Table for Two by Amor Towles

Six Short Stories + One Novella

Please note that I am now an Affiliate Marketer on Amazon. This means my book reviews will include a link to the book on Amazon. If you purchase the book using my link, I will earn a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you. More details here. Thank you for supporting my Book Blog in this manner.

*****

I don’t usually like short stories, but I really liked this book. The first half is composed of six short stories all set in part or in whole in New York City. The second part is a novella set in Los Angeles. Here is a smidge about each…

The short stories:

The Line – This story starts in a town 100 miles from Moscow, moves to Moscow in 1918, and ultimately to New York City.  It stars a man – Pushkin – who has a unique capability to stand in line and to make friends in the process. This comes in very handy in Moscow at that time thanks to the rationing of essentials creating long lines for citizens to stand in daily. But what the reader learns in line with Pushkin is that if a person is intent to be happy, he can be happy anywhere!

The Ballad of Timothy Touchett – The story of a wanna-be writer who has had the “misfortune” of having lived a fortunate life. “Timothy’s parents hadn’t even bothered to succumb to alcoholism or file for divorce.” Since Timothy feels he needs to have suffered in order to write, Amor Towles is sure to give him a problem! (The late author, Paul Auster, plays a part in this story, which is terrific for all of us who love Auster’s work.)

Hasta Luego – I think this was my favorite story. It is about two men who meet when a plane they were scheduled to take was canceled causing them to spend a night at the same hotel as they wait to fly home the next day. Much of their time in the hotel is spent in the bar, which is problematic when we learn that one of the men is alcoholic. It’s a wrenching portrayal…

I Will Survive – Who would think that love the-second-time-around could be shaken and maybe destroyed by a love of roller skating? But when you read it, see if you feel – like I did – that if the characters had just talked to each other honestly, major problems could have been averted.

The Bootlegger – The story of a very righteous man at a concert at Carnegie Hall who notices the person sitting next to him – an old man – is recording the program. Man #1 reports man #2 to management and all sorts of painful things happen from there. To me, this was another story where an honest chat between two people – these two men – could have saved the day. And also, it was a great reminder that there are often extenuating circumstances in life.

The DiDomenico Fragment – The story of a once wealthy family. Among other things, the patriarch was an art collector. A painting by DiDomenico – the Annunciation – was the prize of his collection. Upon his death, his four sons learned that he had had the painting cut into four equal parts. Each son got his own quadrant of the painting, framed and ready for hanging. As the years passed, the four sons further divided their quadrant to hand down to their own children. This story tells of the collector who is trying to find all the pieces to reassemble the whole!

*****

The novella:

Eve in Hollywood – This novella starts with a couple of pages taken from Amor Towles’ first book, Rules of Civility. In it we learn that a man, Mr. Ross, is looking for his daughter, Eve. She was supposedly coming home to Chicago – from New York – on a train. But when Mr. Ross went to meet the train, he did not find her. He ultimately learns (from the conductor who remembered her because of her facial scar) that as she approached Chicago, she paid to extend her ticket to Los Angeles. We never get back to Mr. Ross in the novella, we just learn all about… Eve in Hollywood.

From here there are short chapters where Eve interacts with lots of people. The main two are Charlie an ex-cop, and Olivia, who turns out to be Olivia de Havilland. There are a bunch of minor characters, such as Prentice a once famous actor, Marcus Benton, a movie studio exec, and Jeremiah Litsky a paparazzi-type photographer trying to get rich with photos he has of Olivia.

As it turns out, Amor Towles is getting all of these characters in place to help Eve help Livvy when she receives a note from a blackmailer complete with nude photos of herself – that she has no memory of taking. Trust me that every character introduced in the novella plays a part in this caper. And to me, that is Amor Towles at his finest. Putting all the little pieces together for a big kaboom, just like he did in A Gentleman in Moscow.

*****

Starting out, I would have bet the second part of the book would be my favorite, but nope, I liked the short stories best. Perhaps because of the fact that I read – and listened – to this book and because I loved the voice of the male narrator on the audio version. The short fiction was like having someone read me a bedtime story.

The book is narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. He has won many awards for his narrations including the Booklist 2023 Voice of Choice by the American Library Association. He has narrated a boatload of books. Here is a list from Audible.

And speaking of Audible I am new to it, and I enjoyed the perfectly synchronized ability to read a bit and listen a bit and never have to struggle to figure out where I was in either edition.

Thus, I recommend Table for Two and Audible!

*****

Click here to learn more about Table for Two on Amazon.

*****

If you like my writing, did you know I have four books in print? They are all available on my Etsy shop. My newest book, Love, Loss, and Moving On, is also available on Amazon. Please have a look and tell a friend!

*****

Click here to join the Book Lovers Club. I post about three dozen book reviews a year. If you would like to receive them as I write them, please join the Club. 

*****