Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (2011 fiction)

Towles, who is the well-known author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway, began his literary career with this book. Mostly set in New York City during the late 1930’s, it brings to mind all the famous movies we watched glorifying “old New York”. The story is told by Katey Kontent, real name, Katya. She comes to New York with hopes for her future. Like many young women of that era, she lives in a boarding house for women. There are clear rules about who enters the building and when meals are. The other women living there have many interesting stories. Soon, Katey shares a room with Eve. Eve comes from plenty of family money but chooses to be independent from her parents, sending money back when they offer it. The girls go out on New Year’s Eve with the plan of stretching their $3 as far as it would go. Their plan had been to drink early and then go to a Ukrainian diner whose late-night special was “coffee, eggs, and toast for fifteen cents”. By 11:00, they had twenty cents left between them when “he” came into the club. The girls were immediately impressed and lucky for them, so was he. Without giving away the story, meeting him placed the girls in a whole new world that is so much fun (mostly) to read about. If you read this book, which I hope you will, there is a follow-up book that Towles recently wrote entitled Table for Two. It is comprised of a few short stories and at the end, a novella telling the story of Eve after she leaves New York. Towles is a powerful narrative writer and a keen developer of characters. It’s hard to believe that this was his first book.

Reviewed by Robin Olivier