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Closing Time
Five connected essays by Amor Towles
- GenresNonfiction
5 pages, Unknown Binding
Published July 1, 2011
365 people want to read
About the author
Amor Towles
33 books28.4k followersBorn and raised in the Boston area, Amor Towles graduated from Yale College and received an MA in English from Stanford University. Having worked as an investment professional in Manhattan for over twenty years, he now devotes himself fulltime to writing. His first novel, Rules of Civility, published in 2011, was a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback and was ranked by the Wall Street Journal as one of the best books of 2011. The book was optioned by Lionsgate to be made into a feature film and its French translation received the 2012 Prix Fitzgerald. His second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, published in 2016, was also a New York Times bestseller and was ranked as one of the best books of 2016 by the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the St. Louis Dispatch, and NPR. Both novels have been translated into over fifteen languages.
Mr. Towles, who lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children, is an ardent fan of early 20th century painting, 1950’s jazz, 1970’s cop shows, rock & roll on vinyl, obsolete accessories, manifestoes, breakfast pastries, pasta, liquor, snow-days, Tuscany, Provence, Disneyland, Hollywood, the cast of Casablanca, 007, Captain Kirk, Bob Dylan (early, mid, and late phases), the wee hours, card games, cafés, and the cookies made by both of his grandmothers.
Mr. Towles, who lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children, is an ardent fan of early 20th century painting, 1950’s jazz, 1970’s cop shows, rock & roll on vinyl, obsolete accessories, manifestoes, breakfast pastries, pasta, liquor, snow-days, Tuscany, Provence, Disneyland, Hollywood, the cast of Casablanca, 007, Captain Kirk, Bob Dylan (early, mid, and late phases), the wee hours, card games, cafés, and the cookies made by both of his grandmothers.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 25, 2020
Closing time refers to the nether hour when bars begin to close and the lone individual feels lonelier than ever but also most ready to engage a bartender or a chance stranger to 'talk away' the clutter in his soul. The settings are a couple of American bars, a Spanish café, and a bar in Morocco. The common theme that runs through five sets of reflection in Closing Time is alienation.
The first episode is the story of a song, ‘One for My Baby,' sung by Frank Sinatra, a ditty emblematic of his own struggles, solitude, and brokenness. Towles offers a glimpse into why Sinatra was able to make this song his own and why it resonated sympathetically with his listeners.
The second episode is drawn from Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, a story about an old man asking for one brandy too many after closing hours and was refused service by a young waiter eager to go home to his family. Towles reflected on Hemingway’s intuitive grasp of why some folks are more willing to keep the lights burning a little longer for others who wrestle with darkness. I found Towles’ perceptions very moving.
The third episode is taken from a scene in Rick’s Café in the 1942 movie, Casablanca. Again, it is closing time. Rick, the café owner, who has had his hands full all night managing rowdy patrons, is finally left alone to confront his own demons. We all have need of closing time when we can be ourselves.
The fourth episode focuses on Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger’s A Catcher in the Rye. Holden buys two rounds of drinks for a group of female tourists before the bar closes to avoid being left alone. Towles offers insight into why this book continues to speak to American youth across the years.
The last episode takes inspiration from Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up in Blue. In it, the narrator has a chance reunion after closing hours with his lady love. It is a relationship doomed to repeated failure, and yet in the lonely hours of closing time, he always hopes to see her again.
In Closing Time, Towles has created a vivid portrait of five iconic figures that over five decades defined American cool and the different ways in which the persona of ‘coolness’ appeals to men and women. In his portrayal of closing hours in a nightclub bar or café, Towles’ fans will recognize the familiar atmospheric and evocative prose that lent A Gentleman in Moscow its magical allure. Towles' perspicacity in revealing the human condition is remarkable.
Thank you, Cheri, for putting another piece of Towles’ writing on my radar. It can be read here:
http://www.amortowles.com/closing-time/
The first episode is the story of a song, ‘One for My Baby,' sung by Frank Sinatra, a ditty emblematic of his own struggles, solitude, and brokenness. Towles offers a glimpse into why Sinatra was able to make this song his own and why it resonated sympathetically with his listeners.
The second episode is drawn from Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, a story about an old man asking for one brandy too many after closing hours and was refused service by a young waiter eager to go home to his family. Towles reflected on Hemingway’s intuitive grasp of why some folks are more willing to keep the lights burning a little longer for others who wrestle with darkness. I found Towles’ perceptions very moving.
The third episode is taken from a scene in Rick’s Café in the 1942 movie, Casablanca. Again, it is closing time. Rick, the café owner, who has had his hands full all night managing rowdy patrons, is finally left alone to confront his own demons. We all have need of closing time when we can be ourselves.
The fourth episode focuses on Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger’s A Catcher in the Rye. Holden buys two rounds of drinks for a group of female tourists before the bar closes to avoid being left alone. Towles offers insight into why this book continues to speak to American youth across the years.
The last episode takes inspiration from Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up in Blue. In it, the narrator has a chance reunion after closing hours with his lady love. It is a relationship doomed to repeated failure, and yet in the lonely hours of closing time, he always hopes to see her again.
In Closing Time, Towles has created a vivid portrait of five iconic figures that over five decades defined American cool and the different ways in which the persona of ‘coolness’ appeals to men and women. In his portrayal of closing hours in a nightclub bar or café, Towles’ fans will recognize the familiar atmospheric and evocative prose that lent A Gentleman in Moscow its magical allure. Towles' perspicacity in revealing the human condition is remarkable.
Thank you, Cheri, for putting another piece of Towles’ writing on my radar. It can be read here:
http://www.amortowles.com/closing-time/
July 1, 2020
Brief essays on a common theme in a familiar song, a short story I didn’t know, a scene in a classic film, a classic novel, a Bob Dylan tune . Astute observations on the human condition by a master novelist. Thanks to Cheri for finding these and some of his short stories helping to hold us over until his next novel. Frank Sinatra will be singing in my head all day and I’ll be looking for that Hemingway story.
http://www.amortowles.com/closing-time/
http://www.amortowles.com/closing-time/
June 20, 2020
These are, technically, five separate essays which represent five seminal Closing Time images , but are set in different eras.
The first of these, set in the 1920s-30s, is based on Hemingway; the second, the 1930s-40s, on Bogart; the 1940s-50s, on Sinatra; the 1950s-60s on Holden Caulfield, and the last story, set in the 1960s+ on Dylan.
Why these men? Based on Amor Towles’ view that each man, for each era, serve as an exemplar of cool in his day. Men comfortable with isolation, with some of these needing it, while others just seem to find comfort in it. Men who don’t need the blessings or approval of others, and yet who are not perfect, but moody, dark and dispirited with a poetic sensibility that is rugged enough to be admired by men, but fragile and heartfelt enough to be magnetic for women.
These essays, along with the other short essays of Towles that I have read have shown yet another side of him. A nostalgic look at the past, but with a slightly more current examination.
Closing Time: http://www.amortowles.com/closing-time/
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews