Théo d'Or ’s Reviews > A Gentleman in Moscow > Status Update
Théo d'Or
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The Count : " Are you quite certain you're not a Bolshevik ? "
Nina : " I'm nine ".
Innocence is the last place where the world is still whole.
— Dec 10, 2025 06:02AM
Nina : " I'm nine ".
Innocence is the last place where the world is still whole.
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Théo d'Or ’s Previous Updates
Théo d'Or
is 82% done
I'm beginning to grasp the towlesian secret. In real life, we don't always understand things as they happen. We look back later, and realize why something mattered, we see how small choices led to big changes.
Towles captures that feeling perfectly.
— 5 hours, 56 min ago
Towles captures that feeling perfectly.
Théo d'Or
is 69% done
Ah, Sofia - about playing Rachmaninov, at Palais Garnier ....Is she ready ? The Count would say - readiness is not a matter of certainty. It is a matter of courage.. But what if she falters ? Then, the Count would say " then falter with grace. " A gentleman will always have the right answer..
— Jan 04, 2026 10:16PM
Théo d'Or
is on page 269 of 495
Chapter 22.
In which Sofia reminds Count Rostov that children don't need much to be happy. Just a song, a story. ... Somewhere along the way , he forgot that. Or he didn't forget, just got busy surviving. So sad...we all try to survive, waking up to alarms, not sunrises. We scroll before we breathe... Living is different. Children know this instinctively. They don't need a reason to be happy. Let's be kids
— Jan 03, 2026 01:23AM
In which Sofia reminds Count Rostov that children don't need much to be happy. Just a song, a story. ... Somewhere along the way , he forgot that. Or he didn't forget, just got busy surviving. So sad...we all try to survive, waking up to alarms, not sunrises. We scroll before we breathe... Living is different. Children know this instinctively. They don't need a reason to be happy. Let's be kids
Théo d'Or
is 62% done
I still wonder how anyone could rate this book negatively. Then again , it's certainly easier to play with the " like " button, than to try to delve into something your level doesn't allow you to grasp.. In a world where scrolling has replaced thinking, maybe is no surprise that reflection isn't actually just out of fashion, but it's simply beyond the cognitive resource of the average scroll-conditioned mind.
— Dec 29, 2025 11:56PM
Théo d'Or
is 54% done
" By their very nature, human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory, that they deserve not only our consideration, but our reconsideration ".
So true. Just experienced that.
— Dec 24, 2025 01:20AM
So true. Just experienced that.
Théo d'Or
is 42% done
" There is a difference between being resigned to a situation, and reconciled to it. "
Indeed. Resignation is the truth you hate. Reconciliation is the lie you frame. Resignation is the moment you see the world clearly. Reconciliation is the moment you decide clarity is too expensive.
— Dec 18, 2025 10:17PM
Indeed. Resignation is the truth you hate. Reconciliation is the lie you frame. Resignation is the moment you see the world clearly. Reconciliation is the moment you decide clarity is too expensive.
Théo d'Or
is 38% done
In a world imagined by Amor Towles, serial-likers would likely be sent to the Metropol not for dissent, but for excessive digital enthusiasm - condemned to press the like button on blank pages, under the watchful eye of a Bolshevik refined in his own way, with literary taste and a deep aversion to emojis. And all of it, of course, set to the wistful soundtrack of As Like Goes Bye.
— Dec 12, 2025 06:01AM
Théo d'Or
is 26% done
Can a man honor a vanished world without becoming a stranger to the one that remains ?
— Dec 08, 2025 10:53AM
Théo d'Or
is 12% done
" To what end had the Divine created the stars in heaven to fill a man with feelings of inspiration one day, and insignificance the next ? "
There's quite a stoicism in this reflection, which also touches on theodicy - ( ugh.... involuntary connection.. ) - the question of divine intention. If the Divine created such beauty, why burden in it the seeds of existential turmoil ?
— Dec 01, 2025 10:23PM
There's quite a stoicism in this reflection, which also touches on theodicy - ( ugh.... involuntary connection.. ) - the question of divine intention. If the Divine created such beauty, why burden in it the seeds of existential turmoil ?
Théo d'Or
is 9% done
" If a man does not master his circumstances, then he is bound to be mastered by them. "
Count Rostov and Kafka's Mr. K - two men seized by fate - one tames it, the other - lost in it.
— Nov 28, 2025 09:46PM
Count Rostov and Kafka's Mr. K - two men seized by fate - one tames it, the other - lost in it.
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I have to admit, the scene moved me deeply too. Nothing is more pure than pure innocence. It is the essence of childhood, and it reminds me of all the questions I used to ask my grandfather...He was so patient..He used to listen my questions as if each one mattered, and, somehow, with him, they always did.. I think that's what innocence gives us, not just questions, but the courage to believe they deserve answers....
Bonjour, Théo How did I guess you’d love this scene? A gentleman even with a little girl. Definitely worth reading again and again.
Merci.
Yes, indeed. A true gentleman is recognized, above all - by how he make you feel - important, and seen, as I wrote in the other update on Towles's book. That's is a real dictionary of what means to be a gentleman. It is worth reading, again and again, realizing that that world doesn't vanished, and is the most beautiful world.
I watched Fargo, last night. An ordinary crime thriller. The story was almost absurd. But what struck me, and kept me until the final - was how the actors made it something else entirely. Brilliant interpretations, each character. This interpretation changed all.
And I was thinking of Towles' book. Not because the stories are similar, not at all. But because Towles does something just as rare. He takes à premise that could feel limited - à man under house arrest, in a hotel - and turns it into a vast, complex world. In both works, the genius lies not in the plot, but in the interpretation. And that's the most radical kind of freedom - to turn a narrow fate into a wide life, simply by the way you inhabit it.
Towles does a remarkable job: the story flows effortlessly, the writing is beautifully simple—an impressive feat. He writes with strength and elegance, with taste and refinement, like a true master of style.Merci, Théo. Bonne lecture!
.... and all of these, together, constitutes the ideal recommendation.Thank you, Maria !
Merci, Théo!