A Gentleman in Moscow

I liked this novel, and I loved parts of it, but I didn't love it as a whole. Viewed as a series of vignettes, it's wonderful, but when viewed as a full story I thought it was plodding, lacked a plot arc, and left a bunch of interesting storylines hanging. The main character makes decisions without giving much justification (his suicide attempt, becoming a waiter at the Boyarsky) and the ending seemed like it came out of nowhere and had very little to do with the rest of the book.

Perhaps this is meant to mirror real life - people come in and out of it abruptly, threads trail off with no artistic close like in a novel. But I don't think the purpose of art is to perfectly mirror real life.

I was also frustrated by the manner of telling the story - the disjointed jumps from year to year with little transition.

I'm not a reader who needs plot to drive a story, but my impression at the close of the story was “Why?” Why does this book exist, and what was I supposed to be left with? I didn't think any of it was particularly memorable, and I suppose it will fade away quickly.

Read for the inaugural meeting of #bookstagram NYC. We had a great discussion on April 3.