Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

My first e-book!

Count Alexander Illych Rostov, born into Russian aristocracy was, if you were to ask him, a gentleman. But as a gentleman, he was confronted by the overthrow of the aristocracy in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Count Rostov was given a life sentence, not in Siberia but in Moscow’s Metropol hotel. Although not able to leave the hotel, he enjoyed all the conveniences. All but the spacious suite of rooms he had occupied previously where he had, much reduced in number, treasured family furnishings. He was moved, at the butt of a gun by two military officers and a further reduced number of family furnishings, to a garrett room on the sixth floor. The hotel staff, from the concierge to the bellhops to the restaurant staff treated him with the respect that was his due. Count Rostov was confident in his vast knowledge of  literature, philosophy and any other topic of conversation. That is until, one day at lunch, a nine year old girl dressed all in yellow, came to his table and changed his gentlemanly and well ordered world. Nina, curious and precocious, lived in the hotel with her governess. She had obtained, surreptitiously no doubt, a master key to all the rooms in the Metropol. From there she opened the Count’s world from his aristocratic confines to the intrigue of anytime forays into different parts of the hotel, from top to bottom. Not for pilfering or destruction, but to look out the windows, eavesdrop on meetings and in general explore a world he knew nothing about. Nina, who has left her indelible mark on the Count, leaves the story briefly, but returns several years later and leaves her young daughter with the Count, promising to return within a relatively short period of time. But she does not return and is never heard from again. So the Count was to raise this child, Sofia, to adult hood in this hotel, from his garrett room, and with the support and help of the hotel staff. The Count is friends with all ~ there is Emile, the chef and Vasily, the Concierge, Arkady, who manned the front desk, Marina the seamstress are but a few. A new waiter, that he names the Bishop because of his 'ecclesiastical' bearing, does not seem to know the appropriate wine for a meal. He rises to different positions in the Metropol, despite his apparent lack of knowledge and unsophistication. The Count and this 'bishop' have an immediate and continuing dislike and distrust of each other. 

Our book club met over Zoom yesterday afternoon for discussion of this wonderful novel. Originally canceled due to our present stay at home circumstance, our little group of 70 + ladies learned a thing or two about keeping in touch electronically. In Count Rostov’s time (1922) he was confined to a hotel at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. We are confined to our homes in this time of our own global crisis. Count Rostov provided us insight into the gracious acceptance needed when circumstances - or young children - change one's world. Discussion of this novel full of intrigue, Russian history, romance and just plain fun was a real bright spot for each of us.

“For standing at the edge of his table was the young girl 

with the penchant for yellow - studying him with 

that unapologetic interest peculiar to children and dogs.”

Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

Title: A Gentleman in Moscow

Author: Amor Towles

Copyright: 2016 by Cetology, Inc

Publisher: Penguin Books 2019

Type: Novel

Format: Fiction

ISBN: 9780670026197 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 9780399564048 (ebook)

ISBN: 9780735221673 (International edition)

LCCN: 2016030082