A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles (EPUB)
Author: Amor Towles
File Type: EPUB
Download at https://sci-books.com/a-gentleman-in-moscow-a-novel-5d6e9dc53a/
#Thriller, #AmorTowles|Goodreadsbestbookscollection2016
#AmorTowles
Finished _A Gentleman in Moscow_.
Honestly, this was a bit of a slog. The bulk of the book felt like apologetics for aristocracy, but I was told to keep going, it gets better towards the end. The plot did pick up towards the end, but I don’t know if it made the rest of the book worthwhile.
Started _A Gentleman in Moscow (https://www.amortowles.com/a-gentleman-in-moscow-about-the-book/)_ by Amor Towles.
A Gentleman in Moscow is a Romantic Adventure With a Warning
We’re in the process of another Thanksgiving/Black Friday ritual in our house. Saving some money by canceling entertainment streaming services and resubscribing via Black Friday deals. It’s a good time to save a few bucks going forward into the new year and to take inventory on what’s worth continuing or needs discarding.
One of the things we do as a part of this tradition is make sure we catch up on things we’ve delayed watching on the services we won’t renew, so this week we’ve finally tuned in to A Gentleman In Moscow on Paramount/Showtime. The show is quite a delight, as was the original book by Amor Towles. As I am enjoying viewing, I can’t help but notice many moments that should serve as a warning for us here in America for what’s most likely to come in our near future.
Before the warning, first a quick summary of the show.
A Russian aristocrat, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, sent away from his home country after wounding another in a duel, returns home to a chaotic Moscow after the Bolshevik Revolution. He takes up residence at the grand Hotel Metropol and is seized, like so many of the aristocratic class, by forces now in control. Some government officials believe a revolutionary poem attributed to him, mark him as a hero of the revolution and spare his life, but sentence him to house arrest in the Hotel Metropol. If he walks out of the hotel, he is to be arrested and shot.
Throughout the remainder of his life and internment, he meets and befriends residents and staff of the hotel and begins a surprising alliance with the Russian agent assigned to his case, while constantly being dogged by the spies placed in the hotel to watch him and other residents, including a smarmy government collaborator who uses his new found power to rise to the position of manager of the hotel.
The story is told very romantically, with wistful nods to traditions lost and crushing change constantly in conflict. He finds himself at the center of adventures and intrigue throughout. In and of itself it is excellent viewing. Watching the characters learn to navigate the whipsaw changes Russia was undergoing, trying to survive while maintaining some sense of dignity and purpose, is the signature joy of both the book and the series.
That also leads to the warning I mentioned earlier that feels perhaps a bit too contemporary.
When you boil it all down all revolutions are essentially the same, regardless of the big ideas that motivate the change. In the case of Russia in 1917, it was the Bolshevik/Communist revolution. In this country it was the fight for American Independence from Britain. France, Russia again in the 20th century, the list goes on. As it appears at the moment, it is certainly possible years from now that we might look back on the events of 2024 as another such revolution if those on the winning side of the election fulfill promises made during the campaign. Very few such revolutions are bloodless. All are messy. Prices are paid.
What will happen, regardless, is that small men with small minds following big men with equally small minds, engorged with some self-serving sense of righteousness, will exact a toll on too many once in power. The Elon Musks, Tom Homans, Stephen Millers of the incoming administration are quite gleeful about causing pain with their plans for devastation. If you haven’t been paying attention to that, shame on you.
History and literature tell us this is feature of all revolutions. Once the worm turns, some of those who helped turn it can’t wait for their turn at the wheel. Once power is achieved, those who want to succeed, or in some cases, merely survive, will do anything to keep themselves on course, and in some cases prosper. And then there are others who merely surrender their principles or morality in order to go along. All become prey to those who crawl into the light to seek their moment in the sun.
When watching A Gentleman In Moscow, there are numerous examples of this, most tellingly the waiter who rises to hotel manager by reporting all he sees to the government security forces. Loyalty and betrayal are two sides of the same coin, too easily spent by those with small minds and big dreams. While big ideas always crush some going forward, big ideas don’t work without these small men doing the work. Note how ironically the MAGA dream of draining the swamp is filling up every available piece of dry land with swamp creatures of their own. Revolutions always target the bureaucracy and the bureaucrats on their way to becoming the same. Without them, the new system can’t bring down the old.
In an essay entitled MAGA’s Downward More Spiral, Damon Linker says: “Trumpism is seeking to advance a revolutionary transvaluation of values by inverting the morality that undergirds both traditional conservatism and liberal institutionalism. In this inversion, norms and rules that counsel and enforce propriety, restraint and deference to institutional authority become vices, while flouting them become virtues.”
And then the circle begins again because the wheel always turns.
Certainly the big ideas between the Russian revolution of 1917 and what’s just happened in the United States are different, but only through ideology, if that. In Russia those at the top were on the way out in favor of “the people.” In our America, we’re just replacing one group of penthouse dwellers for another, with both sides being propped up by “the people.” For some twisted reason, “the people” who propelled Trump to victory haven’t yet grasped the roles they’ve been assigned and probably never will. Those at the top throughout history have always known “the people” are always ripe for the picking.
This has strayed far from just a recommendation for A Gentleman in Moscow, but contemporaneous events kept making small moments throughout the excellent series strike me with both sadness and trepidation as it presages what’s to come while feeling wistful for what we’re about to lose. The wheel does always turn and for a time the good guys can come out on top. But there are always those crushed as it churns ever onward. I highly recommend the series (and the book) as entertainments themselves, but also for what they presage.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
#AGentlemanInMoscow #AmorTowles #bookReview #entertatinment #maga #Politics #russia #Streaming #ukraine #war
Verfilmung von : Ein Gentleman in Moskau https://www.lesering.de/id/4914464/Verfilmung-von--Ein-Gentleman-in-Moskau/ #EinMeisterderUmstände #MaryElizabethWinstead #EinGentlemaninMoskau #Literaturverfilmung #Literaturverfilmung #EineVersammlung #DerletzteRostow #EineEinladung #EwanMcGregor #BenVanstone #EineAnkunft #AmorTowles #Paramount+ #GuteZeiten #SamMiller #DerSturz #Adieu
Amor Towles: Ein Gentleman in Moskau https://www.lesering.de/id/4914461/Amor-Towles-Ein-Gentleman-in-Moskau/ #EinGentlemaninMoskau #Buchvorstellung #Buchvorstellung #Sowjetunion #AmorTowles #Moskau #Roman
I'm wondering how closely the series follows the #AmorTowles' novel #AGentlemanInMoscow? I'm LOVING the series. #EwanMcGregor does such a masterful job but it's also the beautiful story I'm falling for. Stories of how people can strive and even have moments of thriving in the most difficult of times moves me deeply. It's the stories we all need to hear. Pain and suffering is inevitable but there is still love and beauty to be found even in the darkest times of our lives.
My review of the book The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles – Life Interrupted #adventure #AmorTowles #bookreview #comingofage #fiction #historicalfiction #roadtrip
Sporo się ostatnio działo, ale w końcu wyłuskałem chwilę, żeby pozbierać w jednym miejscu najbardziej interesujące rzeczy, na które trafiłem. Tym razem trochę nowinek i trochę „odkopów”. Przy okazji, zrobiłem małą aktualizację wyglądu bloga i menu nawigacyjnych – mam nadzieję, że dzięki temu łatwiej będzie można trafić do interesujących wpisów. Tyle słowem wstępu. Miłego!
- Muzyka: w ostatnim tygodniu zacząłem mocno wałkować całe albumy brytyjskiej grupy White Lies. Lubię to słodko-kwaśne gitarowe granie w stylu post-punka. O dziwo, teksty też do mnie trafiają. Jakbym miał sprowadzić sobie jakiegoś ich winyla, to byłaby to zdecydowanie debiutancka płyta „To Lose My Life…”. Polecam, zwłaszcza fanom zespołów The Killers, The National czy Interpol.
- Bieżące wydarzenia: jeżeli ktoś chciałby nabrać szerszej perspektywy w temacie ostatnich protestów rolników, to na blogu Ciemna Strona ukazał się genialny wpis przekrojowo analizujący temat tzw. afery zbożowej. Warto przeczytać, żeby zrozumieć z jak zawiłym problemem mamy do czynienia. Samego bloga też gorąco polecam!
- Seriale: skończyliśmy wczoraj z Basią nasz maraton „Twin Peaks” – trzy sezony plus film będący prequelem pierwszego sezonu. Wiem, że te produkcje to staroć, ale jakoś kompletnie mnie ominęły. Ale jeżeli ktoś szuka czegoś do pooglądania w wolne wieczory a nie widział tej produkcji, to z czystym sercem mogę polecić pierwszy sezon i parę pierwszych odcinków drugiego (do momentu wyjaśnienia wydarzeń z pierwszego).
Ewentualnie, wydany potem film długometrażowy. Resztę można pominąć. Nie jest może jakaś tragiczna, ale nam od pewnego momentu zaczęła się dłużyć.
- Filmy: skoro już jesteśmy przy produkcjach Lyncha, to zamiast trzeciego sezonu Twin Peaks polecam obejrzeć film pełnometrażowy „Zagubiona Autostrada„. Obejrzeliśmy go już chyba dwa lata temu, ale mętlik w głowie pozostał do teraz. Lynch stworzył historię, która polotu nabiera dopiero parę godzin po obejrzeniu. No i może po przeczytaniu wyjaśnień w sieci. Pro tip: lepiej nie zaglądać w dyskusje na Filmwebie przed obejrzeniem, bo można zepsuć sobie frajdę z oglądania.
- Książki: przypomniało mi się ostatnio, że kawał czasu temu napisałem na blogu recenzję „Dżentelmena w Moskwie” Amora Towlesa. Samą książkę wspominam bardzo dobrze i polecam, a wpis linkuję poniżej:
Jak pozostać dżentelmenem, gdy świat wciąż się zmienia? - Podróże: sezon zimowy w Karkonoszach może nie potrwa już za długo, ale jeżeli ktoś planuje górski trekking w tym rejonie, to poniższy wpis z Zawieruszonego Bloga może okazać się pomocny: Jak przygotować się na zimowy wypad w Karkonosze?
- Gry komputerowe: jedną z przyczyn, dla których nie pojawiały się w ostatnim czasie, jest całkowite wciągnięcie się na kilka dni w grę Frostpunk. Ten tytuł (którego kontynuacja ma ukazać się w tym roku) to strategia czasu rzeczywistego. W alternatywnej rzeczywistości, imperium brytyjskie musi przygotować się na nadciągające potężne ochłodzenie klimatu. Strategiczny survival – chyba dobre określenie.
Jak komuś brakuje czasu na gry, to dodam jeszcze to: przejście wszystkich scenariuszy zajęło mi mniej więcej tyle samo czasu, co obejrzenie trzeciego sezonu Twin Peaks.
- Książki: to jednak nie tak, że przez ostatni miesiąc jedyne co robiłem, to granie i oglądanie seriali. Przeczytałem też bardzo praktyczną książkę na temat wiersza poleceń Linuksa, zatytułowaną… Wiersz poleceń Linuksa, autorstwa Daniela Barretta.
Podane w tej pozycji opisy, przykłady i ogólne porady zaczęły być przydatne już następnego dnia po ich przeczytaniu, więc gorąco polecam ten tytuł osobom, które mają do czynienia z Linuksem codziennie. Można oszczędzić sobie sporo czasu, zwłaszcza jak wcześniej nie miało się za bardzo styczności z tym systemem operacyjnym i jego specyfiką.
- Nauka: na blogu Kwantowo.pl (którego gorąco polecam fanom nauk ścisłych) ukazał się ostatnio poruszający wpis, uderzający w ludzi ślepo krytykujących elektrownie jądrowe „bo widzieli w internecie, że one są złe”. Warto przeczytać – nawet, jeżeli u niektórych osób skończy się to lekkim podniesieniem ciśnienia.
- Muzyka: zacząłem od muzyki i na muzyce skończę. Tym razem rok 1974, Niemcy, Berlin. Jeszcze zanim powstał zespół DAF, było tam sporo ciekawych produkcji. Na przykład Manuel Göttsching wydał wtedy album „Ash Ra Tempel VI: Inventions for Electric Guitar”.
Ten krautrockowy majstersztyk może i nie stał się tak ikoniczny jak później wydany „E2-E4”, ale zdecydowanie bardziej przypadł mi do gustu. Może to dzięki większemu naciskowi na akustyczne dźwięki? Lubię puścić to sobie w tle podczas pracy. Od razu wszystko wydaje bardziej przejrzyste…
Zdjęcie w tle: widok z wnętrza jaskini Dziura w Tatrach Zachodnich.
https://borutzki.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/zrzut-pamieci-3-marca-2024/
#aferaZbożowa #AmorTowles #CiemnaStrona #DanielBarrett #DavidLynch #Frostpunk #gryKomputerowe #Książki #Kwantowo #Linux #ManuelGöttsching #muzyka #TwinPeaks #WhiteLies #ZagubionaAutostrada #ZawieruszonyBlog
I read 20 books in 2023. Not bad for me, though the effect on my to-read list was negligible. #bookstodon @bookstodon
The Lincoln Highway #AmorTowles
The Diamond Eye #KateQuinn
Underland #RobertMacFarlane
The Bones of Ruin #SarahRoughley
Anatheism #RichardKearney
Half of a Yellow Sun #ChimamandaNgoziAdichie
Trigger Warning #NeilGaiman
Nevermore - Neil Gaiman
Stardust - Neil Gaiman
The Name of the Wind #PatrickRothfuss
A Promised Land #BarackObama
The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
1/2
@pjohanneson @Sheril @JuliusGoat Have you read “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles? It is so much fun and the pace is such that you won’t put down the book. His “Gentleman from Moscow” is the best in my opinion. #AmorTowles
The PRH library marketing folks say that Amor Towles's next novel, which will be out in 2025, will be based on the life of actor Omar Sharif. I want to read it nowwwwww! 2025 is so far away! #AmorTowles #bookstodon @bookstodon
The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. Three young men and a child, good hearts and bad parents, in a non-inclusive society. The story is told by each character in turn, in a pleasant, neat writing that I really enjoyed. The ending felt both surprising and inevitable somehow. According to my bookclub friends, not as good as A Gentleman in Moscow, but I liked it. #TheLincolnHighway #AmorTowles #bookclub @bookstodon
Books I've read thru 1st half of 2023:
The Lincoln Highway - #AmorTowles
The Diamond Eye - #KateQuinn
Underland - #RobertMacFarlane
The Bones of Ruin - #SarahRaughly
Anatheism - #RichardKearney
Half of a Yellow Sun - #ChimamandaNgoziAdichie
Trigger Warning - #NeilGaiman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Stardust - Neil Gaiman
The Name of the Wind - #PatrickRothfuss
I’m reading The #RulesofCivility by #AmorTowles As in #AGentlemaninMoscow, Towles is taking me on a grand tour, this time of 1938 New York and the upper echelons of the wealthy. And, like #AGentlemaninMoscow, he provides exquisite descriptions of the food served in luxury hotels: “The asparagus arrived with a touch of fanfare, presented tableside in a small copper pan. The individual spears were arranged in perfect order—each identical in length, no two overlapping. On top had been delicately scattered a mixture of buttered bread crumbs and fontina cheese which had been broiled to a crunchy, bubbling brown. The captain served the asparagus with a silver fork and spoon. Then he grated a touch of lemon peel over the plate.—Bon appétit.” #civility #classconsciousness #books #reading #food
@Jedigirl After years and then months of delay, I finally picked up and read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I can’t explain why I kept putting it aside , except that the timing wasn’t right for me. Now I finished it and am really in awe at the genius of this book. Once I started, I could not put it down. The ending shocked me at first, but as I thought about it, I realized it was the only ending that made any sense and kept faith with the Gentleman. Now I have to read it again so I can gather all the clues that lead to the only ending possible. Absolutely brilliant book.
#AGentlemaninMoscow; #AmorTowles
I just finished the audiobook of #AmorTowles novel "A Gentleman in Mosow."
Hugely entertaining: LOL funny, deep and nuanced portrayal of a White Russian count hanging on to his identity-sustaining epicureanism after being assigned to living erasure of identity: an endless "hotel arrest" and soviet reduction of circumstances as a "non-person" by the Bolsheviks. A comedy of manners realized in suspense and irony, with disquistions and vignettes revealing philosophical aesthetics adapted and maintained during hegemonic change from the Czar to proletarian bureaucracy.
Most highly recommended.
"How well I remember When it came as a visitor on foot And dwelt a while amongst us A melody in the semblance of a mountain cat."
first sentence of "A Gentleman in Moscow" by #AmorTowles on #isbnmaschine
https://www.isbn-maschine.de/978-0-09-955878-1-first-sentence.php
@Frohmann Bitte verzeihen Sie mein Deutsch. A Gentleman in Moscow von Amor Towles ist mein aktueller Favorit und einer, zu dem ich oft zurückkehre.
3 of the best books I have recently read were by #AmorTowles. They were #AGentlemanInMoscow, #TheLincolnHighway and #RulesOfCivility. All brilliant and completely different from each other. Hope to see more from him. #bookstodon
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