Rules of Civility: A Novel Paperback – June 26, 2012

There have been many paeans to New York City through the years. Amor Towles, in “Rules of Civility,” has written one that may best sum up the vibrant existence of those fortunate enough to prowl the steel canyons.A chance encounter by the protagonist, saddled with the unfortunate name of Katey Kontent, and charmer Tinker Grey on New Year’s Eve in 1937 leads to a lifetime of on-again, off-again relationships with acquaintances that take the reader on a voluptuous tour of the world’s most dramatic city and its denizens.There’s not much in the way of an intricate plot. There are no mysteries, echoes of mafia pistols, dramatic sobs of dismay, or deep philosophical meanderings. It’s a world of enjoying parties, good food, scoping windows through binoculars, and earnest conversations on cold, stone stoops. Relationships come and go like the East River tide, nothing too dramatic or spectacular, but seeming to always steer personal beliefs and actions to new headings. That’s about all there is to the plot.So where’s the attraction? Without a doubt it’s to be found in Towles’ glorious writing. This is a man who can speak in a woman’s voice without it being annoying.Careers are carefully outlined with either prosperity or poverty being the closing act. Fine restaurants, neighborhood haunts, glamorous hotels, waterfront environs, cold, wintry streets, verdant Central Park, and apartments, both dazzling and dowdy, are all explored by the characters in the novel, all searching for the comforting embrace of something to cling to. The author is marvelously adept at bring the atmosphere and environment of a huge city to his work.His quiet inclusion of various words of inspiration and knowledge from past luminaries, pinnacled by George Washington’s 110 Rules of Civility (thoughtfully listed at the back of the book), resonate with the reader as appropriate ways to behave. Some of his characters follow the precepts, others do not. In today’s world, some might sound fussy and a little silly but the reader has to be affected by their inclusion. Actually formulated by French Jesuits in 1595, the rules were copied by Washington at age 16 in his notebook of penmanship. But in the late 1930s and early 1940s of Towles’ book, the rules of courtesy and manners were very much in vogue, as they should be today.I urge readers to have a look at the book if, for nothing else, one’s personal behavior needs a lube job. There is also the chance that the beautiful look at NYC will inspire some further research and possibly a visit to the city that never sleeps. I loved the book and its lyrical backdrop and references. Indeed, my personal behavior has been well greased.Schuyler T WallaceAuthor of TIN LIZARD TALES

I really enjoyed reading this book. No I don't think Amor Towles is the next F. Scott, but I really enjoyed the language and metaphors that some people are blasting in the reviews. Unfortunately, the pacing fell off somewhere around the middle of the book and it just wandered around for a while and then decided to stop. The very ending made sense, but Tinker's desires and goals could have been woven better into the rest of the novel so that the ending would seem to the reader the only way it could or should have ended. Instead it just sort of quietly stopped after meandering around for a while.I felt the introduction of Tinker's brother and the role that character played was completely extraneous, and should have been edited out or fixed to be more effective. The author seemed to try to use the brother to justify Tinker's choices and I didn't buy it. I actually felt that way about a lot of the secondary characters. Their roles were elevated beyond their usefulness. A tighter focus on Tinker, Eve, Katie and Anne (oh, and what about Val? His cameos weren't even long enough to generate interest, and they should have been!) while getting rid of all the girlfriends and the Texan with the maitre d', and and and would have greatly improved this book. Some of the literary allusions fell flat, and the author didn't quite seem to be able to keep a little Mike Hammer or something from his voice, although it detracted only slightly.This review sounds uber-critical for someone who says she loved reading this book, but that is because I was really paying attention, which is the biggest complement I can pay to an author.Now for a few of the things I really liked: I loved the voice of the main character. Her imperfect self was imminently knowable and believable to me, although the intro and the ending had me kind of wondering if I still cared. I loved the description of the Russian club--this author really gets the truth of these Russians and described their emotional way of relating to things beautifully. I felt like I had been there. And my favorite part was the descriptive prose and imagery. On one of the first pages, this caught my eye:"In the 1950's, America had picked up the globe by the heels and shaken the change from its pockets. Europe had become a poor cousin--all crests and no table settings. And the indistinguishable countries of Africa, Asia, and South America had just begun skittering across our schoolroom walls like salamanders in the sun. True, the Communists were out there, somewhere, but with Joe McCarthy in the grave and no one on the Moon, for the time being the Russians just skulked across the pages of spy novels."What a beautifully succinct way to set the time and arrogantly optimistic American mindset for the book! So in spite of its shortcomings, this book is worth the time it takes to read it and I do recommend it although with the caveat that you will probably enjoy the first half and then cruise through the second without the full satisfaction that might have been...