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. 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. This means that if you choose to purchase, I’ll make a small commission.) A Gentleman in Moscow Synopsis If you enjoyed the book, keep scrolling, because we provide three recommendations for books like A Gentleman in Moscow. This discussion guide for A Gentleman in Moscow will help you learn more about the book and get the discussion going with a synopsis of the book, selected reviews, and discussion prompts. Our A Gentleman in Moscow book club questions will guide you on a discussion through the elegant prose, charming characters, and thought provoking questions of this novel.

Towles skillfully brings together these differing subjects through an undulating prose that contains stories and vignettes that offer up life from its most humorous to the most tragic. Towles beautifully weaves a tale of Rostov’s life in the Metropol hotel, with gentle, humorous, and touching transitions between the small events of hotel life, life long friendships, romance, philosophy, and political turmoil. Count Alexander Rostov finds himself bridging the expanse between two Russias, the one he grew up in as a wealthy and free aristocrat…and the one where he is confined to a hotel for the rest of his life as a punishment by the Bolsheviks.

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