Should he step out the hotel, he is to be killed on the spot. The story is about his life being confined to this place only. ”If one does not master one’s circumstances, one is bound to be mastered by them”Ĭount Alexander is sentenced to house arrest in June 1922. I have been circling this book for ages, worried that I would not enjoy the slower pace, so I waited and waited until I was ready. You would think that being imprisoned in the Hotel Metropol would place great limitations on one’s life, but Count Alexander manages to live life to it’s fullest. Through Count Alexander, he offers an intimate look into the lives and service of those most essential for a well-run hotel, along with a few crucial guests who enrich his life. His wit, kindness and philosophical musings make the Count an endearing and loveable character. Through him we are given a glimpse of the changing landscape of Russia. Rather he makes the best of his circumstances, maintaining friendships and relationships, eventually becoming a member of the staff. He was moved from his elegant suite to a small room on the attic floor, with just enough room for his most treasured possessions.Ĭount Alexander is not bitter, nor does he allow himself to wallow in self-pity. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is sentenced to living out the rest of his life inside the Hotel Metropol for writing a poem that was interpreted as politically incorrect. It’s 1922, Russia is experiencing an evolution in it’s politics, with Moscow the center of it all. Theme: Imprisonment, Freedom, and Purpose, Change and Adaptation Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.īrimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count's endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.Major Characters: The Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, Mikhail Fyodorovich Mindich (Mishka), Anna Urbanova, Nina Kulikova, Sofia Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors.
When, in 1922, he is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the count is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.
Readers and critics were enchanted as NPR commented, "Towles writes with grace and verve about the mores and manners of a society on the cusp of radical change."Ī Gentleman in Moscow immerses us in another elegantly drawn era with the story of Count Alexander Rostov. With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing late 1930s Manhattan to life with splendid atmosphere and a flawless command of style.
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