"It is of interest of times to change..."
Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
“If a man does not master his circumstances, then he is bound to be mastered by them.”
When the world stood still during the COVID-19 pandemic, I buried myself in the story of a man sentenced to life confinement, destined to watch history unfold from a window “the size of a dinner invitation”.
I still remember surfacing from the book a few days later, slightly shocked that the world I was in then wasn’t the one I was in five minutes ago. But then, once in a while, these types of books come along: books that so accurately mirror real-life circumstances that you emerge dazed but mesmerised.
What’s the book about?
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt, is sentenced to life confinement in The Metropol hotel following a conviction by a Bolshevik tribunal. What follows is a life lived within four walls but lived as though there were no walls. What are physical barriers when there is friendship, amour, and growth to be had?
The Metropol is a luxurious prison, but a prison nonetheless. It’s a space as safe as it is isolating, at once a watering hole for the world and a symbol of changing times. It traps, but it enraptures. (Side note: how many of us would’ve described our homes in the same way during the pandemic!)
You see both character and author making the best of circumstances in more ways than one. The Count does so within the hotel’s luxurious confines; the author does so within the fixed environment of the book. In a way, the circumstances bring to mind The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is run to perfection even as the world crumbles around it.
In this book, the Count turns inwards, strengthening bonds within his capacity. Much as we flit between the joys of banana bread and the weights of existence during the pandemic, the Count oscillates between the pleasures of practicalities and the pressure of his sentence. This stand-out quote describes it perfectly:
“To what end, he wondered, had the Divine created the stars in heaven to fill a man with feelings of inspiration one day and insignificance the next?”
A Gentleman in Moscow has all the trappings of a dour, tragic, stuck-in-your-own-head book — and yet, it is—there’s no other word for it—fun. Like a train meandering through multiple terrains, the book is intellectual, conspiratorial, rebellious sentimental, ironic at different stops.
All of this point to Towles’ ever-masterful storytelling and keen sense of balance. The book walks a tightrope between the light and the heavy, never once slipping. Through it all, Towles marks his presence oh-so-subtly — in a wink-wink aside or a well-researched editorial footnote.
“These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka—and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most.”
The book lives and dies on its richly outlined characters, idiosyncrasies and all. Against the backdrop of Russia at the very precipice of change, Towles weaves a story that is roaring in its vitality and humble in its preaching: wherever you are, whatever your circumstance, drop anchor and savour the simple pleasures.
A Gentleman in Moscow is charming, humorous, and memorable — all in all, the perfect escapist read.
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