Amor Towles is a unique and remarkable writer.
Towles previous works: Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway are all different, (perhaps penned by a different author) and all possible masterpieces, all examples of fine modern prose.
Remembering as a young student of reading: no matter the structure of the prose, the story is the thing.
Towles has combined both; elegant prose and stories that bring the reader to characters never met and their circumstances we can relate to because we are human experiencing the same condition: life.
Table for Two is a collection of six stories under the title, New York. Under the title of Los Angeles is a novella, centering on Evelyn Ross, a character from Towles first published novel, The Rules of Civility.
To rank the short stories and the novella in a type of NYT's best to worse top ten pop song chart, would be a disservice to the work. All stand alone, all are on an island unto themselves, all written in a different voice.
As readers we have our biases.
That said, Evelyne Ross in LA is special. Ross is a woman I would love to meet.
Travelling on a train from New York to the mid-west, to then on a whim, Ross decides to continue to LA, and meets a cool, retired cop. Set in the 1930's, a mysterious, attractive woman would set off alarm bells as to the woman's intent and character. Only after a few exchanges, Charlie is interested, and instinctively understands he has met a soul of distinction.
LA is told from the perspective of several characters who by choice or otherwise, become a part of Evelyn Ross' world.
Reading Ross' (Towles) LA in the 1930's, living in the Beverly Hills hotel, meeting old film stars, gives the reader a glimpse into old Hollywood, old LA, and that mythical magic, that has now disappeared.
As a student of reading, Towles' A Table for Two gave me hope that great writing, soulful storytelling, is alive and well.
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