Table for Two, by Amor Towles.
I don’t usually read
many volumes of short stories – not because they’re not an accepted form of
literary endeavour, but because I prefer concentrating on one big story, with
one particular set of characters. There are
very few authors who alter my mindset in that regard, Amor Towles being one of
them. After reading his previous novels,
particularly ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ and ‘The Lincoln Highway’ I bit the bullet
at the appearance of ‘Table for Two’: he
is such a sublime writer that I had
to give his latest book the attention his
reputation merited. And I’m so glad I
did.
As I said (I’m at an
age where I repeat myself) I don’t enjoy chopping and changing characters and
themes – until in The Ballad of Timothy Touchett I met the beautifully drawn
and irresistible inhabitants of the antiquarian bookshop in New York, where
aspiring (but not passionately enough) young author Timothy is employed by Mr
Pennybrook, not only to sell first editions, but to practice signatures, at
which Timothy excels, of famous, long-dead authors. After he realises (it takes a little while;
he’s not exactly dim but …) that Mr Pennybrook is making big money from
Timothy’s ‘artistry’ a new rate is negotiated and all would have been well had
not a contemporary author, still very much alive, realised that he didn’t sign that particular book in that particular place. Do heads roll, or
not?
In ‘I will Survive’, a
young woman is asked by her mother to follow her stepfather to Central
Park: Nell’s mum is sure her husband is
having an affair – then changes her mind and begs Nell to forget she ever
asked. But Nell is curious, and we all
know where that leads – nowhere good, especially when his Central Park sojourn
has nothing to do with romance.
There are seven short
stories altogether, the last one a novella which continues with a character
from his first novel ‘Terms of Civility’:
Evelyn Ross is on her way home to Chicago from New York, but changes her
mind at the last moment much to her parents’ consternation and heads to
Hollywood instead. It is the beginning
of the 40’s; she’ll try her luck in
California before heading eventually overseas – and what luck! Her decision to stay at the Beverly Hills
Hotel leads to fortuitous meetings with an overweight and ageing has-been Movie
actor, and Olivia de Havilland, future star of ‘Gone with the Wind’ – if only
Olivia can pay off a blackmailer! Oh,
it’s all gripping stuff, especially the blackmail outcome, and so superbly
written that I didn’t want to leave behind any of characters in the seven
stories: What have you planned for us
next, Mr Towles? I know it will be dazzling.
SIX STARS
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