"A Gentleman in Moscow" is a book by Amor Towles, February 8, 2021

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is a book given to me for Christmas by my son Greg.

"A Gentleman in Moscow is set after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 when the old autocracy of the Romanov’s fell in place of what became known as the Soviet Union. It’s a novel which follows the story of the protagonist, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov. As part of the aristocracy, he’s condemned to death as a ‘social parasite.’ Yet, he’s saved by good fortune and forced to spend his remaining years in a hotel in central Moscow. Our experiences during 2020 mean most can relate to Rostov. The novel describes how he deals with his life sentence in a hotel. How he handles the changes in society, while his circumstances remain the same.

It’s a brilliant book that will make you laugh, cry and think in a matter of minutes. It’s also a good introduction to an intriguing part of Russian history, even though it’s fictional." 

The above words were written in Medium.com by Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America. And these words, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” were coined by Harry Truman,  the 33rd President of The United States of America. Donald J. Trump (# 45 President) who hasn't completed a book since "The Cat in The Hat" lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and promptly called on officials to claim the Democrat's win was corrupt, voting machines were fixed and a host of other activities had been employed to keep himself out of office for four more years. All of this activity demanded by Trump and payed for to the tune of $590M by the taxpayers was ruled as false and another lie foisted on the citizens of the USA. As of this writing Trump's second Impeachment trial starts February 9, 2021 which is twenty days after he gave himself a twenty-one gun salute with a handful of supporters saluting his last free ride to Florida on Air Force One. But I digress...

Let me start by citing what I hope will be constant in Towles writing: humour ever so obvious and beautifully stated. On page one we are in a Courtroom and Count Rostov is in the prisoner's box when Judge Vyshinsky says, 'Before we begin I must say, I do not think I've ever seen such a jacket festooned with so may buttons.' Rostov replies: 'Thank you.' Vyshinsky adds: 'It was not meant as a compliment.' With that Rostov pipes up: 'In that case, I demand satisfaction on the field of honour.' Can you see a once decorated and honoured citizen (before the revolution that is) with head held in superiority saying just that to the one person who holds his future as firmly as the gavel in his courtroom that past nobility may have wished for but were denied. The Romanovs come to mind.

Rostov's past, present, demeanour and carriage is that of a gentleman: hence the title of this book A Gentleman in Moscow, but what is a gentleman and can he be identified? On page 209 Towles writes Rostov saying, "When I left for Paris in 1914, I swore I would never shoot another one of my countryman." Ivanovich then says, "And you count the Bolsheviks as your countrymen." "Of course I do." "Do you count them as gentlemen?' "That's another thing entirely. But certainly some of them." "I see. But even from the manner in which you say that, I can tell that you do not count me a gentleman. Now why is that?"

Count Rostov then begins to real off the reasons: that his dinner host Ivanovich served himself first, pointed with his fork, spoke with his mouth full and so on. You see Colonel Ivanovich wants to be a gentleman who also speaks French and English, has impeccable table manners and the like in order for him to be taken seriously as a representative of Russia, one of the fastest growing countries in the world. And furthermore he wants Rostov to be his tutor during a once a month dinner session at the Metropol Hotel. I like the sounds of this tale, as well as the stories told within this story of Rostov and his adventures where he declares that life has been 'generous' to him even as a hostage of the Russian Government in the hotel Metropol.