A review by lauraleafromthelibrary
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

2 ⭐️
  • Showing me v telling me problem
    • We see his memories; the linear track of the story gets lost.
  • I do love character driven books, which this is but, I feel like this was dragged down by a lot pointless plot.
  • I do love historical fiction so maybe this was just an author I don’t enjoy. Is the writing bad? I’m unsure. The author is American. That could be the problem. It doesn’t feel authentic to me.
  • The imperial problem. I hated it.
    • USSR officially adopted it in 1925.
    • It says it was introduced in Russia 1899 and by 1917 it was mandatory.
    • WTF was everything in this book in Fahrenheit. 😡😡
  • I don’t see how this book is so beloved; is it nostalgia for the past? A life lost? A time before communism? Before socialism? A time of gentlemen and ladies.
  • We’re attracted to things like Downton Abbey, Outlander, the Crown because they are unique historical stories with rich history. This could fall into this category but it just wasn’t conveyed well.
  • ALSO — I take issue with anyone that calls the movie Casablanca a “woman’s movie” (page 295). It’s sexist but there’s also kind of a love letter to Casablanca as well. A main theme.
  • The ending was better than the beginning.

  • Book One
    • Set in 1922
    • Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov
    • This is historical fiction.
    • Page 36: “The Count took pride in wearing a well-tailored jacket; but he took greater pride in knowing that a gentleman’s presence was best announced by his bearing, his remarks, and his manners. Not by the cut of his coat.”
    • Nina Kulikova — 9 years old
    • Page 52 — teaching Nina about being a princess: “A princess would be raised to say please when she asked for a cake, and thank you when she was offered one.”
      • He also teaches her about posture and respecting your elders.
    • Page 56: we find out he’s lived at the Metropol hotel for 4 years (previous to his imprisonment).
    • Mikhail Fyodorovich is Mishka; he is Rostov’s good friend. That meant at university.
    • It’s like watching a group chat come to life; so many people just watching things happen in the hotel.

  • Book Two
    • Now, 1923.
    • On the first anniversary of his imprisonment, he sleeps with Anna Urbanova; the movie star.
      • “As you go, be sure to draw the curtains.” 🥰
    • 1924 — feeling lost.
    • 1926 — mentions temperature is Fahrenheit: 34 degrees (page 147). 🧐
    • The German:
      • 3 things Russia contributed the West (other than Vodka):
      • 1. Chekhov + Tolstoy
      • 2. Tchaikovsky — the Nutcraker
      • 3. Caviar
    • The story to Charles Abernethy: he defends his sister’s honour; she dies without him. He’s now in exile.

  • Book Three:
    • 1930 — his nickname is Sasha? Just noticed this.
    • Nina has grown up into a scholarly type of socialist.
    • He starts a more regular relationship with Anna during this year. She’s no longer acting because of talking pictures.
    • Meets up with her in 1928; after she’s meeting a director who essentially blows her off.
    • We learn Rostov last left the country in 1914 to shoot Pulonov, the jerk.
      • Page 209: “why did you shoot the fellow? Wasn’t he an aristocrat like yourself? — “I shot him because he was an aristocrat.”
    • This whole conversation about being a gentleman — page 210: “What is it about me that makes you so sure that I am not a gentleman? “It isn’t one thing to — it is an assembly of small details. Yes. Like in a mosaic. So, give me an example of one of these smaller details. — As a host, it was perfectly appropriate for you to take up the serving tools. But a gentleman would have served his guest before he served himself. A gentleman wouldn’t gesture at another man with his fork, or speak with his mouth full. But perhaps most importantly, he would have introduced himself at the beginning of a conversation — particularly when he had the advantage over his guest… And I ordered the wrong wine.”
      • I hate this constant obsession with drinks; like who cares, you’re all alcoholics, we get it.
    • 1938 — Sofia; Nina’s daughter is introduced; 5 years old.
      • Page 271 — Nina never returns.
    • 1946 — Mishka visits. Says the 5th best contribution to the west was the burning of Moscow in 1812 in protest.
      • Is America also ready to do this as well??
    • Page 297-298: “As I’ve said to you before, we and the Americans will lead the rest of this century because we are the only nations who have learned to brush the past aside instead of bowing before it.” RIGHT 🫣
      • And in the 21st century, they are probably 2 of the worst countries in the world. Democratic, communist or otherwise.
    • Page 304: the Count leaves the hotel for the first time in 24 years to go to the hospital with Sofia (she is now 13 years old).

  • Book Four:
    • 1950
    • Page 333: Richard Vanderwhile, the American. Just happens to become his best friend. 🤮
    • 1952 — the buttons metaphor. Kinda cute. Nina + Sofia.
    • 1953 — Stalin dies.
    • Page 351: “You sound as if you dreamed of living in America. Everyone dreams of living in America.” NOT ME 👎🏻
    • The cake scene — I do love that they all care about Sofia.
    • Mishka dies. A part of Rostov dies too.
    • Thinking of Katerina — Mishka’s ex-wife: does he now wish for freedom too?

  • Book Five:
    • 1954
    • Page 387-388: “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.” ♥️
      • Sofia needs to venture out into the world without the Count.
    • Sofia’s dress. Cute scene.
    • Page 421: “Well, since the day I born, Sofia, there was only one time when Life needed me to be in a particular place at a particular time, and that was when your mother brought you to the lobby of the Metropol. And I would not accept the Tsarship of all the Russias in exchange for being in this hotel at that hour.” 🥹
    • Page 447: Rostov’s big escape plan; Sofia escapes too.
    • It’s Nina at the end. ♥️