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[quote=Anonymous]Warning - mild spoilers ahead.

I've now read all 3 of Towles' novels, and since they come up a lot on this forum I thought I'd write up some mini-reviews.  Interested to hear others' thoughts as well!

Overall, I liked all 3 books.  I think one of Towles' greatest strenghts as a writer is his ability to create very memorable settings.  I could critique some of his choices involving characterizations and plot, but the settings are magnificent.

[u]Rules of Civility[/u]:  Though this was Towles' first novel, I ended up reading it last.  This book is largely set in late 1930s New York City, and (per my overview remark) I think it does a great job of immersing the reader in this milieu.  The main character moves back and forth among a variety of social circles, from the upper crust to the working class.  I really enjoyed this character - Katey Kontent - though I was ultimately dissatisfied with what was arguably the other main character (Tinker).  One minute he's a shameless social striver, and the next he's an ascetic intellectual.  He's definitely supposed to be somewhat mysterious and complex, but I wasn't really convinced by his story arc.  I also thought some plot points felt tacked on (What was the point of including the Jewish co-worker Charlotte? Why was a portion of the book a miniature 1930s version of [u]The Devil Wears Prada[/u]?).  I was also a bit miffed at the end of the book - Katey is built up to be a self-made woman, which is the main thing that makes her interesting, and then it's revealed that she happened to marry a scion of an uber-wealthy family.  That said, I liked this book enough that I would consider re-reading it at some point.

[u]A Gentleman in Moscow[/u]:  This was my favorite of the three.  I enjoyed the characters, plot, and above all the setting.  Given that the main character is sentenced to a version of house arrest in a fancy hotel, the setting could have been a limiting aspect to the book.  However, it was my favorite part.  I felt like I could actually envision all the different parts of the Metropol, and get a sense of what it would be like to stay there.  I enjoyed the main character quite a bit, as well as the secondary characters.  My one critique is that his adopted daughter was a bit too good to be true, but that wasn't a huge stumbling block for me.  The plot kept me engaged and I found the ending fairly satisfying.  I definitely plan to re-read this book.

[u]The Lincoln Highway[/u]:  I may rank this one 3/3, though I still liked it.  I found the 'main' characters (Emmett and Billy) to be kind of insufferable.  They are so good, pure and noble it made them uninteresting.  And Billy was a kind of Precocious Child trope that I find very unrealisted and uninteresting.  Duchess and Wooly made the book a lot more worthwhile by adding some complexity.  I found aspects of the plot to be tacked on (Ulysses and the naughty pastor).  I also found the ending to be VERY abrupt and not satisfying.  Again, the settings were amazingly done in this book.  Specifically, the Adirondacks "cabin", which I was very pleased to encounter in [u]Rules of Civility[/u] as well.  I am not sure whether I would re-read this book.  If I do, I probably would skim quite a few sections and hone in on the characters and scenes I found more interesting.
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