My Amazon Review of Amor Towles' "A Gentleman in Moscow"

 

Soviet Life in the Eyes of a Count and a Grand Hotel

 

As I write this there are nearly 26,000 reviews of this book so I obviously do not have much to add. Nevertheless, here is my brief take. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a man of impeccable tastes, is placed under house arrest in 1922 at the very grand Hotel Metropol. We follow his life over the next three decades through the eyes of an off-screen narrator. Amor Towles tells his story with grace, sympathy, and humor as he witnesses the emergence of the Soviet state, albeit from the vantage point of a luxury hotel, not the famine fields of Ukraine, the great purge of 1937-38 and the devastation of World War II. Near the end of the book the whole Politburo, including Khrushchev, play a role.

The count works as a waiter at the Boyarsky restaurant and there he befriends the chef, maître di and other waiters. Beyond the friendships the novel is about romance and the love of a father for a daughter. Early on he befriends Nina, a precocious six-year-old who know all the inner passages of the hotel and possesses a pass key.  Later, that key will be of great importance.

The count has a long running affair with a Lauren Bacall-type willowy actress. Her description is no accident in that Humphrey Bogart and the movie “Casablanca” plays more than a casual role in the novel. The count watches 1930’s and 1940’s movies with an OGPU (later KGB) colonel who is seeking greater understanding of America through its movies. Their conversations are a joy to listen in on.

In sum, Towles has written a truly enjoyable novel and I highly recommend it.

For the full Amazon URL see: Soviet Life in the Eyes of a Count and a Grand Hotel (amazon.com)