Reviews - جنتلمان في موسكو

جنتلمان في موسكو by Amor Towles, إيهاب عبد الحميد

14.4k reviews for:

This was superb. I loved every minute of reading this book. It's well written (better written than many many books I've read recently), has a compelling story and a protagonist who was appealing and admirable.
Having finished it, I now want to begin it all over again.

hadewitt's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rkw25's review against another edition

5.0

I read this on the recommendation of my friend Sarah and it is incredibly well-written, sweet, clever, and heart-warming. The "gentleman," a Count before the Russian Revolution is put on house arrest in 1922 in the Metropol, "a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin." Over the next thirty years his world grows much bigger than one might expect--the hotel's workers roll with the ups and downs of life after the Revolution and through World War II, over the years foreign visitors continue to come to the grand hotel, persons involved in the new government pass through one of the two restaurants or bar in the hotel, and our gentleman remembers his previous life, visits with friends who come, and goes about his days trying to be the best person he can be. A telling comment on his motivation appears at the end of the book as one of the characters reflects on life and a scene from the movie "Casablanca": "in setting upright the cocktail glass in the aftermath of the commotion, didn't he also exhibit an essential faith that by the smallest of one's actions one can restore some sense of order to the world?" (459) [Definitely a suggestion for surviving in our own times.] Two little girls, each in a different time, have pivotal roles in the book. In the midst of all this the reader learns about the revolution and the USSR's struggles to enter the industrial age and take a place on the world stage. Longer than I usually choose for a book, this was well worth the time!

csager's review against another edition

3.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

cjmaude's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

nightsdecay's review against another edition

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed how descriptive it was, but I also found it pedantic. I considered giving up halfway because it felt like something a snobby college student would write and it was just too over the top. Rostov is meant to be the ultimate man - women find him irresistible, men want to be him, everyone loves him enough to put their lives on the line. He somehow has a deep knowledge of every conceivable topic...it just read like a Redditor's wet dream.