A Revolution, A Hotel, and A Gentleman

Whoever would have thought that the entirety of a revolution could be experienced within a hotel?

I nominated A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles for my work book club because I thought it would be a nice change of pace from our usual sci-fi/fantasy reads. When the book was released I was working in a bookstore, and I witnessed the buzz around the tale and how book clubs absolutely adored the writing and the story. "Why not?" I thought to myself. "Let us see how my coworkers respond."

A Gentleman in Moscow

Have I ever mentioned that I love Russian Literature? During my time studying in Nottingham, England, I took a Russian history course, and was able to write an essay on how authors such as Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Chekov and Bunin wrote about Russian peasants. In fact, that was my first exposure to the influence of literature on society, and what we might gain from reading such novels; it was also the beginning of my obsession with Russian culture.

In my humble opinion, Amor Towles perfectly embodied the tone of Russian literature without the confusion of all the names (I love Tolstoy, but his books require a keen eye in order to keep up with the story). Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest by a Bolshevik tribunal for a poem he is thought to have written, but from within the Metropol Hotel, he is able to witness all the changes that a communist revolution brought to the society he once knew.

One of the criticisms from my book club was that the whole story takes place within the hotel, something I can understand as an obstacle to reading this book given that we usually read stories of epic adventures. However, in my mind this was an epic adventure, even though we never experience the Russian landscape. As Russia changes, so too does the hotel, and I find that it is a remarkable accomplishment for Towles to have been able to tell such a story in this way. Four stars from me!

Reading A Gentleman in Moscow has given me a craving to reread Tolstoy...but I will turn to other stories now, for the sake of this blog. As always, I am your Opinionated Bookworm. If you have any comments, questions or review requests, please comment below, email me (theopinionatedbookworm@gmail.com) or follow me on Instagram (@theopinionatedbookworm1).

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