A Gentleman in Moscow

“If a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them”

Making lemonade—that’s what Amor Towles’ A Gentleman In Moscow is about. I very much enjoyed reading this book (recommended to me by a friend) during the last couple of months. To give a quick synopsis, the novel takes place in Russia in 1922 (following the Bolshevik Revolution) and deals with Count Alexander Rostov, who finds himself sentenced to an indefinite house arrest at the Grand Metropol Hotel. He’s the epitome of a gentleman: one of witty charm, handlebar moustaches, and fantastic taste in wine.

And while it might seem like a rather dry premise, “dry” is exactly what the novel is not. Without giving too much away, Count Rostov makes the wise decision to turn inwards; towards the intricate system of cogs and gears that is the Metropol and also towards the people that reside in it, including a perpetually restless friend, a short-tempered head chef, a dexterous maître d’hôtel, a willowy actress, an incredibly punchable manager, and one unexpected human life bomb. His interactions with the people he encounters fills the space that he has been so frustratingly confined to. Not only is the protagonist himself a fascinating person, but each side character is extremely well fleshed out. Circumstances to master. All of this, not to mention, plays in the backdrop of the ever escalating relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This geopolitical tension not only provides a crucial source of context for the story, but also plays a hand in shaping it. Despite the fact that the Count is cut off from the outside world, the cold bureaucracy of the Bolsheviks that has transformed Russia into an emerging global superpower still manages to leak through the walls of the Metropol and cause ripples that disturb his life. However, despite the fact that he is a victim of his own government, Alexander Rostov‘s love for his country admirably never falters.

What makes the book especially captivating is the fact that Amor Towles is an incredibly eloquent writer—the prose makes turning a page feel like spinning the tape on a film reel. And while it does fall under the trope of finding the beauty in the mundane, to simply dismiss the story as a cliché would be a disservice to the how multifaceted the novel is. It’s the depiction of a man’s struggle to look beyond the despair of his circumstances and instead make the most of what comes through the revolving door of life. And for the Count, extraordinary things come tumbling through that door. Things that bring companionship, love, regret, and pride. It’s what makes the story so enchanting. From its pages springs a sort of hopefulness that the reader can’t help but embrace. After all, what’s more exciting than the unpredictability of that which has yet to come next?

To wrap it up, here are a few passages I liked:

He had said that our lives are steered by uncertainties, many of which are disruptive or even daunting; but that if we persevere and remain generous of heart, we may be granted a moment of supreme lucidity—a moment in which all that has happened to us suddenly comes into focus as a necessary course of events, even as we find ourselves on the threshold of a bold new life that we had been meant to lead all along.

The Count’s pearl of wisdom to Sofia

Alexander Rostov was neither scientist nor sage; but at the age of sixty-four he was wise enough to know that life does not proceed by leaps and bounds. It unfolds. At any given moment, it is the manifestation of a thousand transitions. Our faculties wax and wane, our experiences accumulate and our opinions evolve if not glacially, then at least gradually. Such that the events of an average day are as likely to transform who we are as a pinch of pepper is to transform a stew.

👏 Amor 👏 Towles

For his part, the Count had opted for the life of the purposefully unrushed. Not only was he disinclined to race toward some appointed hour—disdaining even to wear a watch—he took the greatest satisfaction when assuring a friend that a worldly matter could wait in favor of a leisurely lunch or stroll along the embankment. After all, did not wine improve with age? Was it not the passage of years that gave a piece of furniture its delightful patina? When all was said and done, the endeavors that most modern men saw as urgent (such as appointments with bankers and the catching of trains), probably could have waited, while those they deemed frivolous (such as cups of tea and friendly chats) had deserved their immediate attention.

I would like to add visits to the dmv to bank appointments and train departures

After all, what can a first impression tell us about someone we’ve met just for a minute in the lobby of a hotel? For that matter, what can a first impression tell us about anyone? Why, no more than a chord can tell us about Beethoven, or a brushstroke about Botticelli. By their very nature, human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory, that they deserve not only our consideration but our reconsideration—and our unwavering determination to withhold our opinion until we have engaged with them in every possible setting at every possible hour.

Probably my favorite quote from the novel - makes the world feel a little wider