A Gentleman in Moscow is a bit of a Trojan Horse. On the surface, it's an endearing story about a charming Russian aristocrat who narrowly escapes death at the hands of the new revolutionary regime in 1922. Rather than face a firing squad, the powers that be determine that Count Alexander Rostov live under house arrest. The world of the novel thus shrinks to that which is contained within Hotel Metropol. We get to know a cast of characters: the volatile chef, the unflappable concierge, the stoic bartender, a wise and patient seamstress, an emotionally volatile best friend and a glamorous and film actress. We meet an array of hotel guests, including an unconventional nine-year-old girl who is the catalyst for some significant plot developments. Determined from the outset that he shall "master his circumstances, and not be mastered by them", Count Rostov finds that even in the most limited circumstances, life can provide opportunities for a person to learn, to grow and to make a difference in the world. And along the way, there will inevitably be heartbreak, and sadness, and injustice, and cruelty. There will also be pleasure, conviviality, great art and great joy, but only if a person chooses to be an active participant in their own life. ( )

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS
(Print: 9/6/2016; 978-0670026197; Viking; 1st edition; 480 pages)
Audio: 9/6/2016; 9780735288553; Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group; duration 17:53:00 (14 parts).
(Film: In development).

CHARACTERS:
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov (born in St. Petersburg, Russia 10/24/1889)
Helena Rostov-the Count’s sister
Nina Kulikova-child who befriends the Count
Andrey Duras-Maitre d’ of the Boyarsky
Marina-seamstress
Sofia-Nina’s daughter
Anna Urbanova- movie star
Emile Zhukovsky-Chief chef of the Boyarsky
Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov- former Colonel of the Red Army and an officer of the Party
Arkady-Front Desk Captain
Valentina-Chambermaid
Vasily- Hotel Metropol Concierge
Yuri-young room-service attendant
Audrius-the Shalyapin’s tender at bar
Charles Abernathy-Brit the Count meets at the Shalyapin
Mishka-the Count’s oldest friend
Richard Vanderwhile-an American the Count meets at the Shalyapin
Manager Leplevsky -“The Bishop”-a nickname given to this tall thin man who reminded the Count of the Bishop piece on a chessboard--a Piazza waiter who becomes the Metropol Hotel Manager.

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
I don’t want to give any part of this story away. I had read that it was about a man sentenced to live his life in a hotel, never to leave it. I couldn’t really imagine that as a central plot, but a friend recommended it so I thought I would give it a try. That IS the premise. I was wrong about it’s not making for much of a story. It’s probably the character of the protagonist that makes me rank this as one of my top favorite novels.
11/3/2021 Just finished a second listen so that my husband could hear it, and I liked it just as much the second time. I had been pretty engrossed in the relationship aspects the first time and was able to pay closer attention to details I'd missed before.

AUTHOR:
Amor Towles (1964). According to Wikipedia, Towles “is an American novelist. He is best known for his bestselling novels Rules of Civility (2011)[1] and A Gentleman in Moscow (2016),[2] the latter of which made him a finalist for the 2016 Kirkus Prize.[3]
Towles was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale College and received an M.A. in English from Stanford University, where he was a Scowcroft Fellow. When Towles was 10 years old, he threw a bottle with a message inside into the Atlantic Ocean. Several weeks later, he received a letter from Harrison Salisbury, who was then the managing editor of The New York Times. Towles and Salisbury corresponded for many years afterward.[4]”

NARRATOR:
Nicholas Guy Smith According to IMDb, “Nicholas Guy Smith is known for his work on Star Trek (2009), The Legend of Hercules (2014) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).”
Books on Tape has a blog in which Smith shared his approach to narrating this book:
“If I have a dozen major characters to narrate, I focus on their backstory, and general attitude in each scene, and, especially, the conflict. Once I have some understanding of who they are, what they look like, their history, if available, I make choices regarding their voices. I keep in mind how attitude affects tonal quality or cadence. For the voice of the Count, I wanted it to have a smooth elegance and authority as well as a unique sensitivity. I was inspired by the voice of the late British actor, Sir Ralph Richardson, who also had the same playful spirit as the Count.”
His narration is superb here and I will be looking for more audiobooks in his credits.

GENRE:
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature

LOCATIONS:
Hotel Metropol (Suit 317 / 6th floor attic servant’s quarters), Moscow

TIME FRAME
Roughly 1900 - 1954

SUBJECTS:
Sociology, Politics, Bolsheviks, Class relations, Social graces, Social standing, Early 20th century life in Russia, Moscow, Metropol Hotel, friendships, house arrest, father-daughter relationships, friends.

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From “An Alliance”
"’Come now,’ the colonel persisted. ‘Here we two are dining together on the Boyarsky’s roasted duck with a bottle of Georgian wine, which practically makes us old friends. And I am genuinely interested. What is it about me that makes you so sure that I am not a gentleman?’
As a sign of encouragement, the colonel leaned across the table to refill the Count’s glass.
‘It isn’t any one thing,’ the Count said after a moment. ‘It is an assembly of small details.’
‘Like in a mosaic.’
‘Yes. Like in a mosaic.’
‘So, give me an example of one of these smaller details.’
The Count took a sip from his glass and replaced it on the table at one o’clock.
‘As a host, it was perfectly appropriate for you to take up the serving tools. But a gentleman would have served his guest before he served himself.’
The colonel, who had just taken a bite of duck, smiled at the Count’s first example and waved his fork.
‘Continue,’ he said.
‘A gentleman wouldn’t gesture at another man with his fork,’ said the Count, ‘or speak with his mouth full. But perhaps most importantly, he would have introduced himself at the beginning of the conversation—particularly when he had the advantage over his guest.’
The colonel put his utensils down.
‘And I ordered the wrong wine,’ he added with a smile.
The Count put a finger in the air.
‘No. There are many reasons for ordering a particular bottle of wine. And memories of home are among the best.’
‘Then allow me to introduce myself: I am Osip Ivanovich Glebinov—former colonel of the Red Army and an officer of the Party, who as a boy in eastern Georgia dreamed of Moscow, and as a man of thirty-nine in Moscow dreams of eastern Georgia.’”

RATING:
5 stars. Wonderful characters and story and I love the eloquence of the writer.

STARTED-FINISHED
1/20/21-2/1/21 ( )

Brilliant, warm, engaging, moving, satisfying. ( )

It is the business of the times to change, Mr. Halecki. And it is the business of gentlemen to change with them."

A charming novel. Amor Towles appears to belong to the genre I call faux-literature: stories with a bit of depth, historical or otherwise, and a writing style that is painted over with panache if not quite artistry. (It was no surprise to see that Towles has been associated with the novels of Scott Fitzgerald; he is the supreme purveyor of faux-literature.) There's nothing wrong with the genre at all - it may even be helpful in bringing avid readers to the pure stuff - but for someone like myself, I often find it, like Fitzgerald, grating. Perhaps it's the feeling a genuine gastronome would have on seeing my idea of "high-class" food: serving a reheated supermarket crêpe with a dusting of icing sugar, or upping the glamour of some potato chips by adding store-bought pâté. It's delightful and invigorating, but not quite the same. One begins to feel like it's a false promise for those who have never experienced haute cuisine, and a bald compromise for those who have... even if it makes me personally rather satisfied.

All of which is a harsh way of saying that - contrary to my own expectations - I adored this book. Positively revelled in it. Taking place over three decades, and set almost exclusively in one hotel in Moscow's theatre district, Towles' novel fuses character development with lush prose, a reasonably insightful long-game view of the rise of the Soviet Union, and - most importantly - a well-realised spirit of place. We spend so much time in the Metropol, that Towles has set himself an impressive task to continue to make the space surprising and enchanting, and he succeeds almost all the time.

If I'm honest, the author's attempts to be "literary" frustrated me as often as they appealed. Fair enough, he's writing a novel that is part-folk tale or allegory; this can forgive some of the flights of fancy. Perhaps I should accept that the moments that would be traditional narrative climaxes are often underserved. Perhaps I can even forgive the slightly twee footnotes, and the comic moments of Russians attempting to understand mid-20th century American culture. The novel is flirting with modernism without giving up its popular fiction niche, which is a tango that has tangled up greater writers than he. I suppose I could even invert my statement: for every moment that frustrated me, there was one that appealed. I find it very hard to dislike a writer who conjures up a scene in which actors start improvising when the lights go out during a performance of The Seagull, doing so in perfect Chekhov-ese (and transcribed on the page in script format). I genuinely bumped the book up a star because of that scene.

Will you like this book? Very probably. It appears everyone does. (My library has reduced the borrowing period on this book because of high demand!) The mingling of history and comedy with unashamedly art deco prose is an intoxicating combination for nostalgics, romantics, and tragics, every one. And even for those of us who aren't popular readers, it's a treat. ( )

Really enjoyed it. Wonderful construction, turns of phrase and overall message of decency. ( )