“Slurring is the cursive of speech…”
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles was the December book club choice. Set in 1938, this story follows Katie Kontent (pronounced content as in happy) as a young, single, working girl trying to find her way in NY city. Starting out in a boarding house, as a typist, and with no beau, this lavish tale marks her journey to having her own apartment, as an assistant/contributor to Conde Nast, and with several circles of interesting friends. She makes smart decisions along her route, entangling her heart in many places.
The descriptive prose and character studies were captivating. Many in the book club didn’t like it, saying they would skip whole chunks of text because it was boring. I didn’t have such a response, since it felt like I was bathing in the words as they washed over me.
At one point, the 3 main characters played a question game:
- What were you afraid of when you were a kid?
- What did you always want that your parents never gave you?
- If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?
- If you could relive one year in your life, which would it be?
Although there was a 16 year time gap from the Great Gatsby, Rules of Civility shared some of the imagery and flavor of Fitzgerald’s tale.
