Gentleman in Moscow

[Anonymous]

Is anyone watching this with Ewan McGregor? I read the book and was so disappointed by the casting even though I think he's a terrific actor. He is nothing like a Russian count. And there was so much subtlety and nuance in the novel that is completely gone. It's a limited series so they had the space to do so much more, as the Talented Mr Riply has proven.
Amor Towles must have done an exhaustive amount of research to get almost every detail just right in the book.

As for the Metropol itself, they got the set so completely wrong! It's not a beautiful hotel, but it isn't garish and claustrophobic feeling. Maybe they wanted to give the audience a sense of being confined and wanting to get out?

Now that I've vented, I'm going to keep watching because I loved the book and can't help myself.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I also read and loved the book and am greatly enjoying the series.

[Anonymous]

I'm from the former USSR and I couldn't get through the book, it felt like it was written by someone who knows nothing about Russian culture. It just wasn't believable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the former USSR and I couldn't get through the book, it felt like it was written by someone who knows nothing about Russian culture. It just wasn't believable.

I spent 20 years staying in that hotel, and think the author got it all exhaustively right.

[Anonymous]

I can understand why they made a set that met the demands of production, the script, blocking, etc.

But they made many other accommodations that ring false. The most obvious is name usage. Why is everyone calling the count's friend Mishka regardless of how well they know him and in what context? Most would have addressed him with his first name and patronymic or comrade. Others according to familiarity and affection would have said Mikhail, then Misha, and then the diminutive Mishka.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the former USSR and I couldn't get through the book, it felt like it was written by someone who knows nothing about Russian culture. It just wasn't believable.

I spent 20 years staying in that hotel, and think the author got it all exhaustively right.

NP, also from the FSU. Agree with the first poster. Maybe the author got the details of the hotel right, but the main premise of the book is entirely unbelievable. There is absolutely no way an aristocrat like that wouldn’t have been executed. Or at minimum sent to a labor camp (which amounted to the same thing, only prolonged). The Bolsheviks were pretty thorough, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Well, for sure, the premise is suspect. But PP was referring to Russian culture of a certain class and time. I’m listening to the book again on audiotape. The detail about the food, music, looks of interest, habits, and manners all seems spot on.

[Anonymous]

The count is the superfluous man of Russian literature, who begins to find meaning in his life as he finds some useful purpose.

[Anonymous]

I like it.