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rkaufman13's review
Could have sworn I already reviewed this, but the tone of the book is "smarmy" and the main character's a Marty Stu. I don't know why everyone wants me to love this book.
irenelpynn's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
twellz's review
5.0
4.5 STARS! Despite a witty first chapter, the novel is slow to find its rhythm, but about 30% through it picked up & 75% through it, I couldn't put it down. I found myself highlighting passages like a fool!
The main character, Count Alexander Rostov, is sentenced in 1922 by the Bolsheviks to live out the rest of his life at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. If he leaves, he is to be executed. Instead of living in his former posh hotel suite, he is instead given a 10' x 10' room in the attic. The fact that almost the entire book takes place in the Metropol Hotel is part of why I loved this book! His lunches with Nina & Sophie reminded me of dining at “elegant dinners” with my Bama when I was a little girl!
Favorite Quotes/Passages:
“But experience is less likely to teach us how to bid our dearest possessions adieu. And if it were to? We wouldn’t welcome the education. For eventually, we come to hold our dearest possessions more closely than we hold our friends. We carry them from place to place, often at considerable expense and inconvenience; we dust and polish their surfaces and reprimand children for playing too roughly in their vicinity—all the while, allowing memories to invest them with greater and greater importance. Until we imagine that these carefully preserved possessions might give us genuine solace in the face of a lost companion.”
“Some might wonder that the two men should consider themselves to be old friends having only known each other for four years; but the tenure of friendships has never been governed by the passage of time.”
“For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.”
If you want to read a book with page-turning suspense, action or romance this is not the book for you. "A Gentleman in Moscow" was totally unlike anything I have ever read. Like Towles’ “Rules of Civility”, the writing style is tedious, exquisite & a million reasons why I will savor this story forever!
The main character, Count Alexander Rostov, is sentenced in 1922 by the Bolsheviks to live out the rest of his life at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. If he leaves, he is to be executed. Instead of living in his former posh hotel suite, he is instead given a 10' x 10' room in the attic. The fact that almost the entire book takes place in the Metropol Hotel is part of why I loved this book! His lunches with Nina & Sophie reminded me of dining at “elegant dinners” with my Bama when I was a little girl!
Favorite Quotes/Passages:
“But experience is less likely to teach us how to bid our dearest possessions adieu. And if it were to? We wouldn’t welcome the education. For eventually, we come to hold our dearest possessions more closely than we hold our friends. We carry them from place to place, often at considerable expense and inconvenience; we dust and polish their surfaces and reprimand children for playing too roughly in their vicinity—all the while, allowing memories to invest them with greater and greater importance. Until we imagine that these carefully preserved possessions might give us genuine solace in the face of a lost companion.”
“Some might wonder that the two men should consider themselves to be old friends having only known each other for four years; but the tenure of friendships has never been governed by the passage of time.”
“For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.”
If you want to read a book with page-turning suspense, action or romance this is not the book for you. "A Gentleman in Moscow" was totally unlike anything I have ever read. Like Towles’ “Rules of Civility”, the writing style is tedious, exquisite & a million reasons why I will savor this story forever!
kirsten0929's review
3.0
[2016] This book was completely charming and Count Alexander Rostov is one of the most likable characters I have ever come across. I started out loving this book. Everyone was so nice and everyone got along and life in the hotel was good and rolled along without incident until…well, that’s the problem, there was no until. Life just rolled along, which was fine for about the first 300 (of 462) pages, but after that it started wearing a little thin. Give me some adversity! Give me some conflict! None to be found. Anytime I thought I saw some potential for a pivotal moment or a turning point of some sort, the issue was resolved pretty much before it started. Our hero aged over the course of the book but I’m not sure he grew.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected - it’s basically a G rated book and I was expecting at least a PG. Not the book’s fault, but I was expecting a little more depth and complexity. I would have like a little more exploration of his feelings about his 30-year house arrest (he’s very zen about it but surely they couldn’t have all been good), what he missed about the outside world (apparently nothing?), the logistics of how that would work (I guess because all of them couldn’t be addressed, none of them were?), etc. I also expected a more in depth look at Moscow during these years, politically and socially (we get glimpses). It stays very much at the surface - a book of this length could have gone down a couple more layers. All that said, it was such a sweet book that I still really enjoyed it and will look back on it fondly. Wouldn't mind giving his other book, Rules of Civility a read.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected - it’s basically a G rated book and I was expecting at least a PG. Not the book’s fault, but I was expecting a little more depth and complexity. I would have like a little more exploration of his feelings about his 30-year house arrest (he’s very zen about it but surely they couldn’t have all been good), what he missed about the outside world (apparently nothing?), the logistics of how that would work (I guess because all of them couldn’t be addressed, none of them were?), etc. I also expected a more in depth look at Moscow during these years, politically and socially (we get glimpses). It stays very much at the surface - a book of this length could have gone down a couple more layers. All that said, it was such a sweet book that I still really enjoyed it and will look back on it fondly. Wouldn't mind giving his other book, Rules of Civility a read.
emmaje01's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
yukti_k's review
5.0
This novel had me at the edge of the seat. I had imagined it would go a thousand different ways but these few lines from the book sum it up so well for me:
“I’ll tell you what is convenient,” he said after a moment. “To sleep until noon and have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party, so that on a moment’s notice it can whisk you away to another. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka—and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most.”
At the end of the day, life is what happens to us when we are busy making plans and as justifies the Count, the unpredictable things that happened to him are also the things that made his life rich and wonderful.
This book is full of nuggets of wisdom, intrigue, adventure, emotion and everything real that comprises life. It also tries to ascertain what life would have been like in a country that most people don't know or understand and how the people in that environment learnt to survive and thrive, the things that they cared about and their grievances.
Rarely have I been so enthralled by the journey of a character and been so envious of his life of little that he treated as if it were a delicacy. I would say it is a must read for a generation that often forgets what it is like to have the world change so rapidly that they can't keep pace with it and how to live and accept oneself in the grand scheme of things.
“I’ll tell you what is convenient,” he said after a moment. “To sleep until noon and have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party, so that on a moment’s notice it can whisk you away to another. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka—and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most.”
At the end of the day, life is what happens to us when we are busy making plans and as justifies the Count, the unpredictable things that happened to him are also the things that made his life rich and wonderful.
This book is full of nuggets of wisdom, intrigue, adventure, emotion and everything real that comprises life. It also tries to ascertain what life would have been like in a country that most people don't know or understand and how the people in that environment learnt to survive and thrive, the things that they cared about and their grievances.
Rarely have I been so enthralled by the journey of a character and been so envious of his life of little that he treated as if it were a delicacy. I would say it is a must read for a generation that often forgets what it is like to have the world change so rapidly that they can't keep pace with it and how to live and accept oneself in the grand scheme of things.
rach_kelly13's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jambonumber5's review against another edition
4.0
Lovely - historically interesting and comfortable like a children’s book
sharperray's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
lucy_99's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5