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What book did you enjoy the most this year? / What book do you reflect back on the most? / What book do you wish more people would read so that you could talk to them about it? (Doesn't have to have been published this year - only that you read it for the first time this year.)
For me, it was "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towels.
I think about this book all the time - how its main character adjusted to a major upheaval in all that he knew in his life up until middle age and managed to apply an "outdated" code for living to a new, antagonistic environment and, not only survive, but thrive.
He had a code and lived by it, but also bent it at the edges to make it fit into the new round hole of a world he was forced to live in. Good for him, moral perfectness is all-but impossible and boring anyway; staying pretty close to your moral standards is more realistic.
These were the two comments I wrote on Fedora Lounge about the book back when I read it a month or so ago:
For me, it was "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towels.
I think about this book all the time - how its main character adjusted to a major upheaval in all that he knew in his life up until middle age and managed to apply an "outdated" code for living to a new, antagonistic environment and, not only survive, but thrive.
He had a code and lived by it, but also bent it at the edges to make it fit into the new round hole of a world he was forced to live in. Good for him, moral perfectness is all-but impossible and boring anyway; staying pretty close to your moral standards is more realistic.
These were the two comments I wrote on Fedora Lounge about the book back when I read it a month or so ago:
Just started "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towels. So far, the premise is that, in 1922, a Russian Prince, a member of the former aristocracy, has been sentenced to house arrest in 1922 by the Bolsheviks which, since he was living in the Metropol Hotel, means he can never leave the hotel.
The theme seems to be the conflicts that arise by smashing together these two ideologies and outlooks - the Prince represents an old-world idea of character, fairness and decency that is real but out of step with the Soviet idea of character, fairness and decency. Right now, I'm only a short way in, but both are uncomfortably dancing around each other trying to find a way to coexist. All of this is used as a way to highlight the bigger issues taking place in the Soviet Union as it tries to steady itself and establish communism after the revolution of 1917.
The enjoyment, so far, comes from the watching the Prince navigate the tricky politics of all this while maintaining his standards of what being a gentleman means in a world that has no use for his standards. I'll report back when done.
The theme seems to be the conflicts that arise by smashing together these two ideologies and outlooks - the Prince represents an old-world idea of character, fairness and decency that is real but out of step with the Soviet idea of character, fairness and decency. Right now, I'm only a short way in, but both are uncomfortably dancing around each other trying to find a way to coexist. All of this is used as a way to highlight the bigger issues taking place in the Soviet Union as it tries to steady itself and establish communism after the revolution of 1917.
The enjoyment, so far, comes from the watching the Prince navigate the tricky politics of all this while maintaining his standards of what being a gentleman means in a world that has no use for his standards. I'll report back when done.
Has anyone else read this one - it's gotten some pretty good press and was on the NYT list over the summer? One of our neighbors - a book publisher - says it's doing really well, especially with a lot of informal book clubs.
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Finished it yesterday. An outstanding book. To add to the above, the book is more a character / life study than a plot-driven story. The joy comes from watching this former Czarist Russian aristocrat - a man of values, integrity, standards, honesty, kindness and decency - do, as he says one always has to, become master of his circumstances by adjusting what he can and mentally adjusting himself where he must.
As his life as a prisoner plays out in the hotel, life, itself, comes to him in many ways - former and new friends stop by, domestic and international politics weave in and out, life's periodic moments of poignancy, sadness, triumph and boredom all occur again an again. But driving it all is the former Count's value system - how a gentleman of the old school applies a code of honor from a bygone world to the absurdity of his house arrest in a brutish totalitarian state.
The story itself if wonderful and touching, but I don't want to give anything away - so I'll just close by saying the author has a gift for choosing the perfect small detail, snippet of conversation or moment of heightened tension to create a robust, rounded and engaging world of fully developed characters that, through their day-to-day living, show life's regular challenges and the extraordinary ones faced living in the USSR.
As his life as a prisoner plays out in the hotel, life, itself, comes to him in many ways - former and new friends stop by, domestic and international politics weave in and out, life's periodic moments of poignancy, sadness, triumph and boredom all occur again an again. But driving it all is the former Count's value system - how a gentleman of the old school applies a code of honor from a bygone world to the absurdity of his house arrest in a brutish totalitarian state.
The story itself if wonderful and touching, but I don't want to give anything away - so I'll just close by saying the author has a gift for choosing the perfect small detail, snippet of conversation or moment of heightened tension to create a robust, rounded and engaging world of fully developed characters that, through their day-to-day living, show life's regular challenges and the extraordinary ones faced living in the USSR.
