Title: A Gentleman in Moscow
Author: Amor Towles
Date Read: May 16 2017
Published: September 6 2016 @ Viking
Genre: Adult Historical Fiction
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I’ll tell you what is convenient,” he said after a moment. “To sleep until noon and have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party, so that on a moment’s notice it can whisk you away to another. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka—and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most.”
A Gentleman in Moscow follows the life of Russian aristocrat Alexander Rostov (otherwise known as the Count) who, after the Bolshevik Revolution, is sentenced to house arrest at the extravagant Metropol Hotel. There he meets an array of characters who come to change the course of his life as he ruminates on the world as it changes around him while he is forced to remain in the same place, relatively unchanging.
The only word that truly comes to mind whenever I think of this novel is the word "charming." Rostov is the perfect gentleman through and through, ready for any situation with wit and good manners, and even his imperfections are endearing, like his instances of conservatism. Every aspect of this story is charming, from the lush writing to the vibrant setting and the myriad of secondary characters that liven the Count's otherwise bleak existence.
This is a story, yes, but it's also an examination of what makes life worth living. Through Rostov, we see the beauty and strife that comes with life, and the friendships that really give our lives value and meaning. Though he is confined to one space, the Count's existence is rich and interesting, and while the actual plot of the story was very slow, I never found myself bored or unhappy to keep reading. This did make the shift in pace near the end of the novel a little jarring, as it sped up considerably, but I wouldn't necessarily call that a criticism. It just didn't work for me personally.
I also feel like, considering the novel is set almost exclusively inside the hotel, I learned so much about Russia and Russian history that I wouldn't have otherwise known. I took a class last semester on Imperial Russia, but I honestly don't know very much about what occurred after the Revolution, save for things I've learned from spy movies (which I doubt have very much accuracy). It might sound lame to say "this book was educational!" but it was, and I'm really glad for it.
Overall, this was a beautiful story about a beautiful man, and so well written. I'm looking forward to picking up Towles' other novel, Rules of Civility, soon.
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