A Gentleman in Moscow

There is a particular pleasure in reading a novel that is completely confident in what it is. A Gentleman in Moscow is exactly that — a book that knows it is warm, witty, and a little melancholy, and commits to all three without apology.

Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol Hotel in 1922. He cannot leave. The world outside changes beyond recognition. He adapts, forms friendships, builds a small life inside a big building.

Towles writes sentences the way a careful cook prepares food: with time and attention and visible pleasure. The novel doesn’t rush. It accumulates. By the end, you feel you’ve lived inside the Metropol alongside him.

Five stars, unreservedly.