A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles

Let us concede that the early thirties in Russia were unkind.

Structure As you may have noted, A Gentleman in Moscow has a somewhat unusual structure. From the day of the Count’s house arrest, the chapters advance by a doubling principal: describing the events that occur one day later, then two days later, five days later, ten days, three weeks, six weeks, three months, six months, one year, two years, four years, eight years, and sixteen years to the day after his arrest. At this midpoint which occurs in 1938, a halving principal is initiated with the narrative leaping to eight years ahead, then four years, two years, one year, six months, three months, six weeks, three weeks, ten days, five days, two days, one day until the book’s conclusion. While somewhat unusual, I believe this accordion structure suits the story well, as readers get a very granular description of the early days of confinement; then they get to leap across time through eras defined by career, parenthood, and changes in the political landscape; and finally, readers get a reversion to urgent granularity as they approach the denouement. As an aside, I think this is very true to life, in that we remember so many events of a single year in our early adulthood, but then suddenly remember an entire decade as a phase of our career or of our lives as parents.