A Gentleman In Moscow

tags: historical fiction, Russia

⭐⭐

from GoodReads

He can’t leave his hotel. You won’t want to.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

The novel published in 2016 has an impressive 4.5 star rating on GoodReads and Amazon but I was reluctant to read any books recommended by Oprah which are usually smarmy overly dramatic chick lit.

I was not wowed by the novel unlike most of the readers on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and pretty much all the book sellers with rating system. The writing is fine but I skipped tons of pages that aren't interesting. One of my complaints is the children, Nina and her daughter Sofia having the same voice as the adults as though they have no personality. It took me more than 5 days to finish the 460+ page novel. I would have devoured it in 2 days if the book is really good. 2 and a half stars.

Not recommended.