Rules of Civility: A Novel; Amor Towles; 2011

Rules of Civility, turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn.‎

I thoroughly enjoyed the body of Rules of Civility, which takes its name from Washington's writing exercise.  I was thoroughly bored by the "Preface"; if a friend hadn't recommended the book, I might have put it down, but fortunately I started Chapter 1, and there the writing suddenly takes off, like stepping from the black-and-white Kansas of Katey's middle age to the Oz of her youth -- the problem was no "Over the Rainbow" to keep you going until you get to Oz.  

By the time I finished the "Epilogue", I disliked the "Preface" somewhat less, but I still feel that Towles is a little too cute about Val's identity**, it makes Tinker appear more important than I think he actually is***, and bookending the main story as a reminiscence is ultimately a tiresome device in the otherwise snappy story of Katherine Kontent in the late 30's New York.


** I kept waiting for Val to appear during the book, and minor spoilers, he does!  Even though I was waiting for it, I missed his name on the first time through, and was annoyed by the time I got to the end and positively identified him.  By contrast, I did like how on page 21 of the hardcover, we are given the following:

Tinker answered relying on the ellipses of the elite: He was from Massachussetts; he went to college in Providence; and he worked for a small firm on Wall Street -- that is, he was born in the Back Bay, attended Brown, and now worked at the bank that his grandfather founded.  Usually, this sort of deflection was so transparently disingenuous it was irksome, but with Tinker it was as if he was genuinely afraid that the shadow of an Ivy League degree might spoil the fun.

As someone who identifies with Nikki Muller's plight, I initially found this passage irksome, but Towles later turns these words around to good effect.

*** though, given Towles' proclivity for misdirection, perhaps we're supposed to get the idea that the novel is about Tinker and Katey, when really it's about Katey.  I'll have to think about that.

Note: posted 10/25/13; backdated to 10/9/13 when I finished the novel