July 2

A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) - Part 2
By Amor Towles

Picking up the story from Part 1 (May 30), the book's remaining chapters find the count employed as headwaiter at the Boyarsky, the hotel's (and Moscow's) most elegant restaurant, working alongside chef Emile and maitre d'hotel Andrey.  He has been befriended by Osip Glebnikov, a Soviet agent who seeks the count's counsel to help him learn English and better understand western culture; they meet periodically for dinner, discussions, and watching western films.  One day, the count's old friend Nina, who lived in the Metropol as a little girl, shows up unexpectedly to ask a favor.  After an 8-year absence, she has adopted a Soviet lifestyle living in a cooperative farm, been married, and is the mother of a 5-year-old daughter, Sofia, whom she asks the stunned count to watch for a "month or two" - which will turn out to be a permanent assignment.  Despite feeling totally unqualified, it isn't long before "Uncle Sasha" becomes "Papa", furnishing young Sofia with not only room and board, but also academics, cooking lessons (thanks to Emile), piano lessons (thanks to the hotel's pianist - and at which she excels) - and unconditional love.  From the beginning, Sofia is trained in the rules of civility.  When the count learns, for example, that she has not named her rag doll, Sofia asks why the doll needs a name.  "Why, so that she can be addressed.  So that she can be invited for tea; called to from across the room; discussed in conversation when absent; and included in your prayers.  That is, for all the reasons that you benefit from having a name."

While he is still confined to a hotel, the count's life is amplified by the experience of fatherhood, as he tries to make a life for Sofia.  After decades living in a hotel, the story will take an abrupt turn at the end, taking a page from the film "Casablanca".  The ending is somewhat surprising, though satisfying, and the story full of good lessons in the importance of civility.