Play Book Tag discussion

Amor Towels story telling is just not for me apparently after reading Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow. I enjoy the stories as I loved the miniseries adaptation ofA Gentleman in Moscow, but Towles writing seems to go nowhere.

Rules of Civility seems to start like The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises, evolves to an anti Gatsby, only to circle back to a similar type story, all without the story ever moving.

Katy Kontent meets Tinker, a banker in the late 30s and enters the life of New York elite. Evidence of "The Lost Generation" is evident such as the previously mentioned stories, though the aimlessness of the story does not capture the same feeling as Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises.

I have decided I will read one more Towels, Table for Two as it relates to Civility, but it may be my last.

I have had mixed reactions to his books. I loved A Gentleman in Moscow but had similar feelings as you about Rules of Civility.

Jason, reading your complaints I think that you would enjoy The Lincoln Highway more as there is quite a bit happening in it.

Maybe... I didn't really love The Lincoln Highway. I think I gave it 3 stars - liked, it didn't love it.

This story was three stars for me, but because I love the way he writes I rounded it up to 4 stars (just checked my review and that's basically how I started it off.)

I am with Fran! If you are going to try one more Towles, I woud ABSOLUTELY pick the Lincoln Highway over Table for Two...

Okay, okay. I will read two more Towles. I just don't know when.

Jason you are such a nice guy. You already gave Towles nearly 800 pages to win you over with his writing, and he didn’t. You’ve been more than fair. Don’t feel bad for lightening your tbr.

I liked this book best, Gentleman in Moscow least. This one is partly a love letter to NYC.

I've read this and "Gentleman in Moscow". Didn't like either one and I don't plan to read more!

I liked the writing for Rules of Civility, and I thought the lack of focus, of direction was the whole point of the novel: wasted years.
My next Towles was a major letdown in the way he built his whole novel around a so-called gentleman who is also wasting decades in a luxury setting while the world around him is burning and changing radically.
Curiously, I enjoyed Lincoln Highway the most of the three novels I tried, for its child protagonist, for its road trip trivia and for its better focus on plot and characterization.

I loved Gentleman and Lincoln Highway, but not so much Rules of Civility. I'm not a fan of the time period or setting. I would also suggest you try Lincoln Highway, it's quite a different flavor to the other two.

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I liked the writing for Rules of Civility, and I thought the lack of focus, of direction was the whole point of the novel: wasted years.
My next Towles was a major letdown in the way he built his w..."

I agree with you, Algernon, about Gentleman, the hotel inhabitants complain that they can't good wine while people outside are literally starving. And it has a trope I dislike, a child brought into the story just to give the adults pleasure and purpose.

I gave five stars to A Gentleman in Moscow and liked the other two books I've read by Towles with fewer stars. So far his writing has appealed to me.