Rules of Civility

Did you know that as a sixteen-year-old schoolboy in Virginia, George Washington transcribed a list of 110 maxims that eventually were published as "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation"?  According to npr.org, these rules were based on a sixteenth century set of precepts compiled for young gentlemen by Jesuit instructors.  

This debut novel by Amor Towles borrows not only George Washington's publication title but the Rules themselves in this story  of two working-class girls trying to make a go of it in New York City in the late 193os.  

We see NYC, just starting to come out of the Depression, through the eyes of Katey Kontent (I know,  I think her name is weird, too, but it plays well in the story).  Katey is prepared to work hard, very hard, to make it as a secretary in the business world (remember this is in 1938).  She and Eve Ross meet in the boardinghouse and become fast friends.  That is, until they meet Tinker Grey (I know...these names), a very handsome, debonair, successful and somewhat mysterious banker.  A love triangle ensues along with several twists and turns that kept me turning the pages.  Not everything about the fabulous Tinker Grey, or for that matter, about Katey and Eve, is as it first seems. 


While trying to untangle the mystery of Tinker Grey, Katey comes across his well-thumbed  copy of Washington's "Rules of Civility" and is fascinated by it.  That book, and the role it plays in Tinker's life, becomes an integral part of this entertaining story. 


I liked reading about 1930s New York and the very different lifestyles of the rich and the poor (not unlike today).  Katey, somewhere in the middle, gets a taste of both, and finds some things very much not to her liking and others very hard to resist.  


I thought the novel was really well-written and although the theme is not necessarily new ( 20-somethings reinventing themselves as they snappily make decisions that will impact the rest of their lives), the story never grows old if told with panache as it is in this case. 


By the way, the author includes all 110 of George's "Rules of Civility" as an appendix to the novel.  Here's just a couple of my favorites:


60. Be not immodest in urging your Friends to Discover a Secret.  (I guess that eliminates gossiping; hmm, that's no fun.)


82.  Undertake not what you cannot Perform but be Careful to keep your Promise. (Put your money where your mouth is!!)


And my top choice:


110. Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Celestial Fire called Conscience.


Well said, George!