Rules of Civility by Amor Towles + Guest Review

I asked my friend over at Notorious MLE to write a guest review of this book. Below is my review followed by hers. I encourage you to check out her blog if you want to read a fun and thoughtful blog! =D

Elaine says:
This book starts with a preface that takes place in 1966 as a couple strolls through a photography exhibit showing pictures from 30 years earlier. Katey Kontent is surprised to find two photographs of an old friend, Tinker Grey. One photo is of him as a wealthy, young guy and the next one shows him as a poor fellow. Thus begins a flashback to New York City in 1938.

This story follows three friends, Katey, Eve, and Tinker. The story focuses mostly on Katey Kontent as she climbs the social and professional ladders. Tinker is the bachelor of the moment, but as Katey gets to know him better, she finds that Tinker might not be everything he appears to be. Eve starts out as Katey's roommate, but things change between them once they meet Tinker.

I liked the time period this book was set in. And I did like the main character, Katey. I enjoyed reading this book, but I can't rave about it. I didn't find myself glued to it, but I finished it nevertheless. So I am giving this a lukewarm recommendation. If you're looking for something to read, go ahead and give it a try, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it.

Notorious MLE says:
Like Elaine I can't say that this book really grabbed me but strangely the farther I am from reading it the more I like it. I originally read it as part of the "Phenomenally Indecisive" online book club and I grew to appreciate it more after I read through the discussion thread. (You can find that here: http://pancakesandfrenchfries.com/2012/02/rules-of-civility-discussion/). What I appreciated the most about this book was the unique voice, it really feels feels like New York City in the jazz age, it's stylized, listless, naive and hopeful all at once. I find that books in the jazz age can tend to overdo the "hey there baby doll" slang but this one didn't, it felt perfect, raw real and detached.

If you are the kind of person who enjoys thinking about characters, motives and themes then I think you'd enjoy this book. I enjoy doing that in a group setting but not for recreational fun and I believe that is one of the reasons I didn't find this book especially compelling on first read. I'm going to call it kale, a healthy choice but an acquired taste.