Last summer, I discovered the author Amor Towles through an insightful interview on the EconTalk podcast, where his novel A Gentleman in Moscow caught my attention. Intrigued, I bought a copy, but it got lost in the teetering piles of books around my house. Six months later, I finally picked it up—and couldn’t put it down. Towles’ magical storytelling completely transported me. Within weeks, I had devoured A Gentleman in Moscow, along with his other two novels, Rules of Civility and The Lincoln Highway. His effortless, immersive prose rekindled my appreciation for the unique escapism that fiction provides.
Before diving into my recommendations, I want to emphasize the power of good fiction. In our frenetic, newsfeed-scrolling era, losing oneself in a gripping novel offers a much-needed respite. It transports us to other worlds, allowing us to inhabit different lives and perspectives. From these places, we can hone our empathy and expand our horizons beyond daily realities. Imagination and empathy risk atrophying amidst the passive consumption of our digital age, but reading a novel can help us rediscover the pleasures of sustained focus and the intricacies of human experience. Towles' finely crafted prose helped me do just that.
In A Gentleman in Moscow, Towles tells the seemingly circumscribed story of aristocrat Count Alexander Rostov, sentenced by Bolsheviks to life imprisonment in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel following the revolution. However, what unfurls across the three decades of the narrative is anything but cloistered. Towles ingeniously produces a richly layered panorama of life within the hotel's walls. Through subtle and insightful prose, Rostov endeavors to maintain his dignity and wrest meaning from life’s defeats, even as the Soviets and party apparatchiks challenge his humanity. It’s a powerful reminder that no life, when observed attentively, is ever truly and finally circumscribed. This is an extraordinary book. Read it.
Next, I read Rules of Civility, which was also a delight. Setting a novel in the jazz-infused Manhattan of the late 1930s had me at hello. Smoky nightclubs, stiff drinks—anything reminiscent of that era and its great noir novels captivates me. Even so, Civility, with its class-boundary-bending story, surprised me. It unfolds over a relatively short period, just a year or two, beginning with a chance encounter among its three protagonists. This leads them into New York high society, champagne-soaked soirées, and secret trysts, providing the raw material for each character's reinvention. Without giving away plot points, this novel’s excellent period details culminate in a keenly told, bittersweet meditation on life's fleeting moments, often appreciated only in hindsight.
Towles' most recent novel, The Lincoln Highway, channels the spirits of Steinbeck and Kerouac as it explores the mythology of the highways, railroads, diners, and roadside motels of mid-century America. This postwar America is where people set out to find their dreams, only to encounter seedy bars, seedy people, and tourist traps. Yet, they also find self-understanding and purpose, however idiosyncratic. I need to sit with this one a little longer. I might even read it again this summer. It was enjoyable, like the others, and I couldn’t put it down, but the themes haven’t lingered with me as long as the other two novels. I’ll revisit it.
Towles’ storytelling prowess reminds us of the singular rewards of disconnecting from our always-on world and reconnecting with fiction’s transformative potential. Take some time to read while you stay.
Cheers to you all.
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