From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility and the forthcoming novel The Lincoln Highway, a story about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel—a beautifully transporting novel. The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers, soon to be a major television series In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a … Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.
more
My all time favorite book, must read!!!
What a delightful and poignant experience … reading this book not only inspired me to see the positive, but it also provided a realistic glimpse into the USSR between the two world wars, without letting the reader ever forget about Russia and her people … it provoked so many contradictory emotions … it was profound yet witty … dark but optimistic … the complexity of human nature was exposed, and it gave one hope.
I loved this book. The setting and the characters drew me in to what might seem a small world but adventure, possibilities and life are not confined by space. The Count was once told “…that if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.” Wise words that the Count took to heart and then showed us how it could be managed. I found myself marking passages that resonated with me, made me laugh and gave me pause – all hallmarks of an excellent novel.
One of my favorite reads of 2019.
This is a manual for survival. How one man achieves a life complete with love, friendship, humor, excitement and compassion all from a room in a grand hotel in Moscow is a lesson to us all. We only need a room and a gentle way to look at the world.
This is one of the most delightful books I have ever read. The story is told so delicately and elegantly. I felt transported to a time and place of transition that has made the world we know today. The finely drawn characters became people I cared about as for dear friends. Really an exquisite book.
Beautifully written, atmospheric, humorous, this novel has very little plot. Count Rostov is under house arrest in the glamorous Metropol Hotel in Moscow after the revolution. He acclimates himself easily to his reduced circumstances, a tinier suite, and if he leaves the premises he will be shot.
Endless details of his daily life can lag. Why isn’t he angry? Why isn’t he upset by the way the Bolsheviks are destroying Russia? Why doesn’t he try to escape? He could have spied early in the story to pick up the pace. Many things are skimmed over. He needed more inner turmoil, yet I liked him. The ending was a surprise, just what I was waiting for…yet even there one thread was left hanging.
Wow — simply beautiful writing. But also, a wonderful historical fiction with colorful characters who weave in and out of each other’s lives in one Moscow hotel while the world changes around them.
One of the best books I’ve read in YEARS. I’m not a scholar but the words just flow so beautifully painting a picture on every page.
This was a charming, delightful, and humorous book. It is also insightful. When things fall apart, one can find purpose and joy in hardship.
The writing is lush and lyrical, with sentences that evoke a time and place in his past. Here is a passage: “The summer breeze that had beckoned the Count now wrapped him in its full embrace. Warm and forgiving, it called up feelings of summer nights from earlier in his life—from when he was five and ten and twenty on the streets of St. Petersburg or the pastures of Idlehour.“
The history and the culture is delivered with such poetry: “What is it about a nation that would foster a willingness in its people to destroy their own artworks, ravage their own cities, and kill their own progeny without compunction? To foreigners it must seem shocking. It must seem as if we Russians have such a brutish indifference that nothing, not even the fruit of our loins, is viewed as sacrosanct. And how that notion pained me. How it unsettled me. Exhausted as I was, the very thought of it could keep me tossing until dawn.”
And the philosophy, the theme of the book: “For when life makes it impossible for a man to pursue his dreams, he will connive to pursue them anyway.”
“One does not fulfill one’s potential by listening to Scheherazade in a gilded hall, or by reading the Odyssey in one’s den. One does so by setting forth into the vast unknown…”
The next quote I highlighted is one that I have imbued in my writing life, and in life as an artist:
“For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.”
For me, I appreciated and smiled at all the literary allusions such as Casablanca, the Essays of Montaigne, and Anna Karenina to name just a few.
And this sums it up when his best friend Mishka says, “Who would have imagined,” he (Mishka) said, “when you were sentenced to life in the Metropol all those years ago, that you had just become the luckiest man in all of Russia.” ― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow
This was a most enjoyable book.
Wonderful book with so many layers and thought-provoking themes.
Not to my liking.
A wonderful look at ‘house arrest’ in a Moscow hotel of a man who had seen the world and creates an amazing world for himself within its walls.
I’m a bit late coming to the party on this one since it has been out for a few years, but this was easily the best book I read in 2019. I have recommended it to dozens of friends and I do so again here.
When an author takes the reader in hand, immediately plunging her into a world of scent, sound, touch, sight and taste — a world perhaps familiar but just different enough to intrigue — when a writer can do that and hold your attention through each page, so that you can’t wait to pick the book up again, to reconnect with the author’s time and characters . . . that is as soul-satisfying to me as anything could be.
Thanks to author Amor Towles. He’s accomplished this feat twice, first with The Rules of Civility and now with the recently-released A Gentleman in Moscow. I loved The Rules of Civility so much, I couldn’t wait to read A Gentleman in Moscow, even I couldn’t fathom how a novel set in Moscow during World War II and the Cold War, times and a place that didn’t seem to hold much of fascination, could be riveting. How wrong I was.
More: https://daeandwrite.wordpress.com/2016/10/15/a-gentleman-in-moscow-by-amor-towles-/
Towles is a stylist after my own heart. The story is well done, with very few WTF moments plot-wise. If you’re a writer, I feel you’d do well to study Towles’s language in this one: expressions, descriptions, and usage. As lovely as any writer going.
This is my new favorite book! Amor Towles creates a world inside a hotel where a count is imprisoned for many decades. As he makes his way through the years, people come and go, friendships flourish, the governments change, political alliances shift, intrigue abounds. Beautifully written with some of the best characterization I’ve read, this delightful story draws you into the count’s world. His charm, impeccable manners, wit and intellect make you love this count and hope for the best for him. From the description of cooking and meals to the games he plays with his “granddaughter”, the author keeps it interesting and riveting.
This book was not what I expected. The story was so nice. Well written and informative. Explained so many things about Russia. Flowed with a wonderful story about a smart and talented girl and her upbringing by the man she was left with as a little girl. Restricted to living in a hotel, Count Rostov still managed to give her a full and exciting life.
I loved this book! One of those novels that as soon as I finished it, I went back to the beginning to re-read it to appreciate all the little details and clues to the plot twist that I hadn’t understood the first time through. I’m kind of surprised that it’s such a bestseller, and not at all surprised that some people struggle with it. It’s long, and written in a slow style, reminiscent of 19th century novels with a very prominent narrator’s voice – but blended with a delightful very modern dry humor. I read and enjoyed a lot of classic Russian novels years ago, so I loved this modern take on the form. The historical background is just that – background to the wonderful character study and very clever plot. One of the best books I have read all year.
So very interesting!