A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles

Characters
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov Helena – sister Nina Kulikova Sofia – daughter, left with Rostov at age 5 Mikhail Fyodorovich Mindrich “Misha” RAPP – Russian Association of Proletarian Writers Katerina Litvinova – married Misha Anna Urbanova – movie star Katuzov – one-eyed cat Osip Ivanovich Glebnikov – dinner with Rostov once a month to learn Western ways of thinking Capt. Richard Vanderwhile – American Victor Stepanovich Skadovsky – musician and Sofia’s piano teacher Lt. Pulonov – shot by Rostov after betraying Helena in revenge for incident at party	Metropol Staff
	Arkady – front desk Valentina – cleaning Pasha and Petya – bellhops Vasily – concierge Marina – seamstress Boyarsky restaurant: Andrey Duras – maître d’ Emile Zhukovsky – chef Shalyapin – hotel bar Audrius – bartender Jozef Halecki – manager of Metropol Leplevsky, “the Bishop” – manager of Metropol Abram - Handyman met on rooftop
	Timeline
	Book One – 1922 Book Two – 1923 Book Three – 1930 Book Four – 1950 Book Five – 1954

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1. When the Count was confined to the hotel and most of his possessions confiscated, he ordered three luxuries: fine linens, his favorite soap and a sweet from his favorite bakery (page 29).   What are your favorite luxuries?
2. On page 28, the Count, “acknowledged that a man must master his circumstances or be mastered by them.”  How did this concept help him survive?    Are there any circumstances that you have had to come to grips with?  How did you do that?
3. What lessons can we learn from Count Rostov?
4. What did Katuzov, the one-eyed cat, add to the novel?
5. Why was Anna Urbanova so annoyed with the Count for being able to control her dogs and picking up her blouse?  (page 129)
6. Given that the two men were raised in such different circumstances, how were Count Rostov and Abram, the handyman he found on the hotel roof, able to connect so easily? (pages 126-128)
7. Misha was sent to Siberia because he protested the removal of a few lines about Russian bread in a letter from Chekov.  Why did those in power want the lines removed?  Why was it so important to Misha that the lines stay in?
8. When Misha came to visit Rostov after leaving Siberia he commented that, “For as a people, we Russians have proven unusually adept at destroying that which we have created” (page 290).  He went on to say that this, …was not an abomination…it was our greatest strength” and that, “We are prepared to destroy that which we have created because we believe more than any of them in the power of the picture, the poem, the prayer, or the person” (page 291).   Do you understand this idea?  What do you think?
1. Rostov continued this conversation with Osip who pointed out that American neighborhoods were destroyed to build skyscrapers and said, “…we [Russians] and the Americans will lead the rest of this century because we are the only nations who have learned to brush the past aside instead of bowing before it.  But where they [Americans] have done so in service of their beloved individualism, we are attempting to do so in service of the common good” (pages 293-4).   What do you think?
9. Rostov and Osip watched many American movies in order to learn about America.   He argued that during the Depression, the movies were, “…unprecedented mechanism of class repression.  For with the cinema, the Yanks had apparently discovered how to placate the entire working class at the cost of a nickel a week” (page 293).  Do you agree?  
1. Rostov wondered if the movies during the depression were “narcotics designed to put a restless nation to sleep? Or were they signs of a native spirit to irrepressible that even a Depression couldn’t suppress it?” (page 299).
2. What would Osip and Rostov think of today’s movies?  What is their overall message?
10. What were your thoughts about Rostov sharing Russian information with the Americans?  Was this a betrayal of his country? 
11. The author has high expectations of the reader.  For example, you were expected to remember small details that became important later, such as:
1. Nina not seeing the need to say “Thank you” when a kindness is not requested but offered (pages 52 and 185).
2. The importance of the “round-faced fellow” on pages 102, 113 and 198.
3. Osip has a, “scar above his left ear where, by all appearances, someone had once attempted to cleave his skull” (page 456).   Compare  to passage on page 205.

Discuss your reading experience.  Were there times you were confused?   What parts of the story do you particularly remember?   What did you like/dislike about the novel?  Did you gain any insights into your own life through this novel?

12. Do you think a Russian would read this novel differently than an American? 

*****

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