5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If a novel could win an award for best cinematography, this would take home the gold. Amor Towles's sophisticated retro-era novel of manners captures Manhattan 1938 with lucid clarity and a silvery focus on the gin and the jazz, the nightclubs and the streets, the pursuit of sensuality, and the arc of the self-made woman.

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 glittering 30's.

Katey Kontent (Katya) is the moral center of the story, an unapologetic working girl--more a bluestocking than a blue blood-- born in Brighton Beach of Russian immigrant parents. She's an ambitious and determined statuesque beauty à la Tierney or Bacall who seeks success in the publishing industry. She works as hard by day as she plays at night. Her best friend, Eve (Evelyn) Ross, is a Midwest-born Ginger Rogers /Garbo character mix, with jazz cat spirit and a fearless, cryptic glamor. She refuses daddy's money and embraces her free spirit:

"I'm willing to be under anything...as long as it isn't somebody's thumb."

Katey and Eve flirt with shameless savoir-faire, and are quick with the clever repartees. They will kiss a man once that they'll never kiss twice, and glide with effortless élan among all the social classes of New York. Moreover, they can make a few dollars stretch through many a martini, charming gratis drinks from fashionable men. With their nerve and gaiety, the two would be equally savvy at Vanity Fair or the Algonquin Round Table, or in a seedy bar on the Lower East Side.

Eve and Katey meet the sphinx-like Tinker Grey on New Year's Eve, 1937, at the Hotspot, a jazz bar in Greenwich Village. Tinker's métier is Gatsby-esque--an inscrutable, ruggedly handsome man in cashmere, a mysterious lone figure with an enigmatic mystique. The three become fast friends, but as with many triangulating relationships, a hairline rivalry sets in. Then a cataclysmic tragedy shatters the cool grace of their bond, and their solidarity is ruptured.

Towles is spectacular at description and atmosphere, keeping a keen camera's eye on the city with a polished pedigree of writing that is rare in a debut novel. A smoky haze envelopes the streets and clubs and buildings, which the reader can't help surveying in all the rich colors of vintage black and white. The writing is dense, yet fluid and ambient, rich as a contralto, and cool as a saxophone. Tendrils of Edith Wharton flow through, as well as Fitzgerald, and echoes of Capote's Holly Golightly.

At times, the lush 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. However, the middle section stagnates, as one character hugs most of the narrative in repetitive days and nights, the psychological complexities dimming. It loses some steam as the taut thrill of the first half wanes, but an understated closure recharges it again.

Overall, the beauty of the novel endures, and the sensuality of the prose lingers. The reader is also edified on the origin of the title, and the author folds it in neatly to the story. The characters are crisp and contoured, delightful and satisfying, even if one left the stage a bit too soon. This is one male writer who finesses his female characters with impressive agility and assurance.

Some books unfold at a leisurely pace and demand to be read in the same way -- nibbled and savored, the better to prolong the pleasure. Rules of Civility is one of those. It's a throwback novel, the kind in which unashamedly bright characters engage in impossibly witty conversations. 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." Ultimately Rules of Civility asks a serious question about Katey's observation: Are the behavioral rules that define "civility" simply a mask that people wear to conceal their true natures? Or are the rules themselves important, and the motivation for following them irrelevant?

The story begins in 1966 but quickly turns back to 1938, the most eventful year in Katey's life. Katey and her friend Eve meet Tinker Grey, a charming young banker, at a jazz club on New Year's Eve. Their blossoming three-way friendship takes an unexpected turn when Eve is injured in an accident while Tinker is driving. Tinker's apparent preference for Katey shifts to Eve as she recuperates. Months later, something happens to cause a change in their relationship, giving Tinker a more important role in Katey's life. Along the way, Katey's career is leaping forward: from reliable member of a law firm's secretarial pool to secretary at a staid publishing house to gofer and then editorial assistant at a trendy magazine. As Katey socializes with the well-to-do and the up-and-coming, she learns surprising secrets about the people in her life, including Tinker, and learns some things about herself, as well.

Katey is an outsider socializing with a privileged group of people (white, wealthy, and sophisticated), but she remains the grounded daughter of a working class Russian immigrant. She treasures her female friends. She neither hides nor flaunts her intelligence. She makes choices "with purpose and inspiration" although she comes to wonder about them in later years. Like most people who use their minds, she's filled with contradictions. Reading Walden, she values simplicity; she fears losing "the ability to take pleasure in the mundane -- in the cigarette on the stoop or the gingersnap in the bath." At the same time, she enjoys fine dining and dressing well: "For what was civilization but the intellect's ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance, and survival) into the ether of the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags, and haute cuisine)?"

To varying degrees, the characters in this novel make mistakes (who doesn't?). As one character notes, "at any given moment we're all seeking someone's forgiveness." But when should forgiveness be granted? When does love require forgiveness? Towles avoids simplistic answers to these difficult questions; this isn't a melodrama in which characters ride out tragedies to arrive at a neat and happy ending. This is a nuanced novel that remains cautiously optimistic about life, crafted by a generous writer who sees the good in people who have trouble seeing it in themselves, a writer who believes people have the capacity for change.

Rules of Civility offers up occasional treats for readers in the form of brief passages from the books the characters are reading, snippets from Hemingway and Thoreau and Woolf, an ongoing description of an Agatha Christie novel. When Towles introduces a book editor as a character in the novel's second act, it seems clear that Towles shares the editor's old-fashioned respect for "plot and substance and the judicious use of the semicolon." Towles captures the essence of minor characters with a few carefully chosen words. In the same precise and evocative style he recreates 1938 Manhattan: neighborhoods, restaurants, fashions, and music. He writes in a distinctive voice, refined but street-smart, tailored to the era in which the novel is set. His dialog is sharp and sassy. The ending has a satisfying symmetry. If I could find something critical to say about this novel, I would, but I can't. I recommend it highly.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my favorite authors, so I was immediately attracted to Amor Towles' "Rules of Civility." And the book did not disappoint. It's a glittering portrayal of a lost time in a magical city (New York) with a woman ... Katey Kontent ... taking the role of Nick Carraway. Towles has the dialog down pat and paints a vivid picture of New York during the pre-WW II years. His characters are flawed and searching, but entirely believable. And the book leaves you with a sense of the despair and the possibilities of the times, including what it was like for young women who were trying to invent careers and lives beyond the traditional bonds of marriage and children ... probably the first generation to do so. This was one ripping good read, one of those books that was difficult to put down and will stick with you for a long time. I might not quote it in the future, like I can do with "Gatsby," but I won't forget it, either.

"Rules of Civilty" written by Amor Towles is a "human interest" novel. It is the tale of the lives of several young adults during a year in 1938 when they were in their mid to late twenties.

The story is narrated by one of the characters, Katey Kontent, and is written in conversational style. The Novel begins with a prologue in 1966 about two candid pictures of one Tinker Grey, displayed at a photo showing in a museum display. The story then begins as a flashback to 1938 inspired by reminescence about the character.

The novel is written about the lives and associations of several "twenty something" young adults who meet as accidental acquaintances while enjoying the nightlife of New York City in 1938. The character engagement is replete with all the false loyalities, fierce frendships, desires and failings of young adults. The story pivots about the manipulation of Tinker Grey and his false persona that he conditions by adhering to the teachings of the novel's namesake "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavor in Company and Conversation" by George Washington.

I found the book to be only of my general liking. The author did not build any particular inspiration with me about any of the characters such as to leave me considerating any memorable aspects of the discourse or character development. I was initially piqued at the use of the extended hyphen to denote conversation. It felt like a finger continually poked in my eye. I did get over it, but it annoyed me for awhile. Otherwise the book is well written and the conversations natural. The descriptions of New York City and other locations were sufficiently well done in as much as the novel was about people not places.

In all, the book was not memorable for me. If I had put it down, I may not have ever finished it. There just wasn't anything that beckoned to spur me on with curiosity or otherwise. At times the conversation seemed boring.

Of my three classifications:(forgettable, pleasurable-not memorable, and memorable) I would rate it as pleasureable-not memorable.

I

Katey is a legal secretary living in New York City in 1938. 1930s New York is a giddy world of self re-invention, full of smoky jazz bars, elegant apartments and glamorous Gatsby-esque Long Island parties, a collision of working class immigrants and the moneyed elite. Katey and her best friend Eve share an affinity for gin martinis and partying until late. One New Year's Eve they meet an elegant, moneyed banker named Tinker Grey and he will play a key role in both their lives over the next year.

This is a very enjoyable book. It's receiving raves and while I enjoyed it, I did feel it's a little overhyped. There are idiosyncrasies and occasional inconsistencies in the writing style, which I found annoying, along with some of the characters' silly names (eg Katey Kontent, Carrie Clapboard, Happy Doran). I also felt that the conclusions were a little heavy-handed towards the end.

However, I loved the way the book well and truly pulled me into the glamorous world that was pre-WW2 New York and I really enjoyed Katey - she makes a witty, brave and intelligent heroine, even if she never truly opens up to the reader about her inner most feelings. There are shades of F Scott Fitzgerald but it also reminded me of The Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel in the way that it captures different aspects of the city at a specific place in time. A good read, though it falls short (for me) of being a great one.

While there was much I liked about this novel, I found myself liking it less as it progressed. While I did feel it represented the atmosphere of the time, there were some inconguous mistakes. Women (or men) in NYC did not wear jeans in 1938. In addition, there were a couple of slang terms used that I simply cannot recall now, but which I am sure were not used then. But the real problem for me was the disappointing story line. As another reviewer mentioned, there was no real character development (except for maybe Tinker) and it seemed like the author either got tired of the whole plot and just didn't know how to end it. Instead he wrote an epilogue that covered 30 years in 3 pages, which I call a "cheat ending." Strange book. First half or even two thirds was quite good; last half or third ran out of cohesive story. Simply for this reason, I cannot recommend.

Looking back in one's life can be triggered by a chance glance at a photograph. Visual reminders of a person or place can - if the subject of the picture was of importance - take you back in an instant to both painful and joyous times. Amor Towles first novel, "Rules of Civility" is the story of one such journey back for Katharine Kontent, who, while viewing a photo exhibit by Walker Evans in 1966, spots two pictures of a young man she had known and loved in the late 1930's. One picture in the exhibit was of the young man in prosperous circumstances and the other was of him in much poorer ones. As Kontent tells her husband about her life in those years, memories triggered by the pictures, she talks about the young man - Tinker Grey - and her best friend, Eve Ross, and the other friends and acquaintances she had then.

"Rules" is written in the first person, for the most part, and that voice is of Katherine Kontent.

Katharine was a social chameleon. Born from poor Russian immigrant parents on the Lower East Side, the reader doesn't learn til the end of the book her exact background. But Katey is a smart gal, a "comer" in terms of social advancement, and she wants very much to fit in with the Social Register crowd. She has a respected job in a law firm as a secretary and she manages to promote herself and her best friend and roommate, Eve Ross. A "meet cute" moment by Katey and Eve with Tinker in a bar launches them both into a wealthy group of 20-somethings. She meets - and melds - with many of the crowd and she tells their stories, along with hers. Most people weren't what they first seemed to Katey, but that's true of most of society. We all put on a "face" and tell a "story" of who or what we'd like to be, even if we're not quite that person.

Amor Towles writes about the same crowd the late author Louis Auchencloss wrote about. Auchencloss was a lawyer at a "white shoe firm", who wrote many novels and short stories, and Towles is an investment banker. This is his first novel. Both are very precise writers and pay attention to their subjects and their times. The only thing I think might have been lacking in Towles' book - might have been - was an examination of how easily Katherine Kontent, she of definitely murky parentage, was accepted so completely by the wealthy crowd she became involved with. That was the one part of the book that struck me as a might false, but I think it could have been a book in itself, if really taken out and looked at. Maybe Towles's next book...

"Rules of Civility" has received a lot of press and praise. As a novel, I think it deserves it.

"Rules of Civility" centers on the 1938 post-Gatsby and pre-"Mad Men" life of Katey Kontent, a single office worker who moves up the social ladder, yet continues to build a career for herself. This is no "Age of Innocence" -- the women in this novel go after what they want. At first, the characters seem straight out of Fitzgerald stock, lulling the reader into an expectation of predictability, but these people soon evolve into more complex and surprising individuals, struggling to overcome -- or just forget -- their pasts, to have some fun, and to meet their "needs" whle pursuing their "wants." The plot occurs within a frame story of an older Katey remembering her young adult years spent cavorting in the Manhattan fast lane, a reminiscence brought on almost 30 years later when she and her husband Val spot two constrasting photographs of an old friend in a 1966 Walker Evans' photographic exhibit. The voice of Katey Kontent rings true and is consistent throughout the book, and the dialog is spot on and entertaining. The novel contains literary references and even some worthy aphorisms such as this warning about reflecting upon "old times:" If you're not careful, they'll gut you like a fish." With memories, come the emotions associated with those memories, and sometimes, when those memories unexpectedly appear, those emotions linger in your gut for days.

If you like novels in which an era and a city are essential to plot and characterization, you will enjoy the 1930's New York backdrop of "Rules of Civility." If you enjoy meaningful extended metaphors, pay attention to the rules of honeymoon bridge. As an added bonus, in the reading of this book, I learned that George Washingon kept a list of "Rules of Civility" - a guide for character and appropriate behavior. The list is interesting in itself, but is also essential to a central character's motoivations and flaws. The novel offers much to think about while maintaining its entertainment value. One last note: The preface and the epilogue are part of the story, so don't skip them!

The Rules of Civility is a stylish and penetrating novel. It is more a portrait of a fascinating time and place--New York in 1938--than it is about the various characters. In this way, it is a lot like a similar portrait of Monaco: A Novel in 1937. This is not to say that the characters are at all flat or simplistic. They are full of introspection and deep in the best sense. Rather, I found that our heroine's central goals, which revolved around social climbing, seemed vague and thus open to interpretation. The result is that the story becomes one of its setting and the bigger ideas that are presented in the mix of people and social organizations.

This reader found it to be a wonderful approach, and one that presents a very penetrating story. It is through these means that the author is able to really delve into the questions still relevant today--what is civility, what is propriety, what is independence and self-determination? In jumping in these questions, the book doesn't fall into the kind of moralism seen in Monaco. The author let the reader decide the answers.

Readers will also enjoy the various homages that the author brings out--from the title allusion (George Washington) to Walden and Hemmingway. Altogether, these help to paint a portrait of the time and place, and immerse in it. I adore the style of this work, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story, and especially those who want a wonderful survey of civility. This book offers those readers a place of elevated civility if only by asking what it is and then exploring openly.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

They say you can't judge a book by its cover. It's true. However, the cover is what immediately drew me in when I got this book. Set in New York City circa 1938, RULES OF CIVILITY follows the lives of three friends--Katey, Eve and Tinker. When the three meet by chance on New Year's Eve, a chain of events is set into motion that will change all of their lives. The story follows the three friends throughout the year of 1938. Tinker lives within the world of the wealthy while Katey and Eve are two career girls trying to scrape by in the Big City. As Katey and Eve are drawn into Tinker's world, they must confront truths about themselves and what they believe. Katey is the narrator of the story and she is a truly interesting and compelling character. She gets all the snappy dialogue and is the one character who always seems to be true to herself. The novel's title comes from a work by a teenaged George Washington who attempted to set out a list of rules for navigating for polite society. Each character in the book attempts to define his/her own rules and figure out exactly who they want to be in this rarefied NYC world.

As I was reading this book, I was reminded a great deal of THE GREAT GATSBY. I think similar issues are at play and Katey acts as a sort of Nick Carraway character although she is more engaged and affected by the action. Towles' doesn't fall into the trap of making strict black and white moral judgements about the different characters. There are both good and bad, moral and immoral characters in all stratas of New York society. The characters are all extremely well-drawn and interesting and Towles' keeps you guessing about their motivations and their choices. Ultimately, this is not just a social commentary about society in a certain place and time. It is also a look at how spontaneous choices can affect and change our lives forever. This book is a wonderfully well-written freshman effort by Towles and definitely left me wanting more.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended. Well-written and compelling. Interesting characters and an intriguing look into New York society during the late 1930's. One of the best books I have read this year.