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A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW

BY AMOR TOWLES.


During February and March, we will be filling cold, gray days by reading A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles in the Senior Learn Book Club.  Our prediscussion will begin on February 7.  Let's introduce ourselves, and then perhaps talk about what we know of the goings-on in Russia in the early 20th century and our impressions of the Russian people. Those of us who grew up in the 50s and 60s could share how we learned of the Russians and the feelings we had about all of this.  This will also be a place for questions about the discussion, the assigned reading schedule and about each other.  Let's save discussion of the text until February 12 when we begin the actual discussion.

                           Discussion Schedule for A Gentleman in Moscow


February 12     Book 1

February 19.    Book 2 and Book 3 through Addendum p. 228

February 26.    Book 3  An Arrival 229- end of book 3

March 5           Books 4 and 5

March 12         Wrap up Discussion



The author's website www.amortowles.com is a wonderful place to get to know the Amor Towles. He has a lot of supplementary information about the book.  There is even a delightful video, which you will want to watch.



Discussion Leader:  MKaren

Mkaren557:
Welcome to our prediscussion of A Gentleman in Moscow.  I happened on this book browsing in Barnes and Noble.  I am not sure what led me to read the flyleaf because I thought it was about intrigue, spies, and violence, which are not my favorite topics.   The cover was not eyecatching or beautifully designed as so many book covers are these days. But I picked it off the shelf and read the short description inside the front cover and immediately bought the book.  The idea of a man sentenced to life in a hotel, the setting in Moscow, and the time covered in the novel drew me in.  That night I started the book and qi read every moment I had for the next week.  I read slowly because I wanted to savor the descriptions, those footnotes, and the many tangents the Count took me on.  As soon as I finished reading, I knew I wanted to be part of a discussion of this book and so it begins.

I have a couple of suggestions as you read the text.  You might want to keep a list of characters, even those who seem insignificant. They have a tendency to reappear later in the story.  You may want to refresh your memory of Humphrey Bogart and of "Casablanca."  Some of the literary allusions I got; others I did not.  I am not going to hesitate to ask questions about those I don't know or understand.  I just finished reading the book for the third time and I loved it as much as I did the first time.

The reading schedule is listed above.  It would be great if you could read the section before we start discussing, but join the discussion even if you haven't finished reading.  Try not to go ahead in the discussion as it may spoil the reading for someone else..  So I am interested in the impressions you had of Russia as a child.  Are they different today?  Have you travelled in Russia?  Have you been to Moscow? stayed at the Metropol Hotel?  Do you have any questions or concerns about the schedule?.  I am flexible so speak up if we are moving too fast or too slow.  So let's start  with introductions and we will move on from there.

My name is Karen Mathews and I spent my whole life in Maine in a small city called Hallowell.  I was a high school history teacher but because it was a small school of about 400 students in grades 9-12, I also taught literature, writing, and for 1 painful year, business math. When I retired after 30 years in 2010, I moved to Sarasota, FL full time.  I came to Senior Learn because I wanted to take Latin which I had loved in high school and college. From there it was a small step to the book club.   

rosemarykaye:
Hello Mkaren,

I had never heard of this book till it was mentioned on SeniorLearn - I bought a copy online and have been racing through it (currently around page 200, but I will make every effort not to commit any 'spoilers').

Even though I've read that far I had no idea it referenced Casablanca, which I saw many years ago and hardly remember anything about. I may need to order a copy of that now!

I was at primary school in the late 60s. In those days every adult was terrified of Russia and convinced we were about to be nuked. Whilst on holiday a while ago I visited The Secret Bunker, now a tourist attraction in Fife (other side of the Forth estuary from Edinburgh) - but it was a real bunker, built to protect 'important people' (ie not us) should nuclear war happen. It is a fascinating place to visit - so much of the public information advice dished out at the time now seems nonsensical - 'if the alarm sounds go to the shelter. If there is no shelter nearby, hide under your kitchen table - or make a shelter by taking a door off its hinges and placing it, sideways on, against a wall to make a sort of 'lean-to' in your living room. If you are outside and can't get home, jump into a ditch' - really, I kid you not.

In those days, at least in the UK, there was no real terrorism. Our fears were about this unknown, imagined enemy, and they were fuelled by the right wing press, which constantly went on about the 'red threat' and hounded anyone who had anything to do with the Communist Party. (Incidentally, an elderly couple who attend the cathedral where I work are the most unlikely looking Communist Party members you can imagine. They tell fascinating stories of their political activities in the 60s - they were persistently followed to their meetings and generally treated as criminals (it is not an offence to belong to the CP in the UK). They hold firm to their beliefs now. I find them most interesting.)

Around 1990 I went to Moscow and Leningrad (as it was still called then) with a group of lawyers. We went in winter, and I remember everything being very bleak and cold. We stayed in a huge hotel - but there were many like it - that must have been built during the Communist era - basically just a fairly modern block. On every single landing there was a table presided over by a woman selling a few toiletries (including prophylactics!). It was widely believed that these women were low grade spies. The food in the restaurant was appallling - slabs of fatty processed cheese, hard bread, dismal soups - UNTIL we went out to a restaurant, where it looked like the same dismal fare awaited us. The minute we mentioned dollars we were cheerfully escorted to a charming back room with a roaring fire, where we dined on fabulous lamb stew, drank delicious wines, and came away well fortified against the biting cold.

 I remember going on the subway - how clean and magnificent the stations were in comparison to our dirty old London tube; in Moscow there were high ceilings and chandeliers in the ticket halls! But everyone, almost without exception, looked miserable. No-one ever smiled or made eye contact. Some of our party, more enterprising than I was, met a group of local teenagers who told them they could get them tickets for the Bolshoi - in those days at least, residents could get very cheap tickets to cultural events, whereas foreigners would pay prices more akin to London or New York (probably only fair, as roubles were worth very little, whereas hard currency - sterling and dollars - could buy you anything on the black market.) I did not go to the ballet as I was so scared of being arrested for using an illegally obtained ticket! The others went and had a great time with no questions asked.

We went on the overnight sleeper train between the two cities - at the end of every carriage there was a lady with a samovar to make tea. When I stepped out into the corridor to look out of the window, our lady was horrified because I wore no coat or hat - she thought I would freeze to death. All I saw outside was what seemed like an endless panorama of factories and industrial sites. We also visited a huge cemetery, where, day and night, sad, patriotic (I presume) music was blasted out through permanent speakers.

I was - and still am - woefully uninformed about Russia. Until quite recently, I am ashamed to say, I had no idea that before the revolution Moscow and St Petersburg were cities full of amazing architecture, music, art, literature, haute cuisine and all the things one might expect to find in other great European cities like Paris or Amsterdam. If anyone can recommend a good (but not too long and complicated!) book about Russian history I would be interested to read it. I also only realised after many years what a huge area the old USSR covered - how different the residents of Moscow must have been from, say, the inhabitants of Armenia or Uzbeckistan. Coming from so small a country as I do, it is hard to imagine the variations in ethnicity and race that were all encompassed by the Soviet Union. Even though the US is also vast, do you think there are such huge differences between a resident of California or one of Massachussets? Perhaps not.

So that is my experience of Russia. As to how the country is perceived today - I think we in the UK see a corrupt economy with a thug of a president. It seems such a shame after the excitement of the Gorbachov years. Many unbelievably wealthy Russians now own vast amounts of central London property, and spend obscene amounts of money in high class shops. I'm sure the shops welcome their cash but we all wonder where it comes from. It is a shame that once again our perception of a country is so warped. We do not often meet 'normal' people from Russia, with whom, I am sure, we would have many things in common. Here in Edinburgh we do at least have a Russian Consulate, and its cultural staff - who are the only ones we really have contact with at the cathedral (as the consulate is literally a few yards from our door) - are unfailingly friendly and helpful. A couple of years ago we held an exhibition about the Arctic Convoys - ships that kept the north passage open throughout the war. A few of the now very elderly men who worked on these ships were able to come to the exhibition - in fact a colleague made storyboards about them, their memories of their war service, and what had happened to them since. I think there is a permanent museum about this somewhere up in the far north of Scotland. The Russian Consul and his staff were involved in the exhibition, and contributed a great deal to it.

I will stop now and go over to Amazon to see how much a copy of Casablanca might set me back. And having started the book, I'm now also wondering about reading authors like Pushkin and Chekov, whom, I am embarrassed to admit, are all new to me (I mean, I had heard of them but I'd never read anything by them.)

Sorry to have rattled on so long, and I look forward to next Monday!

Rosemary

Mkaren557:
What a wonderful introduction, Rosemary.  Russian history! Off hand I can't think of a book that would tell you everything. I have been googling Russian History 1900-1960 as I read this book, and it was very helpful.  Others may have books that they have read or used.  The period from 1905- 1954 is chaotic with revolutions, power grabbing, class conflict. Dr. Zhivago, besides being a great love story, presents a great picture of Russia during this time.  Keep sharing.

bellamarie:
Rosemary you never cease to astound me!  Your travels are something I could only imagine in my wildest dreams or watch on the travel station.  The only place I have ever been outside the USA is our neighboring country Canada, where our dear Jonathan resides.  You have heard of the book, The Road Less Traveled, well I am the girl less traveled.  I grew up in a small rural town with so little income, books and travel were not even in my vocabulary.  I really feel like my world and knowledge expanded once I married and moved from small town Monroe, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio.  So, needless to say I know next to nothing about Russia. 

Much like Rosemary states, I too can only remember thinking back in the 60s as Russia being a huge threat to the world.  When I heard the word Russia as a child, fear was invoked inside of me.  Not so much today.  I think Russia realizes today that any threat they would bare on the world, is a threat to their own nation.  I certainly don't want to imply a threat does not exist, but I do think clearer minds prevail in all our leaders that would become involved, should one feel the need to activate that so called, "red button."

I have only read the first fifteen pages of A Gentleman in Moscow and am so intrigued with a wealthy man having to scale down from his luxurious lifestyle, to living in an attic.  How does one decide what they will bring with them should they be faced in having to do so in such a limited space?  I really gave this a lot of thought, and I came to the conclusion the things I would want most of all are in no particular importance of order are: my photo albums, my Bible, my books, music, computer (assuming I would have access to wifi), my toiletries, and of course my own comfortable pillows and blankets.  Isn't it interesting how little we can do without if need be?

Something interesting I saw on the internet the other day really stopped me and gave me that whoa wait a minute, back up moment, and made me think of this book, and Alexander Rostov's exile in Russia.

Julian Assange was asking the courts to free him from the charges, so he could leave Ecuador's embassy.  Ecuador granted him asylum in August 2012. He has been inside the embassy ever since.  He has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than five years, fearing extradition to the US for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/06/julian-assange-uk-arrest-warrant-still-valid-court-rules-blow/

Like I say over and over...... history repeats itself.  I wonder if anyone considers Assange a "gentleman"?

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