I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! This was a great discussion and we used our entire allotted time to discuss it. }, she didn’t refuse the shopping trips, she helped herself to the diamond earrings she found in the nightstand (which must have been Anne’s, originally). Great writing, succinct and I thought beautiful (about Mason Tate’s sexuality: ‘he made it clear that his affinities lay in another hemisphere…’ – clever writing). I usually have a bias against female protagonists written by male authors, but I thought Towles did a fantastic job with Katey. But the part of me that always falls head over heels for love felt a little cheated. YES. Had I not been as rushed, I may have enjoyed it more and caught more nuances. And I see why Jade wanted a different ending – but I was relieved at how appropriate the end was – the author didn’t try to force a “happy” ending and the tone was spot on. Or at least that the route to that happiness may not be what we hoped or expected, but we end up with a good life nevertheless. A lot of us were put off by the scene where Anne hit on Katey. The longer the subway ride, less persona. To me it just seemed like it would build to a crescendo and then sort of plateau. (Nor March’s book to tell the truth, I must be living under a rock cuz I’d never even heard of it). �Old Testament long. I agree. I think Katey was completely relatable. I love everyone’s insights here. I may pick it up and do a reread. I saved a lot of quotes/bits I loved from this book, here were a few: “Most people have more needs than wants. as Anne Grandyn. I really disliked that scene. Don’t we all wish we had a Wallace in our lives? However, when I step back and access the major plot points of the book, the thing is SO unrealistic, that I can’t take it very seriously. October 19, 2012 • Story selection and rights acquired; idea being crafted into usable script; financing and casting attachments sought; aiming for 'greenlight'. Interesting. I would say that nicknames were very much a part of that era as well. The film's writer Scott Neustadter last wrote The New Mutants and Where'd You Go Bernadette?. Helena pictured Carey Grant. I was glad that he found something that he liked in the end. I thought she knew there was/had been another woman (where the earrings came from), but not that he was a “kept man”. When I finished Rules of Civility I was blown away by the story and the characters. And in the end, it blew up in everyone’s face! In the end, she even discarded Katey, after getting hauled out of Jail and sleeping it off in her apartment! Maybe we’ll get some answers. The first was when she was cruel to Charlotte, the other secretary on the train, and the other (which bothered me most) was when she used Dickey. She didn’t WANT to end up in the car wreck, but she certainly didn’t refuse the living arrangement at the Belvedere {I understand she didn’t want to depend on her father anymore….but is depending on your boyfriend-ish-person any better? Katey, and got very immersed after the accident — it was a little slow beforehand. Sometimes I would actually read them over twice and marvel at how awful they were. She would have been a sexual toy, just like Tinker and no amount of Stuart Davis was worth it. There were loads of literary references dropped into the book but it never seemed forced or snobbish. I kept thinking that Hank, the starving artist, was the fraud as I assumed he had a trust fund — no way would I have guessed that Tinker would be the fake. Altogether the book was pretty good, but not one I would recommend to a friend or one I would pick up again. “Katy Kontent” drove me nuts too, but I tried to de-emphasis that because I became such a fan of Amor Towles’ writing. I was really glad to be exposed to it, though. I think it makes a lot of sense. It’s so preposterous that I don’t for a minute believe anyone or anything should be taken seriously. (from Dicky, a character I loved): “If only we fell in love with people who were perfect for us, he said, then there wouldn’t be so much fuss about love in the first place.”, Does anyone mind playing a cast the movie roles game? Maybe it’s just because I usually read more angst-driven material? The day is here for our Rules of Civility discussion! You’ve carried it through the turnstile and past the sliding doors, so that your fellow passengers can tell who you are – cocky or cautious, amorous or indifferent, loaded or on the dole. I read this book quickly and didn’t want it to end. Totally agree the language was so poetic. Thanks for hosting Jules! It was a fun, fast read, but not sure I’d recommend it. As much as anything, her challenge is to not lose herself in the romance in Gotham’s high society. But now we know (and assume Eve figured it out) marrying Tinker wasn’t really socially climbing, because Tinker’s money was Anne’s. I wasn’t crazy about the book. I enjoyed getting to know Katey. It’s interesting, because in publisher descriptions of the book they call it a story of a social climber. (forgive me for forgetting names-the book went back to the library) Wallace had a man of privileges’ problems. Didn’t sound Russian to me! His death really upset me (not that we didn’t see it coming). One of our readers speculated that Eve might have found out about the relationship between Tinker and Anne. I have nothing in common with a person like that, so I couldn’t relate to her at all! I certainly appreciated her naivete about Tucker – his status and striving mirroring her own to some degree – and the assumptions she made. Ann had to know that he was traveling with Eve so why would she allow it? Many of us felt Katey was far too modern to be believable in the 1930s. I do think it would make a good movie– there’s so much potential for dazzling visuals that might help give the story some of the sparkle it lacks (in my opinion). 239): (I just loved this scene) Kept waiting for the story of how she chose it to be revealed, and though it never was, I still wonder if that was the author’s intent.