A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW BY AMOR TOWLES

I have taken some time between when I finished this spectacular book and writing this review.
Sometimes when I read a unique book such as this one was, I have a really hard time reviewing it. I feel I don’t have the words to describe what a fantastic book 

 it really is but I shall give it a try here.

It is 1922 and the Bolsheviks have taken over power in Russia and have abolished all ruling classes. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov has been stripped of his title and placed under house arrest at his place of residence, The Metropol Hotel. He is doomed to spend the rest of his days, not in his luxurious Suite 37, but in a cramped attic room. If he should step outside the hotel at any time, he will be shot dead. The Count is a true gentleman who approaches this sentence with a good attitude. He commences making friends with the staff of the hotel and the guests.

He makes the best of the fact that all of his possessions, as well as his title, have been taken from him. First, he meets a precocious nine-year-old girl, Nina, and forms a lasting friendship with her. He accompanies her on her journeys throughout the hotel and, since she has acquired a passkey to all the rooms, nearly every nook and cranny is explored.

The author created a fascinating cast of characters, one of which is Nina’s daughter, Sofia, who ultimately ends up in his care and rears as he would his own daughter. There are many others that the reader will get to know throughout this wonderful book. And I defy anyone not to feel as if they are a part of the admiration society for the Count. As a matter of fact, I fell a little in love with him.

There are humorous shenanigans in this book that left me laughing out loud. And at other times, I almost cried.

You can view an interview with Amor Towles on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdEOS…

Amor Towles has created an outstanding novel here. I have purchased Rules of Civility. If it is a fraction as well written as ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’, it will be exceptional.

About the Author

Born and raised in the Boston area, Amor Towles graduated from Yale College and received an MA in English from Stanford University. Having worked as an investment professional in Manhattan for over twenty years, he now devotes himself fulltime to writing. His first novel, Rules of Civility, published in 2011, was a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback and was ranked by the Wall Street Journal as one of the best books of 2011. The book was optioned by Lionsgate to be made into a feature film and its French translation received the 2012 Prix Fitzgerald. His second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, published in 2016, was also a New York Times bestseller and was ranked as one of the best books of 2016 by the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the St. Louis Dispatch, and NPR. Both novels have been translated into over fifteen languages.

Mr. Towles, who lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children, is an ardent fan of early 20th century painting, 1950’s jazz, 1970’s cop shows, rock & roll on vinyl, obsolete accessories, manifestoes, breakfast pastries, pasta, liquor, snow-days, Tuscany, Provence, Disneyland, Hollywood, the cast of Casablanca, 007, Captain Kirk, Bob Dylan (early, mid, and late phases), the wee hours, card games, cafés, and the cookies made by both of his grandmothers.