Released: 6th September 2016
Genre: Drama, Historical
Number of Pages: 462
Amor Towles’ third and latest release, A Gentleman in Moscow is easily his most extensively detailed and acclaimed title to date. However, reader getting into it should be prepared for a more deliberative and careful pacing.
Beginning in 1922 following the rise of the Bolsheviks, Count Alexander Rostov is sealed inside Moscow’s Metropol Hotel on indefinite house arrest. Weathered, wise and staying true to his own morals, we follow the once proud member of royalty as he engages in various activities and converses with countless residents of the hotel. All the while, the country he once knew transforms dramatically over the next thirty years. What follows is a collation of poignant, humorous and ultimately resonant events that hold a deep sway over the Count, who after losing his royalty and riches, finds solace in those around him. Alexander himself is incredible likeable all the way through, his dignified and respectable mannerisms making him the ideal character to engage with.
Four books line the pages of the novel each summarising a specific number of years with the chapters then broken up into varying perspectives and brief asides that give some background context; some examples of the latter include explanations of how Russian society worked at the time. While we mostly follow Count Rostov throughout the story, the action will occasionally venture beyond the Metropol Hotel to vary up the setting. Clearly a lot of research went into crafting the various time periods and expressing them to the reader in a coherent way. When you get down to the finer details however, aspects of A Gentleman in Moscow feel a bit trivial; dialogue sessions stretch on for extended periods and practically every deed and occurrence is mixed into the book pages. Some of the material felt unnecessary and dampened the novel’s more absorbing qualities.
While the seemingly endless conversations the Count has with others did wear out their welcome for me personally, at points they deliver something profound. In all his years confined within the Metropol hotel, Alexander Rostov touches many lives, and this can give way to some emotional moments, especially in the second half of the book. The hotel itself is just as much a star of the novel as the main protagonist; it’s been a centrepiece of the Russian capital for over a century and as a major historical centrepiece of Moscow filled to burst with artefacts, the reader is given exquisite details of every hallway and room. There’s definitely a sense that you’re in the hotel with Rostov from beginning to end.
Recommended?
MAYBE: While A Gentleman in Moscow does a reasonable job of blending real-world history with a range of detailed interactions, it’s better suited for either older readers or those who enjoy a slower, more methodical narrative. Readers in my age group are certainly not the target audience for this type of story and while the many vivid descriptions can absorb you into the setting, I found the book too slow-moving to make an impact. It took me longer than usual to read all the way through it as a result.