'Rules of Civility' by Amor Towles
'Rules of Civility' by Amor Towles

The good

  • An interesting look at life in New York in the 1930s.

  • Some interesting and mostly unpredictable characters.

  • Starts strong. The character introductions and the first few “dates” the girls go on pull you in.

The not so good

  • After a strong start, the plot starts to meander around somewhat aimlessly. I never particularly looked forward to picking the book up, as I could never remember why I should care. What was at stake? What are we working towards?

  • Although I found the characters interesting, I couldn’t relate to any of them. I found the way they acted to be fake and off-putting. I suppose it’s a story that mostly focuses on a rich, ritzy, class-based society, and maybe you’re supposed to find them off-putting, but it didn’t make for fun reading.

  • I found the ending weird and not entirely satisfying; almost as if the book sputtered and ran out of steam.

Rating: 3.5 stars