Review: "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles

Quick Summary

Type: Novel

Genre: Historical fiction, literary fiction

Back Cover: "From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing late 1930s Manhattan to life with splendid atmosphere and a flawless command of style. Readers and critics were enchanted; as NPR commented, “Towles writes with grace and verve about the mores and manners of a society on the cusp of radical change.”

A Gentleman in Moscow immerses us in another elegantly drawn era with the story of Count Alexander Rostov. When, in 1922, he is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the count 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 a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humour, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavour to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose."

Read Time: 2 months

Rating: 4 stars

Review

This was a slow book. It took me a while to get into it, and at the very beginning, I didn't find it super interesting.

But at around the 50-60% mark, it got really interesting. Pretty much as soon as Sophia came on the scene, I really, really enjoyed this book. I personally think the book would have been better served if the leadup to the Count's adoption of Sophia had been a little more dynamic, but the Count's role as father (and headwaiter) was great. Additionally, Sophia introduced the first real stakes (I felt) in the novel. Until Sophia came on the scene, it didn't seem like the Count was missing too much, even if his entire life was confined to the Metropol. But after Sophia, I felt bad that he couldn't ever leave the hotel to see her performances, and was worried for him when he left to get her to a hospital. Similarly, the stakes were additionally raised when he took great lengths to give Sophia a better life in the West by giving her a solid plan for escape in Paris.

In terms of the Count's own escape, I understand why the Count went home, but I would have hoped that he (and Anna, I suppose) would have gone to Paris to join Sophia. But I am glad this story had a happy ending.

Because of the narrative with Sophia, this book gets 4 stars. I think if the lead-up to Sophia's arrival in the Count's life had been quicker, I would have rated the book higher.