Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

 On New Year's Ever 1937 Katy Kontent is hanging out at a two-bit Jazz bar with her effervescent roommate, Eve, when a handsome and eligilble social climber, Tinker Gray, walks in.  This chance meeting catapults the two women into the amoral arms of New York's high society from which neither of the girls will escape unscathed. 

I read this book because I enjoyed A Gentleman of Moscow so much.  This one was actually Towles' earlier work, and I didn't end up liking is as much. Granted, it has the amazing atmostpheric detail the later book has that makes the reader feel like they understand what it was like to live in another place and time.  This is definately a great choice for anyone who is a lover of New York or of the late 30's in America.  What I didn't like as much is that the main character had a fairly weak moral compass.  Her main goals in life seemed to be to enjoy social status and drink as much as she could.  As I read I wondered if some readers would actually envy Katy and the way her life ended up.  I wonder if they would consider it glamorous. I mostly considered it dissapated.  The characters who do show some moral backbone don't fare well. I guess a character doesn't have to be morally strong to be a good literary character, but maybe I just like my main characters to be so.  One thing the book does present is a bunch of interesting ethical questions.  It could be the kind of book-club book that people didn't really enjoy reading that much, but they enjoy discussing.  (368 p. 2012)