Amor Towles: A Gentleman in Moscow
" Aleksandr Ilyich Rostov, taking your testimony seriously, we can only conclude that the keen mind that wrote the poem entitled "Where is he now?" has irrevocably succumbed to the corruption of his class-and now poses a threat to the very ideas he once espoused. Based on that, our first reaction would be to take you out of this room and put you up against the wall. Yet there are some in the upper echelons of the Party who include you among the heroes of the pre-revolutionary struggle. Accordingly, it is the opinion of the committee that you should return, to the hotel, to which you have so much affection. But don't delude yourself:
Should you dare to set foot outside the Metropole another time, you will be executed on the spot.
Next case
Signatures follow..."
In 1922, Count Aleksandr Ilyich Rostov, due to his aristocratic origins, is sentenced to life imprisonment as an enemy of the regime by the Soviet State. However, his cell is not a dark dungeon, but a servants' room, an attic, next to the stairwell in his favourite hotel, the Metropol. Even though he is "imprisoned", he can move freely around the hotel's premises, a privilege given to him because of a poem attributed to him that was - pre-revolutionary - the voice of the popular movement.
The hero is living an adventure, in the Aristotelian sense of the term, yet, convinced that he should not, despite all the adversities, change his daily life. Instead he should adapt it to the new circumstances: the Count moves forward. On this path, he finds several companions:
nine-year-old Nina with her famous passepartout(the key that opens every door in the hotel),
the "explosive" Anna Urbanova,
Andrei and Emil - waiter and chef respectively at Boyarsky, "the best restaurant in Moscow, if not in all of Russia",
Misha, his beloved friend
and finally Sophia, the "daughter" for whom he is ready to sacrifice everything.
All these and many others determine the fate of the temporarily "defeated" but -in reality- victorious gentleman.
It is in this hotel, and with thw help of his wit, good taste, aristocratic manners and the scarce furniture that allowed him to keep, that the true aristocrat, the bon viveur of our history experiences first-hand, albeit incarcerated, all the changes - social, political and historical - that occurred in the Soviet Union in the turbulent decades from 1920 to 1960. A first-person account of the protagonist's adventures, but truly the entire edifice of the Soviet state, spread with those details of history that alter the course and destinies of people.
An American from Boston, Amor Towles, with his pen takes us directly to that era, the transition from Tsarist Russia to the communist Soviet Union. His hero takes us by the hand and through his daily life introduces us to the employees and residents of the Hotel Metropol, the protagonist's fellow travelers, giving us the opportunity to become "roommates" in this famous lodging house. Although the main character is Count Alexandre Rostov, the hotel itself plays a prominent and dominant role, as through the descriptions we get to know even the smallest or most remote corner of the hotel.
Towles' writing is captivating, taking you on a journey - in part - through the eyes of Count Rostov, offering laughter with his gentle humour on the one hand and emotion on the other. Yet the author-narrator himself is omnipresent, his pen, though following the Count at his heels, is eager to inform us about almost everyone featured in his book, adding details and digressions both in the flow of the main narrative and in those wonderful author's notes (yes, the ones we sometimes quickly skip over because we think they will give boring historical information-don't do it in this book! ). An ingenious trick on his part, which, although it adds pages, increases the reader's interest.
In closing, I would like to dwell on two points:
All the action of the novel takes place in the real and not only in the author's fantasy sphere, Hotel Metropol, which is located in the Theatre Square in Moscow. A hotel that has hosted many historical figures and has experienced first-hand the world-changing events in 20th century Russia. Indeed, such is the reputation of the book that tours are organised within the hotel and include visits and meals at the places where Count Rostov 'frequented'.
I hadn't felt for a very long time the need to delay the end of the book as long as possible. I would read at a slower pace, abandoning that book and reading another, making excuses and returning to earlier pages because - aha - I couldn't remember a detail.
But also, I hadn't felt that flutter that I was reading something good in a long time. The protagonist of the book, Count Aleksandr Ilyich Rostov, became my friend.
A friend that I didn't want to lose so quickly.
A good and kind friend.
Thanks for reading!!
