A Gentleman in Moscow

I took this book as essentially a fairy tale about being a “noble” person. Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced in 1922 to live out the rest of his life in the Metropol Hotel. If he steps foot outside, he will be shot. He's moved out of his luxurious suite and into a cramped attic room and begins a new life under house arrest. Although he experiences some moments of feeling trapped and bored, he manages to accept changes in his circumstances and to find happiness, friendship, and meaning in the life he makes for himself.

I call this a fairy tale because although the people around him experience the consequences of changes in Soviet life, Alexander Rostov seems to be largely insulated from it all. He experiences sadness at the death and disappearance of his friends, and he does what he can to protect the people he cares about. However, his charm, his ability to talk to people, and his willingness to adapt his skills to his circumstances endear him to some of the important people he meets, and they protect him when they have occasion to. I found this insulation from the hardest hardships of Soviet Russia hard to believe, no matter how charming the former Count was. So, although I enjoyed the story very much, I take it about as seriously as I take bubble gum or cotton candy. Charm, emotional intelligence, and adaptability are important, but a totalitarian regime can still easily crush a person with those attributes.

Read with scepticism.