bnisoli 's review for:

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

3.0

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The book improved with the second half, and the writing remained consistent in its richness and profundity, but I still never fully got into the story. It reads like a Great Gatsby wannabe -- down to the excessive drinking and romance that you can't bring yourself to care about -- but with significantly less plot and told from a female perspective occasionally warped by the intrusion of a male voice. But given the book's acclaim, I will concede that perhaps the problem is me, and as I mentioned in a previous review, the characters (particularly the protagonist) are at least likeable.

Also, there was a little too much jeans, ponytails, immunity from the Great Depression, and Billie Holiday's 1950s recording of "Autumn in New York" for me to be fully convinced the novel takes place in 1938.