Review of "A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel" by Amor Towles

Prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov was one of Russia's elites - a wealthy, erudite aristocrat who mingled with other sophisticates. Rostov spent his time reading, listening to music, traveling, dining on fine food, drinking expensive wine, writing the occasional poem, and so on.



After the Revolution, in 1922, a Bolshevik Tribunal declares the Count a 'Former Person' and sentences him to life imprisonment in Moscow's luxurious Metropol Hotel - where the rich nobleman has been living for the past few years. Rostov can go anywhere in the hotel....but one step outside and he'll be shot.



The Count is moved from his large opulent 3rd floor suite........



to a cramped attic room, and begins his life as a political prisoner.



The Metropol Hotel is a far cry from a Siberian Gulag. The Metropol contains the upscale Boyarsky restaurant; the Shalyapin Bar; a barbershop; a shoeshine service; a florist; a seamstress; and so forth - all the accommodations needed by wealthy foreigners and visiting Bolshevik apparatchiks.





With great foresight, the Count has secreted a large number of collectible gold coins in the legs of his desk. So - though Rostov is confined - he has the means for wining and dining and keeping up his elegant appearance.

During Rostov's imprisonment, he develops a number of pivotal friendships, including:

- Nina Kulikova - a nine-year-old girl who's living at the Metropol with her bureaucrat father. Nina has a passkey that she and the Count use to explore the entire hotel. Nina gives the passkey to the Count before she leaves, which he puts to good use.



- Andrey, the Boyarsky's French maître d' - who knows how to juggle;



And Emile, the Boyarksy's chef - who has a knack for creating elegant dishes, even with severe food shortages.



In a memorable scene, Rostov, Andrey, and Emile - who spent three years rounding up the scarce ingredients for French bouillabaisse - sit down to enjoy their wonderful meal.



- Marina, the Metropol's cross-eyed seamstress. She teaches Rostov to re-attach his popped buttons and to do all manner of fancy stitching.



- Anna Urbanova, a beautiful Russian actress whose career ups and downs depend on Stalin's whims. The count has a sporadic, long-term affair with her.



The Count also gets regular visits from his poet/writer friend Mishka, who keeps Rostov apprised of the Communist's increasing repression and censorship. Mishka is devastated when he has to remove a reference to 'Berlin having the most delicious bread' from a book he's editing.



The Bolsheviks' tyranny extends to wine as well. The Metropol's staff is ordered to strip the labels off ALL the Boyarsky restaurant's bottles of wine (some of which are VERY expensive), so customers can only order 'white' or 'red' for a set price. This almost drives the oenophile Count to suicide.



The most unpleasant character in the story is the 'Bishop' - a mean-spirited waiter who resents the Count's wealth, education, and elegant manners. The Bishop is constantly maneuvering to take the Count down a peg, and to make his life more difficult. After the Count volunteers to become a waiter at the Boyarsky, his clashes with the Bishop become especially rancorous.



Life under Communist rule is hard, with government spies keeping track of what everyone does and says. 👀 Thus people are regularly imprisoned - or sent to Siberia - for real or imagined infractions.



This random incarceration (inadvertently) results in the most significant event in Rostov's life.....he becomes the guardian of a clever, spirited little girl.



Rostov spends decades in the Metropol, where he cogitates about life; eats fabulous meals; meets people from all over the world; has interesting conversations; plays intellectual games; and - all things considered - lives a very full life.



I enjoyed the book, which - at various times - is funny, dramatic, exciting, suspenseful, and heartbreaking. The story depicts (what I assume is) a realistic picture of the circumscribed lives of people in a Communist society - which is probably still true of Russia today.

This is a very good book, highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5 stars