I was asked by NetGalley to review this book.

This is a historical novel set in Moscow in Rissia from 1918 and the story goes in to the 1950s. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov who as you expect from the title is a nobleman who returns to Bolshovik Russia during the early days of the revolution. He escapes a firing squad only to get a life sentance imprisoned in his hotel! The hotel is the Metropol and readers you would think this is going to be boring, but not with the authors well written story.
The author brings the changes of Russia to this story from Lenin, to stalin and the cold war all under the roof of this hotel.
I found I had lots of different emotions through out this from the beginning to the end - and readers it was quite an end to the story.

Highly recommended.

What a brilliant book A Gentleman in Moscow is! I downloaded this book ages and ages ago, but have only just got to it in trying to improve my Netgalley numbers, and I wish I had started not sooner, as it was an absolute joy.

From 1922, in the aftermath of the revolution, we follow Alexander for over half his life while he remains, as instructed, at the Hotel Metropol, never to step outside again. It may seem at first glance that this would be confining for the reader, but there is a whole world contained within the walls of the hotel, and Alexander is at its heart.

This is very much a book that focuses on one man, but he is a prism through which we see the evolution of the USSR for both the good and the bad. As he cannot leave the hotel, he observes the changes in the Russia he knew via the clientele coming in and out of the hotel and, although his situation is unusual, he is reasonably content with his lot. He is able to form lasting friendships within the hotel and prove that even an aristocrat has worth in Soviet Russia!

I just loved this book – one of my books of the year – with its literary references and lush descriptions of the hotel and the food served within. It was easy to picture the hotel and Alexander’s life there and I ended up feeling so familiar with the whole thing.

Amor Towles did not hold back in examining the contradictions of the Soviets – as Orwell put it in Animal Farm, ‘All animals are equal but some are more equal than others’, and so it is here as the Party elite become the new aristocratic classes.

As I said, a complete joy to read and definitely one to re-read in future.

Loved The Lincoln Highway more than words can say but sadly this wasn’t for me. I feel like I need to try again though at some point maybe

I love everything to do with novels set in Russia. Very interesting how a man of privilege reacts to having it all taken away.

An historical fiction novel that I found really interesting due to the fact I have an interest in history and Russian history too. This is the first time I have read anything by this author so went in not knowing what to expect.
This is the story of the elegant Count Alexander Rostov who, in 1922 at the age of 33, is brought before a Bolshevik tribunal in Moscow. Condemned on the grounds of being an unrepentant aristocrat, he is saved from the firing squad by virtue of a youthful poem whose sentiments chime with the revolutionary desire for change. Instead of death, he is condemned to lifelong house arrest in his current place of residence: the Metropol Hotel. Removed from his suite and banished to a tiny room in the attics, the Count finds that his material circumstances have been much reduced, but he’s a philosopher at heart and faces his change in fortunes with one resolve: to master his life before his life masters him. And we see this wise, gracious gentleman learning to live in the circumstances he has.
A very uplifting and as accurate an account of the dismal nature of life in Soviet Russia that I would imagine it being. I enjoyed the time I spent with the Count in his little attic and his musings.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of the book.

A charming read all about adapting to changing but hard circumstances and how one can be pleased to and with others regardless of those harder circumstances.

The writing was beautiful and even though the book itself doesn't have a huge amount of real plot, since tere is no action, no adventure not a lot going on overall, it still made me fly through the pages and enjoy them all. And while it was beautiful that it made the reading so easy, it's also a book I need to reread because the writing is one that needs to be experienced over a longer period of time or over and over again.

If you er a slower toned book but one that will make you smile and tear up, sometimes at the same time, sometimes because of sadness or how beautiful its done, this is the book for you!

Wonderfully written, every word to be savoured. I defy anyone not to fall in love with the Count, and his friends from the Metropol. Anyone with an interest in Russian history should give it a read. I've no such interest but the narrative, the characters, the plot made it a fascinating read.

This book has some wonderful reviews and rightly so. It took me a while to get into it but only as I needed to get into the writing style as it was something a bit different for me. However a marvellous story, rich in imagination and description of both character and setting.

A brilliant book, all the better for being so quietly unassuming to begin with. An aristocratic gentleman is placed under house arrest at the Metropol in Moscow following the Russian Revolution. It totally absorbed me and i recommend it to everyone.

I was initially interested in reading this book, however my tastes have shifted and I do not think I will be able to get to it now. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital copy!

For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of applause

A Gentleman in Moscow follows the life of Count Alexander Rostov, who on 21st June 1922 appears before the Bolsheviks' Emergency Committee of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. There he is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat, however thanks to a poem Where is it now? written in 1913 under his name, rather than execution he is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, the grand hotel across the Red Square from the Kremlin. Rostov, now stripped of all luxuries that defined his life, must live in a tiny attic room whilst some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding just beyond the hotel's doors. But despite confinement, Rostov will find new purpose in life, and with the help of a glamorous actress, an argumentative chef and a very serious child, he will unlock a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Towles has a gift for writing description. With nothing left to the imagination, the reader is fully immersed in the world of the Hotel Metropol and this is credit to Towles' smooth writing which flows very well. Our narrator, Count Rostov is a very likeable character who is charming, intelligent, and witty with a great love for his country. A great feature of the novel is his character progression which the reader can see distinctly, from his intriguing past and devil may care attitude to his love for his adopted daughter and the responsibility he feels towards her happiness.

Although the history is extensively well-researched, I was disappointed that the reader was informed of the political events occurring both in Russia and internationally at the time, rather than getting to experience it first hand through the characters. I also struggled with the pacing of the novel, as at some points the story was very lengthy and slow with rare fleeting moments of suspense and action. This may have been due to the formal style of writing, which was perhaps also responsible for the reader feeling a bit disconnected from the narrator's thoughts and feelings.

A novel driven by characters and their developments, A Gentleman in Moscow is an endearing piece of literary fiction. In terms of further reading, Rules of Civility by Amor Towles is the author's first novel and details life in the 1930's in Manhattan. With a great heroine and more beautiful descriptions, it is again a character driven novel all about making a life for yourself and will appeal to those who enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow.

(Bookbag was sent as ARC of this book which was requested by one of our reviewers and in consequence I didn't download a copy of the book. The above is our reviewer's review as published on Bookbag.)

Thank you to netgalley and Amor Trowles for allowing me to read this book for my honest opinions. This was a very good book and well written. Thank you!

Took me a while to get through this but enjoyable enough. Unfortunately, can't say I would recommend to the book club.

A wonderful wonderful book that beautifully captures the dark joys of forced imprisonment in a splendid hotel during the bleak years after the Russian revolution.
These characters have won a place in my heart forever.

Sorry I missed the date for this.

I really enjoyed the book - thank you.

This is an unusual historical novel many of whose incidents tell us more about the terrors of post-revolutionary Russia than they do about the day to day running of a great hotel and the former aristocrat at its heart. However, they tell us a great deal about kindness, honesty and people's appreciation of each other. Perfect for Christmas, or, indeed, many other days when courage, good manners, and very clever ways of making one's escape create a page turner

I opted to get this book because I'd wanted to read the Rules of Civility when it came out (but added it to a very long list of books I'd one day get around to) but then put it down pretty quickly, unsure if I was really that into. I then picked it back on my summer holiday when I'd read everything else and really loved it. The world of the story is so interesting and the Count is a fascinating study in how we can adapt our lives to fit the ever-changing world around us. A really beautiful read.

I've had this book on my to-read pile for over a year. It wasn't that I didn't want to read it but I wanted to savour it and until now, I never had the time. 

This story is full of historical detail and the pacing is quite slow, very much in the style of Russian literature. It is a very engaging tale full of beautiful imagery and vivid characters who come to life as you read. 

The history of Russia after the 1917 revolution is well documented. In this story, the main events are highlighted but it's more about how the political and cultural change affected particular individuals who would probably have never known each other so well in imperialist Russia.

It is an enjoyable read, well written but you definitely need time to appreciate it.

I received a copy of this book from Random House UK, Cornerstone via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I just couldn't get into this book. I've tried a few times now to see if it lives up to it's hype and give it another chance but I just couldn't get past the first few pages.

This is the most charming of books, every sentence is finely crafted, every page a delight. When Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a former personage, is brought before the new Bolshevik regime in the Russia of 1922, they show him mercy because he had written a stirring revolutionary poem back in 1913. So instead of killing him, they sentence him to permanent house arrest in the luxurious Metropol Hotel in Moscow. His world is confined to the life of the hotel but what a rich, interesting and varied life that is. He is the most accommodating and philosophical of men who forges wonderful relationships with those he meets. A good friend of the Count states at a fairly late point of the book “Who would have imagined, when you were sentenced to life in the Metropol all those years ago, that you had just become the luckiest man in all of Russia.” It’s all about perception and what you make of it.

The book covers four decades but the tale slips by so easily that I didn’t want it to end. It is packed with memorable lines and vivid scenes, characters that leap off the page and a wonderful story. A true gem.