Amor Towles has the kind of name I would expect from a masterful novelist, distinguished and full of gravitas. With just two novels to date (Rules of Civility and most recently A Gentleman in Moscow), he’s not nearly as prolific as I would like. But every word is worth it; both novels rank among my all-time favorites.
Towles writes with a timeless, classic flair that places both novels in context of a long lineage of greats. A Gentleman in Moscow, for instance, references the great Russian novelists in style, plot and tone – all with a nice fluidity and readability that caters to even the most distracted Kindle reader (at least, as compared to Tolstoy or Dostoevsky!).
Gentleman is the story of a man sentenced to house arrest in a hotel during the Bolshevik revolution, who manages to create a fulfilling, complex life despite his confinement. The novel never wallows in despair, rather basking in the beauty of moments large and small. The prose reads like a soothing bubble bath. I couldn’t get enough.
Early in the story, our gentleman finds himself in the hotel wine cellar, where all the labels have been removed. The passage that follows embodies the book’s powerful prose:
“Picking up one at random, he reflected how perfectly the curve of the glass fit in the palm of his hand, how perfectly its volume weighed upon the arm. But inside? Inside this dark green glass what exactly? A Chardonnay to complement a Camembert? A Sauvignon Blanc to go with a chevre?
“Whichever wine was within, it was decidedly not identical to its neighbors. On the contrary, the contents of the bottle in his hand was the product of a history as unique and complex as that of a nation, or a man. In its color, aroma, and taste, it would certainly express the idiosyncratic geology and prevailing climate of its home terrain. But in addition, it would express all the natural phenomena of its vintage. In a sip, it would evoke the timing of that winter’s thaw, the extent of that summer’s rain, the prevailing winds, and the frequency of clouds.
“Yes, a bottle of wine was the ultimate distillation of time and place; a poetic expression of individuality itself. Yet here it was, cast back into the sea of anonymity, that realm of averages and unknowns.”
Have you ever heard a bottle of wine more beautifully described? And if Towles can evoke all of that with a wine bottle, what can he do with a full novel? His prose gave me hope that there is always beauty even in adversity, and that community will get us through anything.
Art – in this case, a novel – did its job once again, this time shoring me up through its beauty and depth.
What have you read that inspired you lately? Let me know in the comments.
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