“One must learn to master his circumstances or otherwise be mastered by them”
An aphorism, a set of words, some would say it a sane saying, sprouted from the mind of an astute. How deep can one dig into its meaning? And if someone with all his acumen, intellect, cognizance and experience thinks to pen it, to unfold the every aspect of these well-arranged words, how much time must be required? How many pages? How much ink? And most of all, how many life experiences? The answers, I think are imponderable.
“A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW” an impeccable and mesmerizing articulation by “AMOR TOWELS” is an immaculate answer to all the above mentioned how’s. A very comprehensive interpretation of the topic under discussion. “Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov” the heart of the story along with all other characters, bolstering former, manifest, why it is the duty of a gentleman to master his circumstances and how to do it.
The story revolves around the Count Rostov, an aristocrat raised in Novgorod, Russia. After the Russian revolution in 1922, he was sentenced to house arrest under the allegation of writing an incendiary poem “Where It Is Now”, which according to jurists catalysed the rebellion. He was confined to remain in the periphery of Hotel Metropol (his favorite one) for life time. From here his new journey begins, along with all the upheavals Russia had been through after revolution and prior to it. Hotel Metropol, a state of art hotel in all of Russia, where Count learns to master his circumstances with his gentlemanship, for the next 32 years, until one day….well spoiler alert dismissed!
