Book: A Gentleman in Moscow
Author: Amor Towles
Genre: Fiction
Hardback 462 pages
Having read and enjoyed Amor Towles’ first novel, Rules of Civility, I was ready for another interesting and well-written story, and I was well rewarded with A Gentleman in Moscow. This novel is different from anything else I have read. As the novel opens in 1922, we meet the main character, 31-year-old Count Alexander Rostov, when he has fallen from grace, as most aristocrats did, just after the Russian revolution. He was tried by a tribunal and sentenced to life under house arrest in a former servant’s quarters in a hotel in Moscow just across the street from the Kremlin. So begins the curious tale of our gentleman in Moscow.
This story takes us on a journey through the Count’s eyes and his exploits during the course of over 30 years inside the Hotel Metropol. He views the world as having lost manners and grace, and sees it as his mission in life to enjoy the pleasures that can be afforded to him while modeling insight and common courtesy wherever he can. Thus, he manages to charm and insightfully instruct all those with whom he comes in contact.
Along the way, he befriends a famous actress, the hotel chef, an American and many others, both the guests of the hotel and its employees. He meets a few old friends from his former life and at one point finds that a child is left in his care. Throughout, we see Count Rostov charming almost everyone who crosses his path.
Osip Ivanovich, the former Red Army Colonel and current officer of the Communist Party, is assigned to keep track of Count Rostov. The count offers to help Osip in his desire to learn about the upper classes to help him develop diplomatic skills. So together, over dinner on the third Saturday of every month, the Count helps Osip explore such things as French, the Enlightenment, Impressionist painting, British tea and cricket, and American film and film noir, etc. In the care of his young ward, Sofia, the Count employs the help of Marina, the hotel seamstress. He even uses his exemplary knowledge of social graces and the art of fine dining to succeed as a waiter in the hotel restaurant.
As a good number of people from different places and circumstances pass in and out of the Hotel Metropol, the Count’s confined world becomes a microcosm for the outside world in Moscow over the 30 years after the revolution. It’s hard to imagine that following one person’s life and interactions inside one hotel for 30 years could make for such a compelling story. And, in truth, the story does slow just a bit in the middle. However, the writing throughout is wonderful, the character of the Count is a joy to get to know, and the background of Russian and world history gives the story an especially interesting context. And finally, until the end, I was certainly anxious to find out if the Count was ever released from his confinement. This novel is well worth the read. Of the novels I read in 2017, this was my favorite.
