This novel had been sitting on my shelves for so long and I finally got the impetus to read it as part of an Instagram buddy read with Read Fine Print, and I'm so very glad I did. Rules of Civility is such a great read and I had every intention of jumping into Towles latest right away. Alas, the description doesn't really scream CAPTIVATING: 500 pages mainly set in one hotel in early 1900s Russia. And yet... If you love witty and endearing, this book has those qualities in spades. I laughed and read passages aloud to my husband constantly. To wit:
"Surely, the span of time between the placing of an order and the arrival of appetizers is one of the most perilous in all human interaction. What young lovers have not found themselves at this juncture in a silence so sudden, so seemingly insurmountable that it threatens to cast doubt upon their chemistry as a couple? What husband and wife have not found themselves suddenly unnerved by the fear that they might not ever have something urgent, impassioned, or surprising to say to each other again? So it is with good reason that most of us meet this dangerous interstice with a sense of foreboding."
The count is a character for the ages and completely makes this book. There were a few instances where I got a little restless with passages that felt as if they were lifted from a textbook. But the story of Rostov's relationships and how they unfold into a bittersweet and nail-biting conclusion absolutely stole my heart.
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