Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 2, 2021 8:58:25 GMT -8
Right now I’m about 24% in A Gentleman in Moscow . I found it by chance at my online library via the Libby app. I have doubts about making it all the way through. And that’s not because it’s not interesting. It has been, so far. But I’m wondering how the subject matter of this book can extend through what is not a short read (480 pages in the hardcover edition). Count Alexander Rostov — a hero of one of the early revolutions — is put under house arrest in the famed Metropol hotel in Moscow. His earlier renown spares him from taking a space in front of a wall. He had written some subversive poetry. But back then, as you all know, arrests and persecutions were just as likely to be random. They do, however, oust the fellow out of the nice suite of rooms that he was already occupying at the hotel and force him into some old, unused servants’ quarters in the attic. The Count is an even-tempered man. He’s a true gentleman of leisure. Although he must endure the house arrest, he is at least free to roam this rather spacious hotel which always has a lot going on — even after the purge of the aristocracy and most of the symbols and ways of the leisure class. He is trying to make the best of it. So far, I say this book is perfect fare for a Wuhan Flu lockdown. I wish I had stumbled upon it earlier. It is very much about a man both physically and ideologically not in sync with the new. His keen observations of human nature are often amusing. This man, although never having worked a job, has seen and experienced much in his lifetime and has a broad perspective, even on the clumsy Communist attempts at Utopia, although this is by no means (as of yet) an overt critique of Communism. One Amazon reviewer notes that: I have stumbled across at least one extended footnote so I’m not sure if all of them have been purged from the edition I’m reading. It would be a shame if they have been. But having some basic understanding of what indeed went on outside the confines of the hotel, I can easily read the book in context and understand that the Count’s hotel experience is not the entirety of Russian life. But I’m not sure who would ever have thought so in the first place. Again, I don’t expect to finish this book. But I’ll ramble along with the Count as long as I can. I don’t know that this book qualifies as “historical fiction,” but I had to put it somewhere.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 3, 2021 15:11:19 GMT -8
I’m about 37% through A Gentleman in Moscow. I had first pictured this guy as sort of an elderly chap in his sixties. I may have missed it when he gave his age (if they did) but I’m guessing at the start of the book he’s in his late thirties or forties.
So far it hasn’t become boring. I like the observations that the Count makes. And the writing style of Amor Towles is as smooth as butter. By no means is this dumbed-down to the 13-year-old standard as is much of media (TV, movies, books, plays, etc). This is an adult writing. But his ear for a properly crafted sentence is superb.
The book is divided into several “books” — sort of chapters of his life. And you do get some good reminiscences that are not at all (so far) awful like the normally jarring and ham-fisted flashbacks in most novels. He sows a little in here and there and never too much.
Small spoiler alert. The last section was (I think) handling the time when the Count had spent a year (or some anniversary of time) at the hotel. Things were getting him down. He was planning to throw himself off the roof of the hotel on New Year’s Eve at midnight. Events intervene.
Then we flash forward (I’m not sure how far) and we pick up the story where the Count is now the headwaiter of the hotel. His natural gifts for choosing the right wine, managing the seating of a diverse (and often hostile-to-each-other) clientele, and his taste for food, fit him well for the job. And that’s about where I am now.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 9, 2021 8:06:34 GMT -8
I’m 89% through A Gentleman in Moscow. And it’s bogging down just a bit, spending too much time on a particular story line, although I know it’s meant to be the grand finale (and given that Count Rostov, the central character, is a man, the author simply must focus more on a woman at some point). But chopping about 75 pages from this would have served the book well.
But overall it’s maintained my interest. Count Rostov, the “non-person” under house arrest in the grand Metropol Hotel, has found a life here, having lived about 30 years in confinement. Presently he’s the head waiter.
I can’t say much more without giving away key plot points. But Count Rostov continues to offer interesting insights into his life, Russian life, and by extension, all life.
The author is from Boston so it’s somewhat astonishing to see a book written in the time of Stalin that doesn’t gloss over the horrors of Communism. This is by no means a graphic retelling of the violence of the era, but it does touch on it from time to time.
This book was published in 2016. And I can make one easy guess. You’ll never see another quality book by this author because he will be writing within the reduced constraints of what is, ironically, the Communist diktats. He’s through. The rest will be light, feminist pap that is of no interest. Mark my word.
But this one is definitely worth a read.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 9, 2021 9:36:02 GMT -8
The communists, then and now, seek to make normal people with mature adult concerns non-people. Our modern political class, or politburo have the same goals. The insanity of mask, don't mask, vaccinate or don't vaccinate is purposeful. It is intended to do to normal people what Hitler did to the Germans in the 30s. Hitler created a nation of misfits in the most rational of European nations.
The one item the left has not been able to produce, so far. Is a charismatic leader. The current crop of top democrats are aged, infirm in body and mind and are incapable of leading any kind of mass movement. However, in states like NY and CA we have failed government with failure governors. The failure of Neusome and Cuomo was not one of governance but a failure to cover their hypocrisy, even with the active cooperation of the media. The mask mandates are an attempt to brand everyone who doesn't cover their face with the diaper, disloyal, despised, and disinherited. If successful it will brand everyone who choses not to wear a mask in the same way the yellow star branded Jews in Germany.
If successful, this policy will make the maskless misfits in our own country. Outcast in the promised land. It can only end in violence.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 9, 2021 11:39:16 GMT -8
Good point.
Absolutely. And so few are pushing back, it must given them confidence to continue. Perhaps (with Cuomo) you still can't touch a titty without permission, but there's a whole lot of fondling of the populace that is allowed.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 9, 2021 16:59:17 GMT -8
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 9, 2021 18:41:27 GMT -8
The entire Republican Party should be doing what Rand Paul is doing.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 10, 2021 15:06:10 GMT -8
I finished A Gentleman in Moscow. I do recommend it for the erudite reader. But I thought the ending had some problems.
The ending was somewhat anticlimactic and a muddle. And it didn’t make all that much sense to me based on everything that had occurred earlier. I would guess it was left this way because he intends a sequel.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 18, 2021 15:11:54 GMT -8
I have read the first 53 pages of "A Gentleman in Moscow" and the main thing which I have so far noticed is that the Count is an observant dilettante who keeps a certain distance from life. He notices, and enjoys, the small pleasures of life, but tries not to let anything unsettling disturb him. It is as if he is looking at the edifice of life from the outside or at most from the entry hall. When "life" intrudes he is actually somewhat suggestible. For example, when the man (who I'm guessing is Stalin) in the barber shop cuts off part of the Count's mustache, the Count decides to go completely clean shaven. Or when the little girl who dresses in yellow shows up at his lunch table, the Count invites her to sit down and and shares his lunch with her. Then he begins some sort of relationship with her after she says she wants to know how a princess acts. It would appear that with the restriction of his physical barriers, his emotional barriers have been forced to widen. If one is able to let one's eye constantly wander over the vastness of the world without focusing on anything particular perhaps one does not take much notice of what is actually happening here and now. The Metropol Hotel works something like the Count's microscope or blinders. He is forced to concentrate his attention on the immediate if he wishes to keep observing the world. The theme of a detached aristocrat slowly coming to realize the shallowness of his existence and taking a more active part in life, is not rare. Unfortunately, I cannot immediately recall another book which covered the subject. I will keep reading and see how things develop. Just a sideline. I never visited the Metropol Hotel, but I did dine in the National Hotel once. (Photo below) That is an interesting story in itself.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 18, 2021 15:33:56 GMT -8
That’s definitely our guy. He is the essence of Bertie Wooster (the light, leisured life) without being a goofball. But some portion of frivolousness goes with the territory. I totally missed any hint that that might be Stalin. He does seem a man to take things as they come and not get too exited about it. Yes, and as you said, he does seem to glimpse the outer world by focusing on details inside the hotel. The world in a grain of sand and all that. I know you have a ways to go, but purposefulness was thrust upon him. He accepts something that no true gentleman would turn down and, of course, it puts far greater demands on him than he ever thought. He actually admits to himself in the book (in one outstanding passage) that this was the first thing in his life that seemed purposeful. The National Hotel looks divine. This is a current view of the Metropol Hotel. It’s fairly large and you can see how an aristocrat being put there under house arrest is hardly like smashing boulders in the rock quarry. Another view: This might be the view of the (I forget the name) higher-end restaurant area. It also had some large structure (plants, I think) in the middle around which the tables were arranged. Whether those balconies we see above are where the Count and his little friend hid while listening to the Commies organize themselves, I don’t know. But could be.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 21, 2021 14:10:18 GMT -8
By chance or design (the author's writing) immediately after I wrote that, I started the chapter titled "Around and About" in which the Count actually begins to explore the Metropol, the edifice which has become the whole physical arena of his life. This exploration is prompted by the girl Nina, who has explored the hotel much more thoroughly than the Count. She shows him the rooms which hotel guests never see, such as the boiler room, the electrical room which contains fuses and wiring for the hotel. She also led him to places where one could hide in the shadows and observe the goings-on of meetings taking place in the ballroom, where various Bolsheviks and bureaucrats bloviated.
While this is happening, the Count grows closer to Nina and the readers gets to know the Count better.
As one continues reading, it turns out that the Count is not actually a dilettante, but someone who has experienced more of the world than the reader knew. He is a gentleman who has a set of standards by which he lives and ostentation is not part of this code. He seeks order in a disorderly world. He is a much deeper soul than the first 50 pages would give the reader to believe. Perhaps this is why I was a little irritated with the beginnings of the novel.
The book skims over years and while doing this, the reader learns more about the Count's past. His parents' death and his and his beloved sister's upbringing by their grandparents. Early on, one knows his sister is dead, but it takes some time to discover when and how she died. As this tale unfolds one also learns about a Hussar who was intentionally malicious and dishonest in his relations with the Count's sister. One is happy to read the Hussar paid for his misdeeds.
After several years, the Count becomes a waiter in the Boyarsky restaurant. Having been a regular patron of the restaurant, the Count is very familiar with both the head chef, Emile, and maitre d', Andrey. All three respect and like each other. In fact, my favorite part of the book, so far, relates how all three have been searching, saving, stealing and trading for the 15 ingredients required to make the perfect bouillabaisse. After a number of years, they are able to gather all 15 and Emile makes the dish after midnight one wonderful morning.
They spend several hours over the dish, drinking wine, drinking brandy and reminiscing about their pasts. Emile has always been a chef and the Count was always a Count, but it is Andrey who has the most interesting story. It seems his mother died young and his father was a violent drunk. To get away, Andrey joined a circus and worked in it for a number of years. This information is, by itself, news, but when asked what he did in the circus, Andrey replies he was a juggler. To Emile's and the Count's surprise, Andrey picks up some oranges and starts to juggle them. Both his friends are impressed. Emile observes, "Surely you didn't juggle oranges?" Andrey replies "No,...I juggled knives." He then took three knives from the drawer and "set them in motion." When he stops both friends are highly impressed, but the Count.....Let me quote the rest.
"Ah, but can you do four of those?" teased the Count.
Without a word, Andrey moved back toward the knife drawer; but before he could reach inside, Emile had risen to his feet. With the expression of a boy enthralled by a street magician, he shyly stepped from the crowd and held out his chopper-that blade which had not been touched by another human hand in almost fifteen years. With an appropriate sense of ceremony, Andrey bowed from the waist to accept it. And when he set the four knives in motion, Emile leaned back in his chair and with a tear in his eye watched as his trusted blade tumbled effortlessly through space, feeling that this moment, this hour, this universe could not be improved upon."
The veracity of this paragraph is clear to anyone who has experienced a similar thing. Such moments are very rare. In seconds everything comes together, a unique bond is made and shared. Real joy, bliss envelops one. These feelings pass too quickly, but the memory can, thankfully, linger. Even into one's old age.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 22, 2021 13:52:54 GMT -8
“Around and About” is probably the best chapter in the book.
Yes, the count shows himself to be a little more interesting and deeper than Bertie Wooster.
There is nothing more for a gentleman to do than to dispatch such a fellow with a pistol. It was the right and decent thing to do.
I liked that segment as well. I like these three compatriots (don’t say “comrade”!) who share an island of sanity in a sea of craziness (if not just busyness). I actually wish they would have deepened that interaction a bit. But we are just seeing glimpses here and there on his decades-long journey. One supposes a smartly-done mini-series could flesh it out some more.
Loved that juggling bit. Good analysis of the sequence. There were enough passages such as this scattered here and there that easily kept me going through this book.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 22, 2021 21:24:45 GMT -8
In the meantime, the girl Nina has grown into a woman and we are told she does her part for the Revolution. She and others become the vanguard which is dispersed throughout the country to get rid of the Kulaks, i.e. somewhat better off peasants who actually knew how to farm. These "shock troops" spread throughout the U.S.S.R. in the early 1930s and were some of the most vicious people in the system. Many gladly helped the Party murder millions of Ukrainians and others. (In fact, the Kazakhs had the worse of things percentage-wise.) But as we say, "what goes around, comes around" and one day in the late spring of 1938, as the Count is speaking to the hotel concierge a voice behind him says, "Alexander Ilyich." The Count turns around to see Nina who he has not heard from since the early 1930s. The Count is pleased to see her again, but before any conversation can develop, Nina asks to speak to him alone. She explains that her husband, who was with her in the effort to rid the world of Kulaks, has run afoul of the State and has been a guest in the Lubyanka. He has had the luck to be sentenced to corrective labor i.e. the Gulag, and Nina has decided she must go with him. Unfortunately, there is the problem of her child Sofia. Nina tells the Count she must first find a place to work and live near her husband before she can have Sofia with her. She assures the Count that she will return for Sofia in a couple of months after she has settled in. When the Count is about to question the wisdom of this, Nina pleads with him saying she has nowhere else to turn. This scene takes place in less than fifteen minutes time and at the end of it, the Count has become the guardian of a five or six year old girl. From this moment, the Count's life takes on a different meaning. He is still restricted to the hotel, he still works at the restaurant and carries on with his life, but now he is responsible for the protection and rearing of a young girl. He must insure she is watched over when he works. He must make sure she is clothed and fed properly, he must sacrifice his time and comfort to insure she grows into a healthy and responsible adult, in other words he becomes a parent, specifically a father, one of those special people are willing to give of themselves for their children. I think the Count puts this in the best perspective during a discussion he has with his long-time friend and lover Anna Urbanova who one night is going on about how everyone wants the "convenience" Americans have. He says: The Count's internal exile in the Metropol occasioned many inconveniences imposed on him by others. From the moment little Sofia comes into his life, the Count takes on many inconveniences of his own free will and shows himself to be a good and kind man. Of course, Nina never returns, she simply disappears in the Russian Far East. After she walks out of the Metropol Hotel leaving little Sofia with the Count, the book basically revolves around the growth of both the Count and Sofia. I found it a beautiful story. And for those who like a little suspense, the novel takes an unexpected twist at the end. You will have to read it to find out about it. I found A Gentleman In Moscow to be an excellent book. It was well written from both the story and language point of view. There were no booms or bangs, no car chases or brawls. There was only an interesting story of an interesting character and his daily life spread over a period of some thirty-two years. A man growing old, adapting and learning from life in a graceful way. Of course, one caught a glimpse of the Soviet Union in the background, but the main story was painted on a much smaller more personal pallet. I highly recommend the novel for anyone who has a taste for good writing, not just mindless action and make believe. It is a book for adults.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 23, 2021 7:33:12 GMT -8
Yeah, great line.
Lots of spoilers here so those who haven’t read the book should read it first: My guess is that the author plans a sequel. The book (for me) ends in an odd way with more questions than answers. Sofia, who was happy in her life, seems a strange fit for chucking it all and escaping into France. Her life was her music and her time with the Count. But now she seems separated from it all.
The Count’s escape we can assume will be a perilous and temporary one. He shows up outside his old mansion which is a wreck. How are he and his willowish mistress going to live? Or did they even run off together? Did they have a plan to get meet up again with Sofia?
Yes, this was certainly a book for adults and I *thought* you would like it. But regarding any book without booms, bangs, car crashes, or brawls, I still wasn’t sure. This is not a book for the general reader (at least today’s general reader).
Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 23, 2021 9:20:12 GMT -8
I had much the same questions that you have. I believe the author intended to keep his readers in suspense, but I have my doubts that there will be a sequel, which I would like very much. As the author wished, I pondered why the Count put of the final actions in motion. I believe there are a number of things which make up the "why." The Count understands the artificial nature of the Soviet Union and does not want Sofia to endure the restrictions imposed by the regime for the rest of her life. He knows Sofia can flourish better outside of the Soviet Union than in it, and he wants to give her choice in her life. Enduring life is not the same as experiencing life's full possibilities. I too wondered how long he would last in the provinces. I think the answer to that is probably, "not too long." Which brings me to my thought as to what prompted the whole thing. The Count lays it out during his last supper with Sofia. He tells her.. The Count has served his "essential role" and is sending Sofia out into the world. He will be 65 years old in a few months, which is already past the average life-span in the Soviet Union at that time. He figures his departure date is no longer in the far-off distance, but just around the corner. As such, he is setting things in order. He is trying to improve Sofia's future. He doesn't want to burden her with taking care of an old man. Once he his sure she is safely away, he will take the time left to him to revisit and contemplate his past. The actual number of days, months or years he has to do this is not terribly important to him. The point is that he is free of the restrictions imposed on him and he can physically go back to where he grew up. Once he is there, he can summon up his memories and begin to prepare for the last curtain call. I am finding it very hard to express exactly what I mean, but the Count is trying to put his mental house in order and find a sort of serenity or closure. He has gone back to his past to leave his past for the last time. No doubt, he will enjoy some of those apples for which Nizhny Novgorod is so famous. You thought right.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 23, 2021 12:57:35 GMT -8
That certainly makes sense.
Yes, that was a profound paragraph from the Count.
That makes sense. If he thinks getting her out is the best move, there’s no time like the present.
If there is no sequel, you should write the final chapter and include stuff like this. The novel does not quite seem finished.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 23, 2021 15:41:40 GMT -8
I suspect the author wants the reader to come up with his own ideas as to how things end.
In my mind's eye, I can see the Count sitting under one of those trees taking a bite of a delicious apple while his mind wanders back to the days of his youth, to a completely different world. What better place to end one's days?
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 24, 2021 15:15:10 GMT -8
Funny how many people were murdered, or wanted to escape, the worker’s paradise. I saw the Metropol and The Count as the eye in the storm. The place did not escape desecration and corruption by the Communists. But the Metropol was kinda-sorta neutral (or central) ground from which one could cast an eye out onto the rapidly changing world.
But, more or less, the rich tradition of the Metropol went on. It was tragically humorous when it talked about the zealous early Communists. (But then, what Communist isn’t zealous, or at least destructive?) Some psychopathic clerk type thought it was “equal” and just if they removed all the labels from the wine bottles in the wine cellar. That provided for interesting commentary from the Count.
But then, when the regime decided it enjoyed the perks of power, such amenities returned. New aristocracy, same as the old aristocracy — minus actually being gentlemen, of course. This new aristocracy were all thugs and psychopaths.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 24, 2021 16:18:48 GMT -8
No doubt that was the case. It was also a safe port in which the passengers were somewhat protected from the raging storm outside. Whether this was actually possible is something I wondered about. For example, I visited Moscow two or three times in the 1970s and 1980s, and Almaty once just after the breakup of the Soviet Union. I cannot recall the food being particularly good during any of these visits. I was in Moscow in the mid-1980s for business and let my Russian counterpart choose the restaurant because I figured he would choose a good place and that he might get a little kickback from the restaurant for bringing me in. In the event, he took home a fair amount of "left-over" food, as I recall. I had entertained the same man in Singapore when he was attached to the Soviet Embassy. I assure you, the food in Singapore (at a Russian restaurant named Troika" was much better than that in Moscow. (By the way, I paid for all our meals together.) The food in Moscow and Almaty was pretty bad. Lots of poor quality cold cuts and not-so-good fish. I also liked that scene. I particularly liked it when the Count felt around the bottles for the crossed keys on the bottle of Chateauneuf Du Pape. In my younger days, I had a few bottles of that wine. I cannot recall any specific occasion, but a feeling of good times comes to my mind whenever I hear the name. The Bishop was a good representative of envious little people who are maliciously destructive to show people who they resent, what's what. What was it The Who said? www.bing.com/videos/search?q=meet+the+new+boss%2c+same+as+the+old+boss&&view=detail&mid=D3F32097ED5E4FBB75F5D3F32097ED5E4FBB75F5&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dmeet%2Bthe%2Bnew%2Bboss%252c%2Bsame%2Bas%2Bthe%2Bold%2Bboss%26FORM%3DHDRSC3
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 25, 2021 9:12:28 GMT -8
I’m fairly sure that’s the main impetus for the underlings who support Communism/Socialism. It’s a means of payback for their grievances, trying to achieve via the state the kind of success they could never gain as individuals.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. An appropriate song.
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