Table for Two, by Amor Towles

 

Short Stories

The Line – set in the1900s before WWI

Pushkin and Irina Petya – became Pushkin’s partner and expended line-waiting business   1.      What did you think of Pushkin taking pleasure in everything around him?  Was he like Smitty in Hasta Luego? 2.      Why did the author choose “Pushkin” for the character’s name after the poet, Alexander Pushkin, 1799-1837?

The Ballad of Timothy Touchett

Timothy Touchett – aspiring novelist Peter Pennybrook – bookstore owner Paul Aster – living author Lieutenant McCuster – bunco squad Detective Dawson   1.      How did the word “honorarium” change how Timothy thought about what he did?   Should he have known better? 2.      Did you understand how Timothy justified his actions in his mind?  3.      What did you think of the last two lines?

Hasta Luego

Jerry – narrator Smitty -alcoholic, wife Jennifer, made everyone around him feel good   1.      Did you like the ending when Jerry hoped his wife would fight for him as hard as Jennifer fought for Smitty?

I Will Survive

Nell – attorney Jeremy – husband Peggy – Nell’s mother John Wells – Peggy’s second husband   2.      Did you understand how Peggy felt betrayed because John’s extreme joy had nothing to do with her? 3.      Was the breakup of the marriage Nell’s fault? 4.      What would you have done in Nell’s place?

The Bootlegger

Tommy Wife – narrator Arthur Fein – old man in raincoat sitting beside Tommy Barbara – wife, deceased Meredith – daughter   1.      Could you relate to the way Tommy’s ticket subscription kept getting more and more expensive? 2.      Was Meredith too harsh with Tommy at the end of the story?

The Didomenico Fragment

Percival Skinner Peter (Skinner) Mendelson – uncle Sharon – wife Lucas and Emma – children Sarkis – looking for antiquities, interested in painting fragments Michael Reese - Giuseppe DiDomenico - painter “Annunciation” – painting cut into pieces for family inheritance   1.      Did you like the character Madeline Davis and the meatballs in baggies in her purse?  Have you ever been tempted to do something like that? 2.      What did you think of Lucas and his stipulation about the painting and the reproduction being put on display?  Was he a little too sophisticated to be believable? 3.      Did you like the author’s description of the typical Thanksgiving dinner with everyone bringing a side dish with the “secret ingredient” of mayonnaise?

 

1.      Did all or some of the stories seem to have a message?

2.      How did you like reading short stories as compared to full-length novels?

 

Eve in Hollywood – a novella
Seven points of view	Others
#1 Charlie Granger – retired homicide detective Betty – wife, deceased Tom – son Caroline – daughter-in-law Met Eve on train to Los Angeles   #2 Prentice Symmons – older actor Birdie – chambermaid Met Eve in lobby of hotel – sitting in “his” chair Able to tell photos taken through two-way mirror   #3 Olivia – Olivia de Havilland “Dehavvy” “Livvy” Met Eve in restroom – “Evvie” Being blackmailed with photos   #4 Jeremiah Litsky – photographer and reporter Eve got his camera with comprising photo of Olivia           #5 Marcus Benton David O. Selznick’s attorney Hired Eve to protect Olivia   #6 Wendell – still photographer Fired for complimenting Jean Harlow Took pictures for Fairview through mirror   #7 Sean Finnegan - Head of hotel security Former policeman Killed Lipsky and took pictures and money	Eve – “Evvie”  **main character** On train heading home and at the last minute decided to continue on to Los Angeles Motivated Charlie to not move in with son   Freddie Fairview Owned pool house and two-way mirror Photos of many women hidden in book by Shakespeare   Billy Limo driver Aspiring stuntman   Jerry Wendell’s friend in bar Convinced him to blackmail actresses

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.      One of my favorite words in “schadenfreude” on page 285.  Litsky took unflattering photos of Olivia and wanted money for them.  He thought it was human nature that people like to see famous people fall.  Do you agree?

2.      Did you gain any understanding of the early years of film and women’s roles?  For example, on page 359 Olivia felt she was type-cast as “some version of Maid Marian over and over again.”

3.      What did you think of the scene with the fortune teller on the Santa Monica pier?  The message was for Eve to “Resist the Temptation” (page 340), but Olivia felt “the temptation she must resist was to continue being the person whom others expected her to be.”  Why did she take Eve’s fortune to heart?

4.      What did you think about Eve often being called the “damaged blonde?”   Was this another indication of how women were viewed at that time?

5.      What did you think about the organization of the book – seven points of view (according to the hardback cover flap) plus Eve (last chapter of each section)?

6.      Did you like the ending?  What did you understand from the last paragraph?  Eve was on the movie set of Tara when the props people were repainting it to look aged and damaged.  She thought “For the world to have any sense of justice, a team of artisans had to come forward with their hammers and paintbrushes and pumice stones in order to patiently unmake the palaces of the proud” (page 451).