I like Clancy really. Most of his works are quite readable, and I enjoyed them greatly. But, of course, as it is not easy for an American to consider "the outside world" as something worthy of detailed description, there are many... how should I say... Mistakes, which could easily blend in the whole picture if you are an American reading about Russia, or a Russian reading about America, but they tend to stand out and jump at you, when you read about the country you live in.
So... Maybe none of you here took notice of that, but:
1. Tom Clancy positively thinks that all Russians drink vodka before meal, with meal, after meal and frequently instead of meal. Every business meeting starts and ends with vodka, and all the Russians drink freely during work and at home. It may shock you, but it is not so by several hundred percent. And more than that, it had never been so, as far as I know.
2. To complete the drinking issue, I must mention that Russians almost never sip their vodka. Vodka is usually drank in gulps rather than sips. Usually all of it - in one gulp. How much one can drink depends on one's abilities and on the glass' size: we usually use 40 - 200 grams glasses. Russians usually drink only with ample reason: on big holidays and funerals. Of course there are people here who drink every day, but I doubt very much that we have more such people than could be found in America. (Though I may be wrong here, as we have still a long way before us to using drugs in such quantities as that is supposedly the case in USA. Because of that we may have more drinkers, and USA have more narcs).
3. An adult Russian will almost never call another person "Mishka", "Sashka", "Van'ka" etc. (Mishka = Mikhail, Sashka = Alexander, Van'ka = Ivan). Only in case when they are in a bath and had been drinking heavily, or playing football or other hockey and expect to be drinking heavily really soon, or they are childhood buddies from school or the same village (and were drinking heavily then and since)... ouch... this drinking theme is really quite sticky...
But most of all this is how kids call each other when they are below ten years of age. No kidding.
4. We have in Russia some things that are alike to what you have in USA, especially from some distance. But really the difference is quite obvious. One of such things are MILITARY RANKS. For example, our Major General goes below Lieutenant General, and than goes Colonel General. Logic is simple: major has one star, lieutenant has two stars, and colonel has three stars. So Colonel General (or in Russian "General Polkovnik") has only three stars, and not four, as one wrongly thinks while reading "Bear and Dragon". There are some other differences which I would gladly explain to any interested person.
So... I like Mr. Clancy very much, and I had read all his things except "Rainbow Six", which I failed to buy here and in Finland, Sweden, UK and Maldives for half a year... It is interesting if Americans, Brits and others can find not too precise descriptions of their countries in the works of Clancy?
As for me - it would be much flattering, if Clancy had made his next book mentioning Russian ways and habits more to the point... If not - OK, his books are great as it is.
