A Gentleman in Moscow

What a sweet, wholesome book. This made me cry. 4.5/5 stars.

Count Rostov is a Former Person placed under house arrest at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow, when the Bolshevik government takes over Russia. There's a whole lot of Russian history happening in the background here which I'm still not super clear on the details of so I won't dwell on them in this synopsis. The book sees Count Rostov spectating and indirectly participating in the political upheavals of the nation through the comings and goings of the visitors of the hotel.

This was a beautifully written book that perfectly balances the fairly sweet and casual ramblings and small domestic adventures of the Count in the foreground, while still somehow keeping the atmosphere poignantly oppressive and dreadful with Towles giving us relevant historical context that doesn't feel like it was too shoehorned in.

Through the Count, we meet the various characters of the hotel - Andrey the maitre d, Emile the head chef, the Bishop, Marina the seamstress, and some memorable long-term guests. This isn't a book to go in expecting an intricate character ensemble. Instead, we see everyone through Count Rostov's eyes. Indeed, we are really only privy to his perspective - we see Russia's history unfolding through his lens, the differences between his former life as a member of the Russian nobility to his current state being essentially incarcerated indefinitely in a hotel.

The Count, and almost by extension the entire Metropol Hotel itself, essentially functions as the single spot of constancy in the entire novel. This book spans a long time period in history, almost 30-40 years, during which Russia's leadership changes hands a few times. The world outside the hotel is ever changing, and all the characters the Count (and us, by extension) meets eventually wander out into the wider world to be subsumed by it, but the hotel and the Count never seems to change.

The highlight of this book for me occurs in the second half, which I will elaborate further in a spoiler below. In summary, it is a beautifully written non-romantic relationship that turns up in the Count's life unexpectedly, which deepened the poignant bittersweetness of this whole book for me. I'm talking about the Count and Sophia's relationship. I really liked that "indulgent father" vibe that he had with Nina, but who knew that it would be magnified a hundredfold with the more amenable personality of Sophia? The chapter "Adulthood" drove me to tears. There wasn't anything outstandingly sad about it, but even that semi-hilarious conversation where the Count was upset about how low the back of Sophia's dress was, and how the Count had to face up to the fact that Sophia had now crossed the threshold of becoming an adult woman in her own right - everything just gave me so much feels.

Overall, a really brilliant read whether you're interested in Russian history in the early 20th century, or just want a wholesome and bittersweet story to lose yourself in.