"If a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them."
"What matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim."
“Fate would not have the reputation it has, if it simply did what it seemed it would do.”
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal. He 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 a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
I took my very sweet time with this book and I loved every moment. I even felt a little bereft after finishing it because I became so attached to it after reading it for so long.
This is one of those books that has had an impact on my mindset after after finishing it, especially with "mastering my circumstances"- a theme that is repeated throughout the book. The writing is exquisite-very descriptive and commanding. I learned so much about Russia and food and wine! Reading this was an emotional, introspective and overall very satisfying read.
Even though I absolutely loved this book, I can't decide what to rate it. It feels like it should be a five star read, but by the end of the book I wanted more answers about so many things- which in some cases isn't a bad thing. Towles took his time telling this epic story which makes it a slower paced book so you may want to keep that in mind if you decide to read it.
I absolutely cannot wait to devour everything that Amor Towles writes!
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