Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

This book review is going to be slightly different. 

There are some books which can be explained, and some which needs to be felt. This one falls into the latter for me. 

So, if I try to explain this book in words, that will not work. But, if I do try to show you what this book entails, that just might work. 

’Tis a funny thing, reflected the Count as he stood ready to abandon his suite. From the earliest age, we must learn to say good-bye to friends and family.

Sometimes you just do not know when you are going to be thrust into a situation which you have no idea how to handle! 

"But the Communist Party was not a “State of Nature.” Quite to the contrary, it was one of the most intricate and purposeful constructions ever manufactured by man. In essence: the hierarchy of all hierarchies."

This book offers a whole lot of perspective into the Russian communist times, though answers very few questions you might have around it.

"Yes, he continued in his thoughts, how fine almost any human endeavor can be made to sound when expressed in the proper French." 

Some of the references in French are beautiful. So, if you understand French, it will bring a smile on your face.

“Manners are not like bonbons, Nina. You may not choose the ones that suit you best; and you certainly cannot put the half-bitten ones back in the box. . . .”  

I am a stickler for manners and especially table manners, which brings me to love the etiquette which is spoken of here. 

"Nina coming back and with a small girl to be entrusted into his hands... Not something I saw coming. Makes it all the more interesting!"

"As a parent who has been thrown into being one, the Count has picked up so many innate things which parents naturally do. Many things which come as a part of being protective and an inherent love that you see for them." 

The relationship between the count and the girl is one which is filled with beauty. The parent role he has played to this small girl will make you believe that learning and parenting are mutually dependent once you become a parent.

"Surely, the span of time between the placing of an order and the arrival of appetizers is one of the most perilous in all human interaction."

Some wonderful anecdotes which will leave you in peals of laughter! 

Now if, as a rule, the Count generally avoided drinking after eleven, he absolutely never drank after midnight. In fact, he had even found himself quoting his father to Sofia on the subject, asserting that the only things that came from the practice were foolhardy acts, ill-advised liaisons, and gambling debts. 

A peek into the fascinating world of aristocracy, Russian aristocracy.


This is a book I enjoyed and would gladly give this one a 5/5.