• Rules of Civility

  • A Novel
  • By: Amor Towles
  • Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
  • Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (9,651 ratings)

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Rules of Civility  By  cover art

Rules of Civility

By: Amor Towles
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
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Editorial reviews

Amor Towles is approaching 50 and making a living as a principal at an investment firm. One wouldn’t expect his debut novel to be told from the perspective of a wise-cracking young lady of 25, but Towles is good at surprises. Katherine Kontent (“like the state of being”) is a legal secretary trying to climb the social ladder and squeeze all the juice out of Manhattan. She is the only slightly less seductive sidekick to Eve, who leaves her wealthy family behind to act like a mash-up of Christopher Isherwood's Sally Bowles and Truman Capote's Holly Golightly. It's the Upper East Side in the winter of 1939 — ripe for ripping off F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway or whatever writer you prefer from the era of roaring alcoholism, but Amor Towles doesn’t take the bait.

Neither does narrator Rebecca Lowman, who has good fun with the zippy dinner conversations while managing to keep Kate's sporting sense of dignity intact as both lovers and day jobs threaten to collapse her up-and-comingness. Lowman, who has a long string of television series bit parts from Will & Grace to Law & Order to her credit, slips easily into the everywoman role and adds notes of believable determination to our heroine's struggle for better circumstances. Who will marry Tinker Grey and who will get the promotion at Conde Nast are interesting plots, but none of this is the surprise - the plot surprise is all the more devastating. Towles gives us some glitter, but he doesn't gloss, and that is the biggest surprise. The women in this book are fraught with the tremendous burden of appearing charming but unintelligent, and Lowman lets in enough sharp tones to give their dilemmas and revelations a substantial bite. Towles has fleshed out these familiar archetypes in a unique direction, so much more rich and thick than the flat characters with which novels of this time period are usually laden. Megan Volpert

Publisher's summary

From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Lincoln Highway and A Gentleman in Moscow, a “sharply stylish” (Boston Globe) book about a young woman in post-Depression era New York who suddenly finds herself thrust into high society - now with over one million readers worldwide.

On the last night of 1937, 25-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society - where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.

With its sparkling depiction of New York’s social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters, Rules of Civility won the hearts of readers and critics alike.

Hear why Rules of Civility is Our Book of the Summer.
©2011 Amor Towles (P)2011 Penguin

What listeners say about Rules of Civility

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    5,633
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    2,636
  • 3 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wow - what a nice surprise!

What a treat to find an author as much in command of the language and the imagery of the storytelling as the story. It is becoming increasingly rare for me to listen to a book where I notice and appreciate the writing without feeling that it bogs down the progression of the book. This one is a gem. I was considering the selection of the authors current book when I decided to review their first effort instead. I only hope that A Gentlemen in Moscow does as grand a job of painting me a picture of another time and place so deliciously as this one.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully written with a touch of Gatsby.

This has become one of my favorite books. Wonderfully written to tell the story of life in NYC in the late 30s with all the glitz, glamor and emotion that comes with coming alive and living in NYC.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great story

it feels slow in the beginning, but a great story. highly recommended! keep reading.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story, great descriptions and brilliant writing

Totally different in time and place and characters from a gentleman in Moscow but every bit as wonderful in language, descriptions and storyline! I can’t wait to read the Lincoln Highway. So easy to get swept into the time and place of the novel!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn't wait each day to get in my car to listen!

Love the story, loved the narrator's voice and the rules at the end of the book are all so good and so true!!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Thought provoking

I like it overall, however I did find it a bit depressing, I wanted to be elated with the ups but it came down quite quickly. A good read but a little eagerated in part. So so ending.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Dull & overwritten

The author almost always overwrites everything. Where a simple description would evoke a thousand words,
and emotions,the author beats it into the ground with endless metaphors and similes. In the end, its a great character study & period piece. Just, I found the pedantic style almost impossible.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED

Clearly, this is an author who loves language. I enjoyed every single minute. Please DO listen to or read this delightful story.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Took multiple starts to get into it

I struggled with the story, characters and narration initially but glad I pressed through. I LOVED A Gentleman in Moscow by this author. Initially this book didn't seem to have similar nuance and texture, but it comes as the story builds. "A Gentleman" is a masterpiece; this book is quite good. A story about the dawning of the modern woman and exposé of dirty little secrets of the urban elite set post Great Depression and pre-U.S involvement in WWII, an era often overshadowed in fiction by those bookend events. Smart and engaging. The main characters become very vivid through the story and reading.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good, not great

Book is entertaining enough on a long drive, but overall it is nothing out of the ordinary.

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