Rules of Civility in Retro Chapter Chicks

Mar 26, 2019 Candi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, book-i-own, favorites

"The year 1938 had been one in which four people of great color and character had held welcome sway over my life."

Katey Kontent and Eve Ross are ready to ring in the new year of 1938 at The Hotspot in Greenwich Village when the devastatingly handsome and moneyed banker with a Central Park West address walks in the door. Tinker Grey: "He had that certain confidence in his bearing, that democratic interest in his surroundings, and that understated presumption of friendliness that are only found in "The year 1938 had been one in which four people of great color and character had held welcome sway over my life."

Katey Kontent and Eve Ross are ready to ring in the new year of 1938 at The Hotspot in Greenwich Village when the devastatingly handsome and moneyed banker with a Central Park West address walks in the door. Tinker Grey: "He had that certain confidence in his bearing, that democratic interest in his surroundings, and that understated presumption of friendliness that are only found in young men who have been raised in the company of money and manners. It didn’t occur to people like this that they might be unwelcome in a new environment – and as a result, they rarely were." When he pulls up a chair to sit with the young women, a chain of events and encounters will make 1938 a year like no other.

There is so much to love about this book. The first being the characters – they are meticulously sculpted into people that live and breathe and practically jump straight from these pages. Amor Towles knows how to write a character! Now, it would be tough for me to say whether I had a favorite. It would be a close tie between Katey Kontent and New York City. Yes, New York City! I swear it came to life here too. I live in the state of New York, but sadly have not visited the City in more than twenty years. I can honestly say that I felt as if I just had a mini vacation in the Big Apple for a few days while reading this novel. I felt completely nostalgic for a place and time decades before I was even a twinkle in my mother’s eye. Check out one of Katey’s favorite lunch spots (I love finding out-of-the-way places with a touch of eccentricity to both the menu and the people too!):

"On the corner of Broadway and Exchange Place across the street from Trinity Church there was a little diner with a soda pop clock on the wall and a hasher named Max who even cooked his oatmeal on the griddle. Polar in winter, oppressive in July and five blocks out of my way, it was one of my favorite spots in town – because I could always get the crooked little booth-for-two by the window. Sitting in that seat, in the span of a sandwich you could pay witness to the pilgrimage of New York’s devoted."

As far as Katey is concerned, I found loads to admire there. She’s one smart cookie, levelheaded, quick-witted, and enterprising. She knows what she wants and she works for it, yet she’s flexible. And, she loves to read! What’s not to love about that?!

"Katey’s the hottest bookworm you’ll ever meet. If you took all the books that she’s read and piled them in a stack, you could climb to the Milky Way."

"I’ve come to realize that however blue my circumstances, if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort of compulsion to read on, then everything is probably going to be just fine."

Katey’s initial encounter with Tinker Grey sets in motion a series of meetings with a compelling array of other individuals of New York society. She comes in contact with the elite and affluent while still maintaining her connections with the working class and the artistic world. Her path is altered in varied and complex ways and she always seems to adapt – she seems to me the quintessential New Yorker. She is still young – in her twenties – and I so enjoyed thinking back to my own hopeful and optimistic years when it seemed anything was possible. Making your own way, falling in love, learning that there is much more to a person than initially meets the eye – all of these things seemed like elements buried in my own past but sprang to the surface once more as I reflected while reading about Katey’s personal growth. How much control do we have over our own destinies? There seem to be so many brushes with chance while at the same time much of it is controlled by our own circumstances and choices. How to make the most of it all?

"One of Newton’s laws of physics is something about how bodies in motion will hew to their trajectory unless they meet an external force."

This is my second Amor Towles novel, although it was written prior to my beloved A Gentleman in Moscow. It’s difficult to compare the two books, but I will say they are both worthy of all the stars. Because of the Count, A Gentleman in Moscow will always have a special place in my heart, but this book did not fail to check off all the boxes as well. It is an homage to New York City and one not to be missed by those that want a peek at a world long gone. Whether confined within the walls of a hotel in the heart of Moscow, or wandering the streets of the sprawling metropolis of NYC, I know I am in excellent hands with Amor Towles. He can evoke an atmosphere that is both authentic and delicious.

"For however inhospitable the wind, from this vantage point Manhattan was simply so improbable, so wonderful, so obviously full of promise – that you wanted to approach it for the rest of your life without ever quite arriving."

"I know that right choices by definition are the means by which life crystallizes loss." ...more

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Jan 21, 2017 Celia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, kindle-list, 2017-read

The title, Rules of Civility, written by Amor Towles, is based on a tract entitled Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation, best known as a school writing exercise of George Washington. The rules have been traced to a French etiquette manual written by Jesuits in 1595. As a handwriting exercise Washington merely copied word-for-word Francis Hawkins' translation which was published in England in about 1640. While the novel implies that the rules can be found in a publishe The title, Rules of Civility, written by Amor Towles, is based on a tract entitled Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation, best known as a school writing exercise of George Washington. The rules have been traced to a French etiquette manual written by Jesuits in 1595. As a handwriting exercise Washington merely copied word-for-word Francis Hawkins' translation which was published in England in about 1640. While the novel implies that the rules can be found in a published work, the Wikipedia description cited does not support that.

Katey Content (as in happy) is the heroine. In 1963, she is married and visits a photography exhibit. In it she sees someone she recognizes from her youth. In two different photographs, he is presented as opposites. First she sees him as rich, in the second he is a bum. The reader is left to wonder: What Happened? The rest of the book is a flashback describing the change.

The date is December 31, 1937. Katey and Eve (Ross) are having a drink in a bar to ring out the old year. In walks Theodore (Tinker) Grey (the man in the photos). We later meet Hank Grey, Anne Grandyn, Wallace Wollcott, and Dicky Vanderwhile. The relationships amongst them are complex and described in four parts: 1938: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The book is mostly written in first person (Katey’s voice), but at the end of each section, there is a chapter based on Tinker’s thoughts.

Tinker owns the book ‘written’ by Washington, given to him by his mother. Tinker’s way of life is based on the rules he finds in this book. Dicky in talking to Katey towards the end of the book states: ”don’t know if this friend of yours genuinely aspired to these Rules, or simply aped them so that he would be better received by his neighbors; but is there really any difference?”
A book like this does not present itself every day. Towles calls this book a novel. If novel means unique, he is spot on.

This book is not so much a plot as it is a compendium of ideas, each one thought provoking and near worthy of a book of its own just to expand on it.
Towles is a magnificent writer. This book and his second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, are two of my favorite books of all time.

As a friend of mine has stated, these books are both meant to be read slowly and savored. I hope that those who read this review make time available to do just that.

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Apr 12, 2020 Maureen rated it really liked it

This book is Amor Towles debut novel. I have previously read “A Gentleman in Moscow” and enjoyed it very much
Rules of Civility is named after the George Washington’s list of the same name of etiquette and proper behavior rules. This list is very interesting.
This novel is set in New York City in the 1930’s jazz age. It starts out slowly as we meet Katie Kontent and her roommate Eve on New Year’s 1937. Katie and Eve are working girls who meet Tinker Grey handsome banker at a jazz club in New York ...more

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Feb 26, 2016 Tasha rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-reads

A good audio read although I'm thinking it's more like a 3.5. I think if I read it, it could possibly rate at 4. I loved the atmosphere, it felt like a great period piece. I enjoyed the narrators, both the voice of the MC and the voice of the reader. The story was interesting but I was left wanting more, it didn't engage me enough. I definitely think the author is a very good writer and I'll be looking for more from him. I still recommend giving it a try, especially as a period piece.

Re-read Aug ...more

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Jan 26, 2014 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, audio, debut, books-about-books, new-york, relationships, library, concierge, strong-women, friendship

Book on CD narrated by Rebecca Lowman

In 1966, while visiting an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her husband, our narrator is struck by two photographs of a young man she knew back in the pre-WW2 days of her youth. The photos bring back memories she relates, starting with New Year’s Eve 1937, when 25-year-old Katey Kontent and her roommate Eve Ross are in a Greenwich Village jazz bar, trying to stretch their last $3 into a memorable celebration. There they meet Tinker Grey, a strik Book on CD narrated by Rebecca Lowman

In 1966, while visiting an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her husband, our narrator is struck by two photographs of a young man she knew back in the pre-WW2 days of her youth. The photos bring back memories she relates, starting with New Year’s Eve 1937, when 25-year-old Katey Kontent and her roommate Eve Ross are in a Greenwich Village jazz bar, trying to stretch their last $3 into a memorable celebration. There they meet Tinker Grey, a strikingly handsome young man, who happens to sit at the neighboring table. Tinker is an investment banker and he introduces the girls to the world of the Upper East Side and Long Island socialites. The nascent attraction between Tinker and Katey is sidetracked, however, as a result of an automobile accident. Still, as Katey works her way up from a stenographer to the world of magazine publishing, she continues to socialize with the group.

Katey was born Katya, the daughter of Russian immigrants, but she’s intelligent, well-read and ambitious. Most of the people she meets aren’t what they first seem, but that’s true of most people. Who among us doesn’t put her “best foot forward” and edit our own backstory when first meeting someone new? Katey, however, keeps much to herself. She rarely volunteers information and she holds her own opinions. As she recollects that time in her life (1938-1941), a number of people cycle into and out of her circle of friends. I was a little bothered that some characters just seemed to disappear, but reflecting on myself at a similar age (mid-20s), there were several such people in my own life.

At one point Katey discovers among Tinker’s books a copy of George Washington’s “Rules of Civility” which his mother had given to Tinker. At first she considers it merely as a sentimental keepsake, but later wonders whether Tinker didn’t use Washington’s rules as a blueprint for social advancement, in the hope “that they will enhance one’s chances at a happy ending.” And this is a central question: Are the rules nothing more than a mask that people wear to conceal their true nature? Or are the rules themselves important? Does it matter what our motivation is when we seek to follow the rules?

What was most notable for me in the novel was the way Towles described the landscape and people of New York City. Some examples:
So all of us were drunk to some degree. We launched ourselves into the evening like satellites and orbited the city two miles above the earth, powered by failing foreign currencies and finely filtered spirits.
She had changed into high heels and a tangerine-colored blouse that clashed with all her good intentions.
Pure and heartfelt, as disembodied as the plaint of an oboe drifting across the surface of a lake, his voice lent an eerie beauty to the night.
She came to love the fusion of glitter and sob stories. She loved the heartfelt has-beens who led the numbers, and the toothy hope-to-bes who made up the chorus.
I poured myself a gin that was sized to make my apartment seem less depressing.

There are a few disconnects in the book which caught my eye (ear) and made me re-consider my rating. At one point Towles has someone look out her Greenwich Connecticut window “towards Delaware.” Now, I haven’t been in Greenwich, but I do know my US geography, and I don’t think this is possible. In another scene, a woman who has just finished using the toilet “pulled up her stockings.” In 1938 she would not have been wearing panty hose, and if she were using a garter belt would not have needed to pull her stocking down (or back up) at all. An editor should have caught such inconsistencies. Still, these are minor irritants, and didn’t materially affect my rating.

Rebecca Lowman does a fine job narrating the audio version. There are a lot of different characters and she managed to give them sufficiently unique voices.
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Nov 06, 2017 Nancy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017-books, beautiful-writing

This book is a breath of fresh air and I absolutely loved it! It is not a keep you on the edge of your seat kind of read, rather it is a quiet, beautifully told story of Katey Kontent and her friends in New York City during the 1930s. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Just brilliant!

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Feb 01, 2020 Kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

3.5 stars

Round up to 4 stars for -
Witty lines
Clever conversations
Glamour and glitz of the pre-WWII NYC elite
Subtle but powerful reflections on socioeconomic status, structure and impact

Round down to 3 stars for -
Lack of interest in the main character; I tried liking her throughout. Never quite got there.
Disappearance of a character I thought to be the most witty and clever; when she left the story, the story sagged for me.

Overall, an entertaining read that I never would have been able to muste ...more

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May 23, 2019 Theresa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-general-fiction, debut, z-aty-2019

I so enjoyed this book! I actually read Towles' second book, A Gentleman in Moscow a year or so ago, loved it, and had been waiting a suitable amount of time to read his first. I was not disappointed at all - and in fact it's hard to believe this was a first novel.

Kate tells the story of her 1938 in NYC - it's the Jazz Age, and while there are occasional rumblings of war in Spain, evidenced by young men of her acquaintance going off to fight very much as Hemingway and his friends did, this read I so enjoyed this book! I actually read Towles' second book, A Gentleman in Moscow a year or so ago, loved it, and had been waiting a suitable amount of time to read his first. I was not disappointed at all - and in fact it's hard to believe this was a first novel.

Kate tells the story of her 1938 in NYC - it's the Jazz Age, and while there are occasional rumblings of war in Spain, evidenced by young men of her acquaintance going off to fight very much as Hemingway and his friends did, this read very much like an American version of the Lost Generation. We first meet Kate, daughter of Russian immigrants, raised in Brooklyn, in 1969 at MOMA viewing an exhibit of Walker Evans' secretly taken subway photos from 1938 - 1941. Spotting two photos of a man she knew in 1938, Kate flashes back and tells us the story of 1938 and this man.

Kate, in her mid to late 20s, was working as a secretary in a Wall Street law firm, lived in one of the women's boarding houses prevalent at the time, and spent her evenings socializing with the Trust Fund set as they move from restaurant to club to party. We start with the last night of 1937, Kate and her roommate Eve are at a jazz club in Greenwich Village. There they meet Tinker Grey and others, all perceived as being of the Trust Fund set. What follows is the story of 1938, the story of Kate, Eve, Tinker and those they meet that year and with whom they socialize and how their lives are changed by events that occur and by each other. Towles pulls you into that world, that time, and you can actually hear the music, smell the cigarette smoke, taste the gin.

Kate is not your average secretary bent on finding and marrying a wealthy man. Kate is a serious reader, very intelligent - perhaps the most intelligent person in the room -- and something of an observer of life around her, rather than an active participant. Or so she seems to me. She seems to be drifting, at least initially, not purposefully moving towards anything or claiming anything or anyone. There is a feeling that she is deferring life for some unknown reason. As the year progresses, she ultimately moves into the world of journalism at Conde Nast and realizing that her 'reading' of situations and others was often superficial and inaccurate, that she made certain pre-judgments and looked no further.

I liked how Kate gradually 'woke up', essentially choosing to live life and make it something satisfying rather than just drifting. I also liked how Towles provided a preface and epilogue set in Kate's later life. It book-ended the story nicely, and gave us some updates on key characters.

And I loved the writing! I really hope Towles has another book published soon.

I was able to fit this into ATY 2019 prompt #36 - featured in NPR best books for any year (2011) ...more

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Jan 16, 2021 Samantha rated it liked it

Shelves: owned

I was expecting so much more from this book as " A Gentleman in Moscow" is one of my favourite books and I felt I was missing something the whole time while reading this book. But it wasn't until I'd read the Epilogue to appreciate the gist of those periods in your life that you don't realise until later in life, really were crucial cross-roads. My opnion could have been realted to the morose mood I was in during my read also, so to be fair it may warrant a re-read. I just found the second third ...more

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