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A review by lhart2222
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
1.0
It is with great disappointment that I say I did not finish A Gentleman in Moscow. After absolutely loving The Lincoln Highway by the same author: raving continually about how it's one of my favourite books. AGIM wasn’t for me and at only 70 pages in I've decided it's not worth me finishing.
Set in 1922 Russia the book tries to encapsulate the time by writing the book in the style of a 1920s Russian aristocrat. This became tedious fast. Using lengthy words and sentences, which are choppy and very stop-start, after only a few paragraphs I felt I was reading the dictionary rather than a storybook.
I found it almost impossible to get lost in this book. From the story to the writing and even the characters, I don't have any positives. The story was, in my opinion, non-existent, I didn't care for any of it. The writing is so unnecessarily complicated it gives this book an air of superiority type feel. Finally, the characters. Although I've only encountered two of the major cast, I dislike both.
Describing Alexander Rostov as “charming, witty and elegant” would be a lie. I found him rather boring and slightly pretentious. Nina, the young girl whom Rostov befriends is even worse. A ten-year-old girl who speaks like an adult and is patronising beyond belief brought me nothing but annoyance.
Overall I'm gutted, after seeing the rave reviews I was looking forward to this book, to say I'm let down is an understatement. Realistically I should have known, seeing as I dislike most books with a philosophical undertone, however, I just hoped this would be different… it wasn't.
Set in 1922 Russia the book tries to encapsulate the time by writing the book in the style of a 1920s Russian aristocrat. This became tedious fast. Using lengthy words and sentences, which are choppy and very stop-start, after only a few paragraphs I felt I was reading the dictionary rather than a storybook.
I found it almost impossible to get lost in this book. From the story to the writing and even the characters, I don't have any positives. The story was, in my opinion, non-existent, I didn't care for any of it. The writing is so unnecessarily complicated it gives this book an air of superiority type feel. Finally, the characters. Although I've only encountered two of the major cast, I dislike both.
Describing Alexander Rostov as “charming, witty and elegant” would be a lie. I found him rather boring and slightly pretentious. Nina, the young girl whom Rostov befriends is even worse. A ten-year-old girl who speaks like an adult and is patronising beyond belief brought me nothing but annoyance.
Overall I'm gutted, after seeing the rave reviews I was looking forward to this book, to say I'm let down is an understatement. Realistically I should have known, seeing as I dislike most books with a philosophical undertone, however, I just hoped this would be different… it wasn't.