Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Product Details
Web ID: 156256452.75 stars
RULES OF CIVILITY by Amor Towles This was a total slog to get through which was disappointing as it has a lot of glowing reviews. The descriptions of late-1930s Manhattan life were vividly written. It felt as if I was right there with Katya “Katey” Kontent and Eve Ross as they gallivanted through the city with wealthy Theodore “Tinker” Grey and his other well-to-do friends. The Great Depression did not have much of an impact on the main characters as they partied in smoky nightclubs, dined at fancy restaurants, drank alcohol and listened to jazz. Lucky them! While I understand the choice to use em dashes instead of quotation marks, I wasn’t a fan. However the dialogue was good and banter was witty. Overall, too many (beautifully written!) words, but not enough plot to make it worthwhile. Good, but not great. Rating: 2.75/5 ⭐️
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
One of may all-time favorite books!
I absolutely loved this book. Great writing, easily liked characters, a great period piece. When I was done rapidly reading it, I wanted to read it again. I highly recommend, "Rules Of Civility," and author Amor Towles.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Very enjoyable. Lots to think about.
Friendship, love, and duty collide amid the backdrop of a glittering New York City in 1938. This is one of those stories that is so full of rich imagery and well-drawn characters that I doubt I can do it justice in summarizing it here. Nevertheless, I shall try. After Eve accidently dumps a bowl of food into Katie’s lap, the two become fast friends. Eve, or Evey, is beautiful, vivacious and impossible to ignore. Her flirtatious nature and her knack for always knowing where the party is, attracts Katie who is slightly more down-to-earth and sensible. Katie is a working class girl, trying to make a name for herself in the publishing world. But when the work day is over, it’s Evey who takes Katie by the hand and the two find themselves living it up with drinks paid for by others. It’s a fast crowd but not without some memorable finds. One of those finds is Tinker Grey. Charming, dashing, full of wit and humor, he befriends Katie and Evey and the three of them pal around the city enjoying a lot of gin, and the memorable meals to go with it. But after an accident which leaves Eve in a precarious situation, Tinker, perhaps feeling guilty over his involvement, takes Evey in so that she can rehabilitate in luxury. Although Katie and Tinker are far from a thing, they do share something that he and Evey don’t and so this new living arrangement gives them all pause. How do you cage a wild thing? How can Tinker go on with his life while tending to his sense of duty? This story gave me a lot to think about. If you enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow, you will enjoy this book as well but it will leave you feeling a little sad which is why I think it took me awhile to finish. Sad, the way nostalgia can make you feel, wistful and longing for how it used to be. These relationships are complicated and fluid and every time I turned a page, I was presented with some new big idea to ponder. This is why I read this book slowly, savoring each interaction. One big bonus for me is that Katie and Tinker are readers. There is much literature talk and mention of classic books such as Great Expectations. I also cannot help but mention that parts of it reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Overall, I very much enjoyed this story and these characters will stay with me for a very long time.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
The Moment When All is Possible
Do you recall a time, however brief, when some people, some places and you seem to converge with a sense that something special was happening that could go on and on? And yet, you were so caught up in the effortless unfolding of events that you were unaware of the magic until it was gone. Amor Towles’ 2011 novel, “Rules of Civility”, is his homage to 1938 Manhattan, its environs and a few youthful inhabitants. It blends sly humor with engaging discovery about each other and themselves. And leaves at least one mystery unsolved. The story is related through the eyes of a young, scrambling woman in her twenties from Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach starting her career in a Manhattan law firm secretarial pool and living with similar women in Mrs. Martingale’s boardinghouse. It is New Year’s Eve 1937 as Katey Kontent and her roommate, Eve Ross, meet a handsome, affluent-looking, not-for-long stranger at a Greenwich Village jazz club. They quickly exchange names and his is Theodore Grey, though “My friends call me Tinker.” And Tinker it is for the rest of the tale. Towles presents a wonderful sense of Manhattan as a feast for excitement and adventure from the Village to Midtown, including the original watering hole of the St. Regis Hotel’s King Cole Room with the fabled Maxfield Parish mural, to uptown apartment suites overlooking Central Park West. And it seems like the Great Gatsby has met the Gold Diggers of 1938. Events move quickly and the circle of friends and acquaintances swells to include other denizens of Gotham and the tippling affluent described with Art Deco wit: “Slurring is the cursive of speech, I said. Eckshactly, he said.” And one of my favorite tell-all exchanges captures the initial sense of the story: “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, I said… Kay-Kay, those are my six favorite words in the English language.” Through the four seasons of 1938 Katey expands her horizons and moves from the world of law to the intense, demanding realm of society magazine publishing for which she seems better suited. And her friends shift their courses, including Tinker for whom Katey will always have a sense of tristesse but no regrets. The opening ploy is a brilliant use of pictures at a 1966 exhibition Katey and her husband are attending. It is here she sees two black-and-white photographs of Tinker taken at different times with a hidden camera. And the door opens to her memories, which we come to share. “The Rules of Civility” is sunlight on moving water, glistening at first, then, the sun moves on and we are left to savor a fading glimmer.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com