Books: A Gentleman in Moscow

Recently sweet friends and I gathered to discuss “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles, for us it was a winter read that swept me up and back into loving books like I once did.

I keep saying how much I felt intellectually elevated while reading it, the work has certainly rocketed to one of my all-time favorite novels.

Set at the beginning of the communist revolution in Russia, a young Count Rostov is put on permanent house arrest in a grand hotel in Moscow, although his quarters are far from luxurious. However despairing his circumstances are, he is introduced to the hotel in a way to where it seems to become bigger each passing year, becoming intimately acquainted with all of the halls, stairwells, and rooms… decades of a life lived within the confines of a hotel touched by Russia’s decline, although never completely ruined by it.

This book was a bit of a slow start, however once I was going it was entertaining, elevating, detailed, and captivating. It had a couple of adult moments, so I would recommend discretion for anyone hoping to pick it up.

The dear friend who hosted did a phenomenal job of transporting us all to one of the restaurants mentioned within the hotel, and there we dined on Latvian Stew with Mukuzani wine, salted and buttered bread, and finished with a Dobos Torte… delightful and so wonderfully memorable. If you read this story, I would highly recommend finding ways to enjoy some of the cuisine mentioned, complete with dear friends to enjoy it with.

XO