Title:

A Gentleman in Moscow

Author:

Amor Towles

Category:

Literature

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

November 28, 2025

remember reading favorable book reviews of A Gentleman in Moscow, saying it told the story of a man, Count Alexander Rostov, who was sentenced by the Bolsheviks to spend the rest of his life in the Moscow Metropol Hotel. His crime was writing a poem that didn't agree with the new Leninist ideology. I thought it sounded like a boring story - how interesting can a tale be about a man confined to a hotel? But a couple people I know read A Gentleman in Moscow and liked it, so I decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a better book than I expected, though it is definitely Serious Literature because it lacks a plot. The book is 460 pages long, and for the first 400 pages all the reader gets are stories about Rostov's life in the hotel - the people he meets, the conversations he has, the food and wine that he consumes. It took me a while to get through this big book because there is no compelling narrative making you wonder "what happens next"? It is easy to put this book down. Only in the final sixty pages does the tale develop any urgency.

The book is a character study of Count Rostov. Fortunately, he is a likeable character. Witty, thoughtful and kind. Rostov is also a bit of snob, he is scandalized when someone chooses the wrong wine to go with their meal. Apparently, to be a gentleman is to have in-depth knowledge of Russian literature and music, to have considered opinions about philosophy and wardrobes, and to have such an exquisite sense of taste as to be able to detect a subtle hint of mint in a dish. The Metropol is a first class hotel, and Rostov dines in their elite restaurant every day. I wondered how he could eat such grand meals every day without becoming enormously fat. Hotels did not have gyms in those days. I wondered - what happens if Rostov needed to visit a dentist or doctor, since he was not allowed to leave the hotel? It also seemed that the Count was not obligated to pay for anything. The reader learns early on that Rostov had a secret stash of gold coins, but at the end of the book it mentioned that the Count had not needed to access his cache in thirty years.

Count Rostov shines in his interactions with the other hotel patrons and the Metropol staff. Especially nice are his adventures with Nina, a young girl who is staying in the hotel for months while her parents are in Moscow. Nina has many questions and the Count takes on the roles of mentor and co-conspirator. Nina grows up and becomes a true believer in the Bolshevik cause. I was disappointed when she vanished from the narrative. I was also puzzled by the disappearance of the wise old handyman who kept beehives on the rooftop - if his departure was explained, then I missed it.

The Count also becomes friends with Marina, the resident seamstress; Emile, the head chef; Andrey, the maitre d'; Anna Urbanov, a movie star; and eventually with Sofia, another young girl stranded at the Metropol. His arch enemy is a man called Bishop, who rises to become the hotel manager. Most of the story is Rostov's interactions with these characters and many others as well. If this novel has a plot, then it must be Count Rostov's making the best of his life circumstances.

I wonder how this book could be written without a single mention of WWII? Yet it skips the war entirely and begins a new chapter in 1946. It is as if Towles deliberately didn't want any drama in the novel, nothing to distract from his character study of the Count. No drama; at least, not until the last sixty pages.

The Count's personality is what makes this story go. The book may be overlong at 460 pages, but I don't regret reading them all. I am not inclined to go looking for the other books by Towles, however.