Table for Two: Fictions - Amor Towles

Table for Two: Fictions, the latest book from the wonderful Amor Towles, is divided into two parts, New York and Los Angeles. The New York section consists of six short stories, five of which are definitely NYC stories. The sixth, which also happens to be the first in the book, is mostly set in Russia in 1917 as the country convulses into a communist state. The Los Angeles section is actually a novella, featuring Eve Ross from The Rules of Civility, which I haven't yet read. That fact didn't stand in the way of my enjoying the LA story immensely.

In fact, I enjoyed every single one of the fictions. Towles is just such a remarkable writer--not only is his prose elegant, but he writes such interesting stories. How he can know so much about the music world, the art world, the inner workings of Hollywood in 1939, and all the other arcane stuff that give such meat to his stories never fails to amaze me.

The first story, "The Line," is the one mostly set in Russia, and the premise actually made me laugh out loud. I loved how Towles was able to use the setting to tell a wonderful story about what motivates people, regardless of the political ideology under which they are living.

All of the short stories do a fine job of providing a wonderful ironic twist to complete the story, which is a hallmark of great short stories.

The weakest story was "The Bootlegger" because the main character was unbelievably clueless and the resolution was fairly predictable. Not bad, but not up to the standard of the rest of the stories.

After reading "The Didomenico Fragment," which is the last of the New York stories, I want to return to NYC and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and see the Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio. In the story, the protagonist, a former art dealer with Sotheby's, takes a young relative to the Met and I fell in love with his description of this studiolo.

The walls of the studiolo are inlaid wood, which creates an illusion of 3D objects.

The "Eve in Hollywood" novella that comprises the Los Angeles section of the book was so good, and I got completely caught up in the setting (1930s Hollywood), and the characters, from a fading matinee idol, to a retired cop, to a plucky bellboy who is an aspiring stunt man, to Eve's best friend, Olivia de Havilland, who happens to be starring in Gone With the Wind at the time. Eve is a larger-than-life character, the type that myths are built around. Beautiful but scarred, self-assured and fierce. I can see why Towles wanted to write more of her story. I can see a whole series of books based on Eve.

I also loved Eve's list of 20 things to do in Los Angeles. Now, I want to go to LA and do them! Although that was a list from 1939. I wonder how many things on the list are still a thing?

And this is yet one more chunkster for the Big Book Summer Challenge 2024, clocking in at 464 pages. It is turning out to be a great summer for big books. That's what retiring will do for your reading life!