A Gentleman in Moscow

Towles is an awesome storyteller, if a little long winded. I would have given more stars if it were 100 pages shorter.

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody with the most lucid prose around stews, wines, and words.

Loved it. It probably helped listening to the audiobook, which was well done.

i wish i could give this 6 stars
easily my favourite book :D asides from the book thief providing some competition

I really enjoyed this book and believe it would make a great series. All the of the characters are described in such wonderful detail.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed how descriptive it was, but I also found it pedantic. I considered giving up halfway because it felt like something a snobby college student would write and it was just too over the top. Rostov is meant to be the ultimate man - women find him irresistible, men want to be him, everyone loves him enough to put their lives on the line. He somehow has a deep knowledge of every conceivable topic...it just read like a Redditor's wet dream.

Absolutely loved this!

Let me start out by saying that funnily enough, although ever since I can remember I've loved reading with a passion unparalleled by any other in my life, I had yet to leave a review on Goodreads. That is to say, until this novel. All ye who read the brief description don't be misled into thinking that this novel is going to be what you expect it to be. Nay, this is a wondrous story of untold riches of the most mundane of moments, that makes one think about what one would do in similar circumstances... I could only hope to be as stout-hearted yet sensitive as the titular gentleman. To make a long story short, read it! You'll be whisked away on the wings of imagination, by turns delighted, saddened but, all in all, emboldened to live life in all its moments.

What a sweet, wholesome book. This made me cry. 4.5/5 stars.

Count Rostov is a Former Person placed under house arrest at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow, when the Bolshevik government takes over Russia. There's a whole lot of Russian history happening in the background here which I'm still not super clear on the details of so I won't dwell on them in this synopsis. The book sees Count Rostov spectating and indirectly participating in the political upheavals of the nation through the comings and goings of the visitors of the hotel.

This was a beautifully written book that perfectly balances the fairly sweet and casual ramblings and small domestic adventures of the Count in the foreground, while still somehow keeping the atmosphere poignantly oppressive and dreadful with Towles giving us relevant historical context that doesn't feel like it was too shoehorned in.

Through the Count, we meet the various characters of the hotel - Andrey the maitre d, Emile the head chef, the Bishop, Marina the seamstress, and some memorable long-term guests. This isn't a book to go in expecting an intricate character ensemble. Instead, we see everyone through Count Rostov's eyes. Indeed, we are really only privy to his perspective - we see Russia's history unfolding through his lens, the differences between his former life as a member of the Russian nobility to his current state being essentially incarcerated indefinitely in a hotel.

The Count, and almost by extension the entire Metropol Hotel itself, essentially functions as the single spot of constancy in the entire novel. This book spans a long time period in history, almost 30-40 years, during which Russia's leadership changes hands a few times. The world outside the hotel is ever changing, and all the characters the Count (and us, by extension) meets eventually wander out into the wider world to be subsumed by it, but the hotel and the Count never seems to change.

The highlight of this book for me occurs in the second half, which I will elaborate further in a spoiler below. In summary, it is a beautifully written non-romantic relationship that turns up in the Count's life unexpectedly, which deepened the poignant bittersweetness of this whole book for me. I'm talking about the Count and Sophia's relationship. I really liked that "indulgent father" vibe that he had with Nina, but who knew that it would be magnified a hundredfold with the more amenable personality of Sophia? The chapter "Adulthood" drove me to tears. There wasn't anything outstandingly sad about it, but even that semi-hilarious conversation where the Count was upset about how low the back of Sophia's dress was, and how the Count had to face up to the fact that Sophia had now crossed the threshold of becoming an adult woman in her own right - everything just gave me so much feels.

Overall, a really brilliant read whether you're interested in Russian history in the early 20th century, or just want a wholesome and bittersweet story to lose yourself in.

This story was just wholly enjoyable from cover to cover, and I found myself smiling in every chapter. Towles makes the mundane delightful to read, giving colour to every minor character and bringing every nook and cranny of the hotel to life. Towles sets the story in some of Russia's darkest and formative years and tells us only what a Count stuck in a hotel would experience during those times. We see the state of his country, not only through his experiences under house arrest, but through the many friends he meets in the hotel. We see that as the world changes around the hotel, he and the building remain the same. Because of that, The Count works as a positive force to all who meet him, regardless of faction, age, or gender. A wonderful story where the journey is internal.

Well, here goes any respect my friends might've had for me: I mostly found it... irritating. It did get better as it progressed, and Towles's writing is exquisite–the main reason I continued reading–but for the most part it just felt heavyhanded. Never actually schmaltz, but too often I felt like Towles was coming awfully close to the baster. Maybe I'm too sensitive; maybe Towles blends in just the perfect hint but, like the merest trace of cilantro to those allergic, it's too much for my palate.

Speaking of palates: our protagonist, Mary Sue I mean The Count, what a palate! Possibly the most discerning and refined one in all of Moscow, eliciting bravos from top chefs. But there's more: he charms his way out of a firing squad; gains the trust of a precocious nine-year-old girl who shows him the deeply hidden secrets of the Hotel; he makes such a first impression on a haughty movie star that she seduces him then obsesses over him after she departs. He is doggedly sought out by high-level intelligence agents in need of his diplomatic and cultural knowledge. The Fates repeatedly swoop down to rescue him in dire moments of need. The authorial wish fulfillment, in short, is strong in this one. Unfortunately, there isn't that much substance to the characters–any of them–nor the story. I never felt like I understood their inner lives. They all act on cue, responding to external stimuli in accordance with the roles they've been assigned and the backstories we've been shown. They frequently utter profound, insightful Deep Truths–the kind that make this reader pause, reflect, sometimes even feel like underlining–but there's just this ever so slight greeting-card feeling about them. Like the author penned them, perfected them, then built pages of scaffolding around them so they'd sound just right at just the right time. All nice and pat, in much the way that real life tends not to be. Or is that just me?

Then there's the whole (mild spoiler alert) Les Misérables aspect of the second half. It was tender, often moving, but there was something that didn't feel right about it and I think I've just realized what (major spoiler): the Count is no Valjean; the Bishop no Javert. Hugo makes us live his characters, their impossible moral choices, their struggles to do Good. We understand them, feel for them, even suffer with them. Both are driven by powerful inner forces which most of us can intimately relate to. The Count, though, comes off merely as a shallow fop wanting to be admired; the Bishop, a petty bureaucrat much like the Work Preventers I used to deal with at LANL, whose only solace in their sad meaningless lives is the power to say no to anyone trying to do something useful. Towles's beautiful prose notwithstanding, neither really elicits my sympathies. And I think that's what bugs me: the similarities are only superficial. Everything important, everything that makes a Capital-Ess Story, is hollow.

But maybe it's just me.

At times saccharine, but the ending brought a finish akin to a top-shelf vodka.

Pretty good. It's about people and our relationships. He faced no real hardship throughout the book, but lived a full life even though he was confined to a single building. He really wanted for nothing. Circumstance seemed to always provide him with plenty – plenty to do, and plenty in general. It's generally very philosophical and wants us to examine the lives we lead and the people we encounter along the way. And it gives perspective on age and our view of the world. Overall very engaging

I wasn't sure at first but am so glad I stayed with the story. It was fabulous. It begins around the same time in Russian history as my novel, Sunflowers Under Fire, but it's a very different story. Amor Towles focuses on an aristocrat, who's sentenced by the Bolsheviks to spend the rest of his life in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. I loved how deftly the novelist weaves in all the characters that Count Rostov meets during his stay, as well as the food and drink of the elite. It gave me an appreciation of what Russian culture has contributed to the world, but also the challenges its citizenry have had under Communist rule. Highly recommended.

*4.5 stars. I now know why this book is so well-loved. I would be lucky to count the Count among my friends. I enjoyed slipping into this world and seeing history unfold in micro and macro and even though book club necessitated a marathon reading, I think this is meant to be pleasurable, slow read. It reminded me some of Brookner's Hotel Dulac and Cameron's Andorra, for obvious reasons but Gentleman maintains a voice and quality that are quite unique and beg for careful consideration. I know if I pick it up again, I will take more time and care and I will look forward to the meetings of the triumvirate and to escaping again into the Count's adventures.

While there were bits of it I did enjoy. I think the audiobook version despite the excellent narration actually detracted from the enjoyment I could have derived from the story

Alexander Rostov para mi ha entrado junto con Dracula y Montecristo en el panteon de condes ilustres de la literatura.
Aunque me da la sensacion de que Rostov no llegaria a intimar con ellos creo que la admiracion seria mutua.
Este libro aunque ocurriendo en los confines de un hotel no es lento ni aburrido, acabamos conociendo a sus personajes bastante bien y quiza eso es lo mejor que se puede decir de este libro, mas alla de lo que pase o no, uno sigue leyendo porque que le va a pasar al bueno del conde, ira a cenar al Boyarsky, claro, como no, me pregunto que vino eligira como acompanyante hoy.... Aah, excelente eleccion.

I'm beginning to feel a bit like a “former person” myself these days. So grateful for this book's example of how gentility can be more than an assumed affect.

One of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. It is a simply and superbly crafted novel with interesting characters, and like a good play it uses the confine of a closed stage to create the tensions and drive the plot. I would have happily read more on many of the relationships between Sasha and Ospina, or Richard. It was a pleasure to pick up every time.

I was initially recommended this book when I told a friend how much I enjoyed Cold War era spy novels. It took me a while, but now I understand why she suggested this book. Wonderfully written.

I really enjoyed this. It's like a bit more of a jovial Remains of the Day, in a way? I'm a sucker for tales of duty and social obligation like this, and the sophisticated dry wit is also right in my wheelhouse.

The narration in the audiobook by Nicholas Guy Smith is perfect. He speaks in an pleasing upper class British accent throughout (he doesn't really attempt Russian as I think it would come off strange), but also does some subtle and not so subtle changes when other characters speak. It definitely set the tone for the entire story.

This book has been a slow read, but a very satisfying one. The narrator is as witty as the protagonist, Count Alexander Rostov, a Former Person under permanent house arrest at the Metropol Hotel by the Communist Party. Despite his aristocratic bearings, the Count adapts himself to his new circumstance with surprising agility, never once losing composure nor his fine manners. We meet the hotel residents and staff, as well as emerging leaders of the new country who dine at the Metropol.
It took a long while to settle into the gentle cadence of this novel, but once you accept that the book will not be offering thrilling twists and turns at every chapter but instead beguile you with its language, characters, and dialogue, you can enjoy the unfolding tale of the Count, his daughter, Sofia, and the people around them.
There is a twist, of course, as well as a rapid elevation of pace towards the end of the novel, that make for a satisfying finish.
This book is like a good meal at the Boyarsky, the restaurant the hotel is noted for, which one can only enjoy if one lingers and appreciates the delicate balance of flavours.

Let me start by saying that A Gentleman in Moscow is completely outside the realm of novels that I would usually read. While I usually read Nordic noir, scifi, or fantasy novels, I picked up this book off of a recommendation.

Although the book started a tad slow, as you become more invested in the main character, The Count, the enjoyment out of the story ramps up. His quips, his perspective, and his diction are all so enjoyable that I felt myself wanting to act the same in my own life.

The story builds and rewards those who pay deep attention to detail as it progresses. My only very minor criticism is that you might find yourself Google'ing a niche French dish they talk about in the story, or other small points just to fully appreciate what they're talking about. After all the time investing in each character, the ending comes as a perfect bow to wrap up the story.

5/5.

This isn't quit a 5 star Wow but it is pretty close. I loved its humour and humanity.

One of my Favorite Books of 2019