A Gentleman in Moscow: The worldwide bestseller

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In 1930, the Count runs into Nina as she and three other members of the Young Communist League are about to travel east to help collectivize farms. One of the other members is a boy she later marries. When he is arrested in 1938 and sent to Siberia, Nina prepares to follow. She asks the Count to look after her young daughter, Sofia, for a month or two, while Nina goes to Siberia to find work and a place to live. The Count never sees Nina again. For the next sixteen years, he raises Sofia as his daughter, always with Marina advising him as a mentor and friend. The Count, for his part, becomes the informal tutor of a government official named Osip Glebnikov, who wants to learn—discreetly—about the values and culture of the West. Eventually, the Count and Osip move from books to films, and soon after are trading opinions about Humphrey Bogart movies. Amor Towles’s first book Rules of Civility was one of my favorite books I read that year. There is no sophomore slump with his second book. This is a charming book lyrically written. So spend a few hours with Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov and see how to live a good life despite being made a caged bird. Taylor, Craig (2016-09-23). "A Count Becomes a Waiter in a Novel of Soviet Supremacy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-10-12. Szalai, Georg (2022-08-25). "Ewan McGregor to Star in Drama Series 'A Gentleman in Moscow' for Paramount+ Internationally, Showtime in U.S." The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2022-09-02.

Due to many events of the book taking place at one of the Metropol's restaurants, the Count's interactions with other characters often center around food and beverage choices. Many classic French and world wines are mentioned in the book. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is especially key to the storyline. [4] Analysis [ edit ] The Count was a fabulous human being....a man I would love to have shared a glass of wine with. He was classy - witty- wise - intelligent- charming and kind. There are endless likable characteristics about Alexander. He was generous with his soul. An early acquaintance at the hotel is nine-year-old Nina Kulikova, the daughter of a widowed Ukrainian bureaucrat, who is fascinated by princesses.Due to his diminished circumstances and restricted freedom, the Count has time for self-reflection. He is a brilliant conversationalist, readily discussing diverse subjects such as evolution, philosophy, Impressionism, Russian writers and poetry, food, post-revolutionary Russian society, and Russia's contributions to the world. Such a lovely friendship these two men shared. The Count took pleasure in his old friends romantic skirmish; yet felt a sting of envy. The next summer, another female presence comes into the Count’s life: Anna Urbanova, a famous actress. Their first interaction is frosty, but they soon become intimate and settle into a comfortable pattern of sleeping together whenever she stays at the Metropol. Meanwhile, as the new Soviet Union is formally recognized by Western nations, the hotel starts to recover from the business slump that followed the Revolution. However, an incompetent waiter with whom the Count has a brief, seemingly inconsequential encounter, turns out to have friends in high places. This waiter, whom the Count calls the Bishop, begins to rise in rank and influence at the Metropol. One day, a complaint the Bishop lodges with a government official leads to an edict that all bottles in the wine cellar, regardless of vintage, must be sold unlabeled, at a single price. The Count, who has been following political events with concern, concludes that the way of life he knows and loves is being swept away for good. On the tenth anniversary of his beloved sister’s death, he prepares to jump off the hotel roof. Only a handyman’s coincidental, timely interruption stops him.

That sense of loss is exactly what we must anticipate, prepare for, and cherish to the last of our days; for it is only our heartbreak that finally refutes all that is ephemeral in love.”

Count Rostov has been sentenced to house arrest in the grand Metropol Hotel in Moscow. We follow him as he tries to make a life of purpose for himself within this small world. Instead of withdrawing and giving in to misery in the face of diminishing circumstances, he makes the most of his situation. He reaches out, opens his heart, and lets in all that life has to offer inside the hotel. A Gentleman In Moscow sees Ewan McGregor playing Count Rostov, who has never worked a day in his life but must find a point to his life while under house arrest. Adversity presents itself in many forms . . . if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.Every once in a while, I come across a book that speaks to the heart of who I am, as though it's been written specifically for me. That's how I feel about A Gentleman in Moscow. This connects to what you say about “The Tumblers” — “not reality but the ending one wished for.” The impact of the way “The Tumblers” ends comes from the fact that we know it isn’t the real ending; we know that the real ending is the unthinkable, and the story thinks itself into a better ending. That is very much the case with “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” also—great parallel.

The same gorgeous, layered richness that marked Towles’ debut, Rules of Civility, shapes [ A Gentleman in Moscow].” Towles's inspiration for the novel was his experience staying at luxury hotels, specifically, a hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, where some guests were permanent residents. He combined the idea of luxury hotels with his knowledge of Russia's long-time historical tradition of house arrest. [2] The trial [ edit ] The last book I couldn’t put down was The Huntress, by Kate Quinn, about a small group on Nazi hunters in Vienna in 1950, hunting down a woman war criminal; and this woman’s reinvention of herself in the US after the war. Riveting historical fiction, which also features the story of a Soviet night witch. – EthosDaimon A Brief History Of Seven Killings by Marlon James and Apeirogon by Colum McCann

Susan/DC: “The Tumblers” was definitely the second-best story in the collection, and the rest were forgettable IMO. “The Twenty-Seventh Man” is nothing short of brilliant, though. Eve in Hollywood: A Penguin Special (collection of six interlinked short stories). Penguin. 2013. ISBN 978-1-101-63092-1. Yossman, K. J. (25 August 2022). "Ewan McGregor to Star in Paramount+ Drama 'A Gentleman In Moscow' ". Variety . Retrieved 17 September 2022.