Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - A Gentleman in Moscow

There are many things about this book that I love. I love the writing style: it's so immersive I could probably draw a map of the Metropol. I love the characters, especially the relationships between them: the Triumvirate, the Count and Nina, the Count and Sofia, the Count and Mishka (I think that's his name. It's his bestie) and the Count and the Bishop have some of the most intense moments. Even the Count and the man on the roof! I love the story:

A man, house arrest in a hotel, rebuilds his life. Makes lifelong friends in Andrey, Emile and the others. Has a special relationship with a then-nine year old, who then gives him the chance to be a father. Raises a beautifully rounded daughter who goes on to fulfil her dreams. And in the end, the house arrest is broken and the book ends with the Count going back to his childhood town, going to the pub and seeing the 'willowy woman' in the corner, who in no doubt is his daughter.

It's just beautiful.

Content Warnings

fray_myst's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing

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

5.0

Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov has been sentenced into exile in his own country, in Moscow at the Metropol Hotel. For writing a poem that has revolutionary sentiments. Here, we witness 30 years of history through the eyes of the count, visitors, colleagues and friends that visit the Metropol. From the fall of the aristocracy to the 1950s. It's almost a story about nothing.

A Gentleman of Moscow has that almost meandering, dreamlike storytelling where the paragraphs seem to go off on a tangent about some some subject or the other. With some real life Russian historic events woven into and around the narrative. It stumbled a bit in pacing around the 3/4th mark of the book, as the events suddenly turned glacial. Though every bit crucial to what was to come.

The overarching theme is "adaptability". How these characters live and find a way to navigate Russia that is both familiar and unknown. The count's godfather himself once told a young Alexander, in a lifetime ago: if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.

Content Warnings

gloomi_sundai's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.0

it took me so long to read cuz i went weeks even months without reading so i cannot give an honest review but i did throughly enjoy it and i think i will love it more when i reread it in ten years

Content Warnings

More...