5/15/2023 0 Comments Review a gentleman in moscowIt’s not an easy feat to maintain interest over almost 500-pages with a novel set mostly in one place but Amor Towles creates a magnificent world within the walls the Metropol and populates it with a gloriously eccentric cast of characters. We read as Count Rostov goes about his daily life adjusting to his newfound lack of freedom and the relationships that he forges with the guests and staff of the hotel. Set against the tumultuous (and terrifying) political climate of 20th-century Russia: dictators, diplomats, and spies all waltz through the ever-revolving doors of the Metropol. He is threatened with execution should he ever step foot out of the hotel. He is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat and sentenced to life imprisonment in the luxury Metropol hotel in Moscow by the Bolsheviks who swept into power after the Russian revolution. It’s the story of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov “member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt”. Ostensibly a book about a man who lives in a hotel it is so much more than that. One of the very best books I’ve read in the last few years, ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ exceeded all my expectations. In light of the current situation we all find ourselves living in, I don’t think there’s a better book I could feature for the site’s first book review.
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