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Oct 17, 2018JimLoter rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The titular "Gentleman in Moscow" is more accurately a "gentleman in the Metropol Hotel" as the vast majority of the 30+ year span of the novel takes place within the elegant and sprawling dining rooms, kitchens, ballrooms, guest rooms, basements, attics, closets, and hallways of that establishment. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is, in the opening pages, sentenced to house arrest in a tiny room of the hotel as the Bolsheviks set about transforming the outside world via collectivization, purging, and five-year plans. Throughout it all, the Count and the hotel attempt to maintain a certain level of civility and charm, even as they are forced to substitute beets for apples in the evening's special dish and remove all the bourgeois labels from the bottles of wine in the vast cellars. The reader, like the Count, is only indirectly made aware of the developments in the outside world through occasional visitors to the hotel. Despite his best efforts to stick to his habits, the Count grows in dealing with his loss and grief, building real friendships, developing romance out of casual sexual encounters, and ultimately - and unexpectedly - becoming a parent. Amor Towles writes with a commanding and witty erudition that never feels pretentious or forced. Reading this book is a true delight.