Book Reviews

A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)

A bit of an epic, this one, but worth every moment spent drinking it up.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by Bolshevik Russia, and placed under house arrest. Over the next thirty years, we follow his every move as he cultivates a new life, turning his plush prison into a paradise.

I struggle to know what to write here, because above all else, I want to sing the praises of this gorgeous novel. Firstly, to take someone such as the Count and cast him as the protagonist is a bold choice. The privileged are not sympathetic characters, and as readers we much prefer tales of rags-to-riches than vice versa. But the time period flips all that on its head. Here, aristocrats are the ones persecuted for the circumstances in which they were born, tied to fate in ways they never foresaw, and the Count is the epitome of an aristocrat. Refined and chivalrous beyond belief, his stringent rules should become annoyances, but instead form a charming part of an internal monologue told in the third person.

Bizarrely, the Count is the only character we really come to know. Despite its lengthy running time, the novel is rooted in one perspective, confining the reader to Alexander's thoughts as much as he is. Fortunately, our host is an expert conversationalist, and new facets of hotel life are introduced moments after things begin to lag.

It certainly could be called a slow burner, but that would erase the occasional passages of pulse-raising drama which punctuate the philosophy. The Count has time aplenty to consider family, friendship, the passage of time, the importance of belongings, what makes a man rich, but when his adopted daughter is in danger, the peril is real. And of course, tensions rise as the story reaches its climax, but to say any more would be giving things away.

Mostly, it is the beautiful prose that keeps the pages ticking away. I flipped to a random page to give an example, and found the following: "With what charm and elegance they moved among the patrons of the bar, gracing the air with their slender silhouettes, delicate laughter, and hints of perfume." It's simple enough, but the sense of place is so strong! (Yes, I'm fangirling.) Tell me you aren't in love already.

An eloquent book drizzled with gentle humour, quiet philosophy and soulful characters, A Gentleman in Moscow is paced rather like life, but beautiful writing lends magic to even the most tragic sections.