Rules of Civility: A Novel

by Amor Towles | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0143121162 Global Overview for this book
Registered by jnpert of Ridgefield, Connecticut USA on 4/21/2014
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4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by jnpert from Ridgefield, Connecticut USA on Monday, April 21, 2014
From a blurb in O Magazine-
"In the crisp, nourish prose of the era, Towles portrays complex relationships in a city that is at once a melting pot and elitist enclave- and a thoroughly modern heroine who fearlessly claims her place in it."

A great description of a really good historical (set in 1930s) novel.

BTW, get your drinks shaker out because this book will have you craving a good Manhattan (if cocktails are your thing ;)

Journal Entry 2 by jnpert at Ridgefield, Connecticut USA on Saturday, January 17, 2015

Released 9 yrs ago (1/17/2015 UTC) at Ridgefield, Connecticut USA

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Sent to Florida as part of the General Lit VBB. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by wingbooklady331wing at Cape Coral, Florida USA on Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Thank you so much for sharing this book with me. I was attracted by the title. I am adding this to my TBR piles and looking forward to reading it.

Journal Entry 4 by wingbooklady331wing at Cape Coral, Florida USA on Monday, June 8, 2015
The novel could be considered cinematography. Amor Towles's novel captures Manhattan 1938 with the jazz, the nightclubs and the streets, the pursuit of sensuality, and women setting out on their own. The novel's preface opens in 1966, with a happily married couple attending a Walker Evans photography exhibition. An unlikely chance encounter stuns the woman, Katey--a picture of a man staring across a canyon of three decades, a photograph of an old friend. Thus begins the flashback story of Katey's roaring twenties in the 30's.

Katey Kontent (Katya) is the moral center of the story, an unapologetic working girl. She's an ambitious and determined to become a success. Katey and her friend Eve flirt with the men that they meet. They will kiss a man once that they'll never kiss twice. Eve and Katey meet Tinker Grey on New Year's Eve, 1937, at the Hotspot, a jazz bar in Greenwich Village. Tinker reminds me of Gabsy. The three become fast friends.

At times, the descriptions threaten to eclipse the story, and the characters recede. This is a book of manners, so the action resides in the conflict between individual ambitions and desires and the acceptable social codes of behavior between classes. It loses some steam as I tried to figure out how the Rules of Civilary relates to the writing.
The novel takes its name from the 110 rules that George Washington crafted during his teenage years. Katey Kontent eventually sees Washington's rules not as "a series of moral aspirations" but as "a primer on social advancement." They are the rules that shape a masquerade in the hope "that they will enhance one's chances at a happy ending."

Katey is an outsider socializing with a privileged group of people, but she remains the grounded daughter of a working class Russian immigrant. She treasures her female friends. She neither hides nor flaunts her intelligence.

Rules of Civility offers up occasional glimpses into the passages from the books the characters are reading, excerpts from Hemingway and Thoreau and Woolf, an ongoing description of an Agatha Christie novel.

Journal Entry 5 by wingbooklady331wing at Cape Coral, Florida USA on Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (6/9/2015 UTC) at Cape Coral, Florida USA

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Enjoy! Off to spoiledrotten to enjoy.

Journal Entry 6 by spoiledrotten at Waldwick, New Jersey USA on Sunday, June 14, 2015
Thanks so much booklady 331 for sending me this RABCK. My bookclub will be reading this then I will be able to set it free!

Journal Entry 7 by spoiledrotten at Waldwick, New Jersey USA on Friday, July 31, 2015
There is not much I can add to booklady331's review. I agree with just about everything. My Bookclub will be discussing this in September so I will update then and make it available. By the way jnpert, I agree with you too, although it was a martini that I craved!!!!
09/30/15 I tagged waternixie with this book for the US/Canada Wishlist tag game. Will journal once I have her address.
10/02/15 sending out to waternixie as part of the US/Canada Wishlist tag game.

Journal Entry 8 by spoiledrotten at Everett, Washington USA on Friday, October 2, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (10/2/2015 UTC) at Everett, Washington USA

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Sending off to waternixie as part of the US/Canada Wishlist tag game. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 9 by waternixie at Everett, Washington USA on Friday, October 9, 2015
Recieved as part of the wishlist tag game. I had forgotten it was on my wishlist, but am glad to get it.
I still don't really understand the game, so don't know if I will be playing or not. Something has been wrong with my email since Oct. 3, so this isn't a good time in any case.

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