A Gentleman in Moscow 
Amor Towles

(4/25/21-4/30/21)

JN:     

       In the early 1900s, Count Alexander Rostov was sentenced to house arrest, being escorted out of his current residence to another one where he would serve his sentence. Alexander brought his books as well as a very fine desk that was his grandfather’s. In this current confinement, Alexander began to think about how he planned to master his circumstance. He called a Greek man and paid him to deliver 3 letters. Alexander then went to a restaurant on a lower floor and was well-known by the staff. Alexander was extremely well educated and had a stoic attitude, determined to enact rightful revenge on those that imprisoned him. 
       Alexander then went to a local barbershop and was trimmed by the barber when a man who was waiting cut a part of Alexander's mustache, angered that he had to wait so long while Alexander simply strolled in. Alexander said that he had made an appointment earlier but the man didn’t care and left. The barber apologized but Alexander brushed him off and as is his personality, had the barber give him a clean shave, undisturbed by the change. 
       That night while Alexander had dinner at one of the two restaurants in the hotel, a girl came up and began discussing princesses. Alexander gave a little of his backstory and how he had a very eventful life, dealing with princesses and castles. The girl was particularly interested in duels and showed her intelligence with her vocabulary. Alexander responded to her inquiry about duels with a story about how his godfather had been a second (if you don’t know what a second is, it’s essentially one of the duelist’s second in command and is in charge of arranging the time, place, weapon, and events of the duel). The girl then left and Alexander began walking up the flights of stairs to his hotel room and pondered about duels. 
       The following day, Alexander had tea with a girl, Nina, (who we can suspect is the initial girl) and Alexander talked about the etiquette of being a princess as well as the expected mannerisms, which Nina found very interesting. After confirmation that the 9-year-old girl that Alexander met initially was Nina, Nina showed him around the hotel. Even though Alexander had been there much longer than Nina had, she knew much more than he did and meticulously showed him all that she knew. Nina was trapped in a way as well, as her father worked constantly and had not enrolled her in any school. They even went to Alexander’s old suite, which was 3 floors below the one he lived in currently (and now we enter the story). 
       A couple of days later, Nina led a reluctant Alexander to a balcony where below, an important meeting was taking place. Alexander ripped his pants and after he had them fixed by a seamstress, was called upon by the manager, who Alexander had not seen in the four years he’s been there. The manager said that he wanted the workers of the hotels to stop calling Alexander “your highness” (kind of a strange request although we can assume Alexander held some political position before his eventual hotel imprisonment). They were then interrupted, and Alexander left the room while the manager was busy. Alexander then discovered a hidden cabinet outside the manager’s office and inside was a special box.
       A later day while Alexander was playing cards, the butler came in and grabbed him, telling him that a man was there. Alexander went to see who it was and saw that it was his old friend Mikhail. They went to his room, poured a glass, and talked of old times. Mikhail told him about the world of poetry, which was part of both of their occupations (which is a fairly interesting vocation and would explain Alexander's wide vocabulary).
       (Fast forward to Christmas) Alexander met up with Nina for what would be one of the last times until she left for school, for which she had extremely low expectations. They exchanged presents, which surprised Alexander that the girl had given him a gift. Later, Alexander saw a musician that he knew from before and agreed to talk to him at a later date after one of his performances. Alexander then went to his room and opened up the present that Nina had given him (pretty sweet of her). Inside the box was the pass key to the hotel, which Nina used (and swiped initially) to get around to all of the secret parts of the hotel. Several days later, Alexander went to the lobby of the hotel while he waited for Mikhail. There, he saw a woman handling dogs and helped retrieve her dogs after they had run after the hotel cat. She then hurried on her way and by the time Alexander met up with Mikhail, it was near dinner time. 
       After dinner as Mikhail was getting into his car, someone from the hotel told him that Anna, the woman who Alexander had seen in the hotel lobby, sent him a letter calling him to her room. Alexander went to her room, and Anna said that she wanted a better first impression. They had dinner and Anna talked about her life, when suddenly she kissed him, and given their conversation and her beauty (according to Alexander), he allowed it and went to bed with her (and naturally took it around the bases). At one in the morning, Alexander left and went to the rooftop, where he surprisingly saw one of the staff making coffee, so Alexander joined him in reminiscing about his past. The following morning, he learned he did something wrong because when he had initially left Anna's room, he hung up one of her blouses, something that unreasonably frustrated Anna (like a lot).
      For the next year, Alexander didn’t talk to Anna much, and when he attempted to, she was generally busy. With ill-placed hope of having dinner with her, Alexander went to the restaurant and decided to have dinner anyway. When ordering wine, Alexander was only allowed red or white wine, and when he complained about it, he found out about an order to remove all of the labels from the wine. The next day, Alexander pondered over philosophy (as one does) and how each must subscribe to whatever made the most sense to them. For Alexander, he subscribed to weather, as the shift of a few degrees changed many things (such as whether people go out or trees bloom, which is a rather interesting philosophy). Alexander then realized that Nina had returned from school (she was thirteen at the time) and that she was doing experiments with one of her classmates. 
       He left her to her experiments and talked a bit about his past with a Brit. Alexander said that he had led to the death of a man (he shot him, which weakened him when he went into battle), and that led to Alexander being unable to see his sister on her deathbed (who died of scarlet fever). Alexander then went to the roof and contemplated jumping off and joining the city when the man who had given him coffee before gave him some honey on bread that reminded him of a forest of apple trees where he lived for a period while growing up (enough to give him a reason). 
       Several years later, now 1930 Russia when the word “comrade” was being used more than any other, Alexander was still confined to the hotel. He saw Nina one day (Nina being close to 18 years old) and she said how she was going to make farms collective (essentially have the farmers give their produce to the government for the greater good, or in Layman’s terms, communism). After she left, Alexander confided in a wait staff (at this point, Alexander was friends with everyone who worked in the hotel, so he essentially confided in a trusted friend) that he worried that Nina was too single-minded that she would lose her childhood happiness to her passion, but the staff member reassured him. 
       One day, Alexander had a mysterious meal. He was pulled away and sat next to a man who introduced himself as Osip Ivanovich, but not until late into the conversation. Alexander guessed several things about the man, including his country of origin and the fact that he was a colonel in the military. Osip was impressed and in the end, told Alexander that he wanted Alexander to teach him about what French and English people are like and offered something in abundance. Alexander agreed to the offer (he probably suffered from boredom as wellm and would welcome any excitement). 
       (Fast forward to 1938) Communism was almost in full form, and after several years of hardship, Stalin announced that overall life was improved, and therefore it was (funny how it just works like that). Nina randomly came by to see Alexander and told him that she needed him to take care of Sofia, her 6-year-old child, for a couple of months while Nina prepared her new home. Nina explained how she married several years back and her husband was now in prison (this was Russia, so he didn’t necessarily need to do anything wrong). Alexander had no choice but to accept and brought Sofia to his room, where she promptly fell asleep. The following morning, Alexander noticed that Sofia was unusually quiet, and learned quickly that that was just her personality. Sofia asked about Alexander’s grandfather clock (one of his most beloved possessions) and why it only rang twice (at noon and midnight). Alexander told her he would explain over lunch. 
       Down to the restaurant they went, and Alexander explained that the first half of the day was when work should be done, and the bell would signify lunch if the work was done well. After, it was time for leisure activities (sounds like a nice way to organize the day). Finally, if the day was well spent, one should be asleep well before the midnight bell and not hear it (although if it’s loud, I’ll probably wake up to it). Sofia barraged him with questions about life in the city, and Alexander was happy to answer. When the waiter came with their food, he reminded Alexander that Sofia couldn’t cut her meat. After finishing her meal, the waiter also reminded Alexander that Sofia may need to use the bathroom. Alexander was slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of those things and hadn’t even unpacked Sofia's stuff yet (which would make sense, as he hadn’t had children in a long time). Alexander brought Sofia to the seamstress of the hotel (who Alexander was good friends with) and dropped Sofia off, asking Mikhail to watch her. 
       Alexander then quickly went to a meeting with several conspirators (part of the thing with Osip) as they prepared for a special dinner. Alexander grabbed Sofia, and they went to their room where Alexander wanted to play a game. Alexander hid a thimble while Sofia was in the closet, and then Sofia would come out. After two rounds of Sofia finding the thimble very quickly, Sofia announced that it was his turn to find it. Alexander hid and counted to 200. He then came out and looked for it but couldn’t find it. After declaring his surrender, Sofia showed him that the thimble was in his pocket the entire time, as Sofia had slipped it in there. Alexander was shocked (she probably reminds him very much of a young Nina). 
       Having another meeting soon, Alexander brought Sofia back to Mikhail, promising this would be the last time. After that, Alexander scrambled to see Anna, and was later than discussed. Instead of their normal meetings (their liaisons), Alexander asked for her suitcases. He ran across the hotel to construct a bed in his room for Sofia to sleep in (realizing his role as a guardian). Alexander then went to a meeting with Osip, as Alexander taught Osip about French culture, British culture, and American culture (these meetings have been going on ever since 1930). Osip got mad at Alexander for not finishing a book about the American government they had promised to finish, but his anger subsided when Alexander explained that Sofia had taken his time (and had brought a lot of light into his life too). 
       After the meeting, Alexander met up with Mikhail, who was upset that one of his peers wanted him to take out a couple of sentences in his books (because Mikhail was a writer/poet). After that final meeting, Alexander walked around at 11:45 p.m., surprised to find Sofia still awake. Sofia then led (via hand-holding) Alexander to their room and waited until the final midnight bell to fall asleep. Alexander followed suit, impressed by everything about this little girl. 
       (Now for a slight overview of the situation of the future) Nina never came back, and Alexander never knew what became of her. Sofia's residency in the hotel was noted by authorities but nothing came from it (thankfully). 
(Fast forward to 1946) Hitler had begun his march of expansion hoping to capture Moscow but ultimately failed. Sofia was thirteen and actively going to school. Alexander was still meeting with Osip often, now studying America through film. Mikhai returned too and discussed how discouraged he was to continue writing (Russia is all I have to say). Over the next meeting with Osip, Alexander discussed Mikhail's experience and pondered aloud if Russians were more destructive than Americans. Osip responded that while Russia had a bunch of controlled freedoms, Americans used slaves. Both countries have achieved massive success at a massive cost. Pleased with this answer, Alexander went to have a meal when he met an American and had a pleasant conversation with him.
       Alexander then saw Sofia and went back up straight to his room. Alexander ran because Sofia had made a game where she would always seemingly teleport from where she was and to where Alexander was going (sounds like a fun inside game). When Alexander got to the room, he noticed that Sofia hadn’t arrived. Triumphantly, Alexander waited until he heard a knock on the door. A cleaner told him that Sofia had fallen on the service stairs (special stairs that cleaners and staff used). Alexander rushed her to the nearest hospital as she had suffered a head injury, not caring in the slightest that he was breaching his house arrest. When he got there, Alexander brought Sofia to a surgeon but the surgeon wasn’t exactly qualified. Suddenly, an extremely qualified surgeon came in (not a coincidence) and took charge of the situation, telling Alexander that his goal was to ensure that there was no inflammation in the head. Alexander was then ushered out and painfully waited (in the dreadful waiting room). 
       Osip came in and told him that he had brought the surgeon with him. Similarly, Osip told Alexander that Alexander needed to go back to the hotel before anyone could find him, and Sofia would be relocated while she rested. In the meantime, Marina, the seamstress and a woman whom Alexander had become friends with, would watch over her. Alexander was overjoyed, thanking Osip for everything, and then Alexander returned to his room (thankful that Sofia was going to be okay). 
       (Now 1950, Sofia was 17 and Alexander was immensely proud of her demure (modest and reserved) personality) One day while Alexander was talking with a man, he found that Sofia was in a room with a boy, so he rushed to the room to confront what the boy was doing with her daughter (as any good father, which was basically what he was to her, would do). The boy defended himself saying that he had been teaching Sofia piano and then Sofia played a song to prove it. Alexander was enthralled by her emotion in the Chopin piece she played. Sofia explained that she simply recalled that her memories of her mother were fading, to which Alexander responded that he felt a similar way about his sister (piano is not a bad way to channel emotions).
       Two years later (jumping time quickly now), Sofia and Alexander sat down to have dinner as they usually did. They played a game called Zut (which actually sounds like a fun game) where one person would pick a category and they would go back and forth until the other couldn’t think of something that goes in the category. Afterward, Alexander met with the American from 2 years ago and the American asked Alexander to spy on Russia, which Alexander flatly denied. The American explained that when Stalin died, no one knew what would happen. Nine months later, Stalin sure enough died and no successor took his place immediately. This did not affect Alexander much, as he still spent time with Sofia and slept with Anna often (they were practically lovers in all senses of the word). 
       Now a man of 63 years of age, Alexander waited for Anna and Sofia to come back. When they finally did, Anna announced that Sofia had won her music competition. They celebrated in Alexander’s suite and the staff brought in a cake in the shape of the piano. Suddenly, a man from an orchestra came and told Sofia that she was to go to play piano for the orchestra, but Anna masterfully handled the conversation, allowing Sofia a choice. Then, Mikhail's wife/ex-wife came by and told Alexander in private that Mikhail had died and she gave Alexander a little book that was Mikhail's. Alexander thanked her and returned to his room in private to read it. It was a combination of quotes, all with the word “bread” bolded and capitalized (humorous).
       A year later, Sofia was accepted to be part of an orchestra that would travel around, including Paris. Sofia declined because she wanted to stay in the hotel. Alexander found out about her decision from someone else and changed her mind. After Sofia's first tour, she came back and Marina designed a dress for her. When Sofia showed Anna and Alexander the dress, Alexander was shocked by the lack of cloth on her back, but the three women (Sofia, Marina, and Anna) ignored him. On the day before Sofia left, Alexander arranged a dinner for her. He also awkwardly gave her a photograph of him, to which she laughed because of his mustache (call back to when the barber cut it off). Sofia then asked Alexander if he ever regretted coming back to Russia after the revolution, the act that led to his house (or hotel) arrest. Alexander replied that he didn’t for a moment because he got to be there when Nina dropped Sofia off (very sweet moment). 
       (Shifting focus) Over the years, Osip and Alexander met less and less. One time, however, Alexander managed to catch Osip at the restaurant, and they set up plans to watch Casablanca (one of the first classic American movies). (Shifting focus again) Alexander managed to grab the bishop (someone in power at the hotel) at gunpoint and stole a passport (dramatic shift in character). The bishop had information on Sofia's real parents and was going to tell the KGB so Alexander had to leave. As Sofia finished her performance, she quickly went to the bathroom, where she cut her hair and changed into boy's clothes, and left barefoot, meeting up with the American and his wife. At a similar time, Alexander prepared to leave, and when a crowd formed that night, he left the hotel (very sudden turn of events). The KGB came in search of Alexander, but couldn’t find him nor Sofia (yay!). Alexander, Sofia, and Anna had all successfully escaped capture, and that was that. (Great ending for this story even though it all happened very quickly. In a sense, though, this opportunity came out of nowhere, and they pounced on it when they could and made the most of it. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day! I hope you can avoid house arrest in your life.)