(7) Skipping over WWII??

[Jen]

I found it very odd that the novel skipped right over WWII. Maybe to show his world no longer revolved around the world events but rather just the events in the hotel ?

[Sharon]

I'm not sure how much WWII affected day to day life in Moscow. Particularly, as you pointed out, for someone living in a hotel. There was rationing and food shortages, but the Count wasn't buying a lot of things and the hotel had to obtain the food. It would have been different if he had been in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) which was under siege.