The story starts with Count Rostov's trial, where he is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol Hotel (where he happens to reside anyway!), but his quarters are now much more sparse and hidden up in the belfry. That doesn't stop this man from assimilating to the new life and making the most of it.
His friendships with various hotel staff and his relationship with Nina, a young girl he meets at the beginning, are told with wit and intelligence. He maintains a friendship with a writer he met in his university days, who has since become a dissident writer. Count Rostov dines each evening with good wine and excellent food, despite the shortages and lace of good ingredients. The novel presents such a great image of what life was like in the early days of the Soviet rule and how over time there is an easing of the ways of Marxism and Socialism.
On the New York Times Book Podcast I heard this referred to as a Russian spy novel. That could not be further from the truth in my eyes. Yes, at the end there is some intrigue and covert goings-on, but they have little to do with politics and more to do with the Count getting his way!
READ THIS BOOK!
