Reviews

3.5 Stars. All evidence suggests this should've been an easy five stars from me. Historical fiction from a unique perspective? Check. Written by an author who has penned other work I enjoy? Check. Insightful, deep passages about the human experience? Check.
Despite the above, A Gentleman in Moscow was unsuccessful at stealing all my attention into its story while my real life faded away. As a simple minded consumer, this is the key metric to judge my fiction books on which it unfortunately didn't land.

I appreciated how this book was written about a distinguished, high society Aristrocrat, and also appeared to be narrated from someone of the same realm. This made for a very atmospheric reading experience. The insightful quotes I mentioned earlier appear regularly, and they are so damn good. If I was brave enough to mark my books with passages that hit home, then each chapter would be scribbled on somewhere.

This book is very clever and is one I'll encourage people to try, but like all pieces of art, some will resonate strongly where others will not, and this falls into the latter category for me.

dragonflymorning's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Count Rostov is one of my new favorite characters. I’ll be searching for a copy to bring home so I can reread and highlight my favorite passages.

cameronbmoon's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This is the ideal historical fiction.

deeprosser's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

acamuti's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

The language of Towles is exquisite, as is the poetic lens given to the Count.

That said, exquisite language must be coupled with great storytelling — which I felt was completely lacking in the first ~150 pages. It was a slog. Switching to the audiobook renewed my engagement and, once certain characters were introduced, the plot turned out to be lovely — crescendoing into a wonderful ending!

litteraldingo's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

lunatic_jg's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I have to say this was a bit of a strange reading experience. I started it and while I liked the writing and the tone of the story it wasn't pulling me in. There's a moment very early in the book when the main character is reading a book but really just looking at the clock and willing the time to move and I found myself unfortunately relating to that experience.

But this was my bookclub read and I had a limited time to get through it so I got the audiobook and I have to say I enjoyed listening to this story much more than reading it. Maybe if I gave it a little more time the reading experience would have improved too but I didn't have that time to spare.

My favourite parts of the story involved kids showing up in the Count's life, especially Sofia was such a great addition to the story.

The book was surprisingly light and sweet taking into consideration the time period and the setting it took place in. In the end it was just a story of a man who found his place in the world and his people even when he was sentenced to be moved into obscurity. I really enjoyed that even though there are points of high tension the story never turns into a dramatic tale.

When I started it I thought I'd end up disliking it or at least being indifferent to it but it ended up being a really enjoyable time.

More...