Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10
This was the inaugural novel of the newest, hottest book club around, Maggot Habitat (Jessica, Hoang, Anne, and me). Having read Gentleman in Moscow before, I was familiar with Towles’ exquisite ability to immerse the reader in the setting. Every time I picked up the book, I was whisked away to the 1930’s, stumbling alongside Katey as she navigated her defining year.
I think this is one of the best books to read as a twenty-something year old – it’s told from the point of view of Katey Kontent in the 1960s as she reminisces on the year 1938. In this year she meets Eve, her fun-loving, mercurial yet loyal best friend; Tinker Grey, a man who isn’t who he seems to be… or is he? Wallace Wolcott, the man of her first pure relationship; and Dicky, her rebound from Tinker. These are the four people she says influenced her the most in 1938, and by 1940, she hadn’t talked to any of them in a year. There are people like this in all of our lives: people we have such meaningful relationships with that years after parting, we still attribute parts of ourselves and our success (or misfortune) to them.
In some ways, this book reminded me of Jessica’s Instagram post after graduation. Life is a lot of things, but it’s made up of small decisions, like skipping class to go to Chipotle that one Thursday, or deciding to help Justin cook tea eggs for TASA. And once you lose the ability to see the beauty in these mundane moments of happiness, you’ve become someone else. Here’s a quote I loved that captures this sentiment perfectly:
Uncompromising purpose and the search for eternal truth have an unquestionable sex appeal for the young and high-minded; but when a person loses the ability to take pleasure in the mundane — in the cigarette on the stoop or the gingersnap in the bath — she has probably put herself in danger.
pg 127
Another thing I appreciated was how Towles did not paint in black and white the conflict between happiness and money. Many characters are negatively influenced by the pursuit of wealth, but there are also people like Wallace, who, despite his wealth, remains personable — and still reflects longingly on his childhood in the Adirondacks.
I will stop before I reveal too much about the great plot and the complex characters, but first, I will share some of my favorite quotes from the book.
I know I made the right choices, but by right choices I know that’s how life crystallizes losses
pg 317
I’m willing to be under anything…as long as it isn’t somebody’s thumb.
not sure when but in the beginning
Halfway up the first flight was an old Negro with a cane who could have ascended faster to heaven than he could to the fourth floor.
pg 294
That’s how quickly New York City comes about — like a weather vane — or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.
pg 158
Old times, as my father used to say: If you’re not careful, they’ll gut you like a fish.
pg 76
Peter's Life 