Rules of Civility in Reading with Style

Aug 25, 2019 Connie G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction, new-york

"To have even one year when you're presented with choices that can alter your circumstances, your character, your course--that's by the grace of God alone. And it shouldn't come without a price."

Katey Kontent looks back at 1938 as the defining year of her life. She and her roommate, Eve, met Tinker Grey as they celebrated New Year's Eve in a Greenwich Village jazz bar. This was their introduction to New York high society, a distance from the Russian immigrant roots of Katey's family and Eve's Mi "To have even one year when you're presented with choices that can alter your circumstances, your character, your course--that's by the grace of God alone. And it shouldn't come without a price."

Katey Kontent looks back at 1938 as the defining year of her life. She and her roommate, Eve, met Tinker Grey as they celebrated New Year's Eve in a Greenwich Village jazz bar. This was their introduction to New York high society, a distance from the Russian immigrant roots of Katey's family and Eve's Midwestern childhood. From a 1966 point of view, Katey thought about the important people who had influenced the choices in her personal life and her career that she had made when she was 25. The biggest influence, Tinker Grey, was special. His brother explained to Katey, "What he's got they can't teach in schools. They can squash it, maybe, but they sure can't teach it. . . . Wonder."

Manhattan in 1938 acts like a character in the story. The Great Depression would soon be ending. Prohibition had already ended in 1933. New York City was home to exciting clubs, bars, and restaurants. The young people in the upper echelons of society were seeking fun, friends, and love. But the book also cuts away to Katey's cramped apartment, Tinker's impoverished artist brother, the dockworkers unloading the boats, and the downtrodden hoping to win a buck at the horse track as a contrast in circumstances. Katey sometimes needed to have some quiet time in this city that never sleeps, and she would disappear for a few minutes into a church just to think and keep grounded. Katey was also a reader, and literary references ran through the book showing life as a journey.

I loved the smart, humorous dialogue in the book. With lots of details from the 1930s, we're immersed in the lives of the young rich and famous who have attended the right schools, know the right people, have large trusts funds, and spend Daddy's money freely. I kept thinking about Gatsby with the conspicuous consumption, and the superficial games people play. However, Katey also has a brilliant, creative mind so she's going to make choices using her own rules--she moves from a secretarial position to working at an upscale magazine.

The title of the engaging book comes from young George Washington's "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation", a book owned by Tinker Grey. The last of the 110 rules is probably the most important: "Labour to keep alive in your breast that Little Spark of Celestial Fire Called Conscience." ...more

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Nov 06, 2017 Nancy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017-books, beautiful-writing

This book is a breath of fresh air and I absolutely loved it! It is not a keep you on the edge of your seat kind of read, rather it is a quiet, beautifully told story of Katey Kontent and her friends in New York City during the 1930s. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Just brilliant!

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Feb 15, 2020 Maia rated it really liked it

Shelves: 3-5, zeta, 2020

I never rate trashy novels 4, but this was perfect. Not just slick good writing, but some truths inside there too. A must-read if you're a teenager. Slightly too endebted to another book, but perfect of it's kind - resembles the 'new yorker' the protagonist works for. ...more

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