Daily Recco, September 23: A Gentleman in Moscow
A Count is put on house arrest for nearly 30 years. At the end of six months of lockdown, A Gentleman in Moscow is the story of most of us stuck at home.
It has been six months of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, even though we are trying to crawl back to the Unlock life. Keeping in tune with all our current situation, our Daily Recco today is a fiction novel by American writer Amor Towles. The book is called A Gentleman in Moscow and is set in 1922 in Russia (at that point, the newly-formed USSR).
The novel is a look at Russian history through the eyes of one man — Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov — who is sentenced to spend his life under house arrest at a grand hotel in Moscow. This is how the novel opens. The hotel — Hotel Metropol, no less! — is right across the street from the Kremlin. The Bolsheviks have just taken power in the newly-formed Soviet Union at this point. The book then transverses through and follows the Count for the next three decades as he makes the most of his life despite its limitations. The author manages to create a fun and upbeat look at Russia through the eyes of the Count.
Somewhere, the Count’s house arrest rings a bell with our own (and the world’s) restricted movements in 2020 thanks to Covid-19. In fact, the quirky-yet-endearing Count might almost feel like an old friend by the time you finish reading the book. From being a self-proclaimed wine expert to his punctilious habits (like insisting on reviewing the menu in reverse order “having learned from experience that giving consideration to appetisers before entrees can only lead to regret”) — the Count’s most inspiring trait is to adapt to whatever life throws at him. His principle to lead life is, “If one did not master one’s circumstances, one was bound to be mastered by them.”
Even in the direst of circumstances, like when he is banished from his lush suite to a 10-by-10 servant’s room and cubbyhole in the attic, the Count embraces his destiny with panache.
The book has many other interesting characters too. From the young Nina Kulikova (who is the Count’s early acquaintance at the hotel) to her own daughter Sofia (to whom the Count becomes a father-figure and guardian), the characters provide a little bit of everything — emotions, humour, romance, politics, poetry, and espionage drama.
We suggest you read the book for now. At a point when the world is more open to travelling, Moscow just might rank high on your list. And if you're game for a few hundred kilometres above Moscow, this travelogue might come handy.
For now, fall back on the book.