the Soviet-era security service. Berzin is also a covert American operative, working for Geraldine Dempsey’s top-secret, black-ops program Phantom.

Berzin is important for the way that he embodies Russia’s fraught and complex security history. He is a figure deeply entrenched in Russia’s legacy of state surveillance, extra-judicial violence, and human rights violations in the name of security. His dual role as an American CIA agent underscores the novel’s argument that power and corruption transcend borders and that intelligence agencies operate with similar methods, regardless of allegiance.

Berzin is reserved, although he is willing to be aggressive and confrontational when the situation demands it. He is Arkady’s right-hand man and has no ethical qualms about committing crimes, even murder.

Stanley is Paul’s father. He is a brilliant computer scientist who quit his academic career in part because his intractability made him a difficult employee. Stanley has a brilliant mind and was considered one of the brightest thinkers during the early days of computer science. Yet he struggled at work because he was never willing to conform to social rules. Ultimately, Stanley was so at odds with society that he chose to withdraw from it and live as a survivalist in the woods.

In addition to being a highly intelligent scientist, Stanley is a skilled outdoorsman capable of surviving alone in the wilderness. He taught Paul many of these skills, although Paul recalls resenting his father for their difficult weekend excursions into the woods. When Stanley made a complete break with society, choosing to live in a lean-to in the wilderness, Paul went to live with his uncle. Stanley’s presence looms large over Paul throughout the novel, especially during Paul’s own treks through the woods. He feels a marked sense of distance between himself and his father, but he realizes that much of what his father taught him helps him survive and evade his pursuers.

When the two meet and reconcile, Stanley proves his love for Paul by not only by dressing his wound, caring for him, and helping him crack the code on the Phantom file but also by sacrificing his life to save his son’s. Stanley thus emerges as a complex, round character who is not only difficult and reticent but also deeply devoted to his loved ones.