Book Review: "Table for Two" by Amor Towles

This review was written on the 5th of November 2024.

As of today, I'm not very well. I'm sick and nauseous and I've already had to take a day off work which means I'm also anxious about all the work I've done that may have been undone by someone else. I haven't got better yet so I don't know how long this will go on for. Welcome to the era of the winter bugs in which many people are taking days off work because there's horrid stuff going around. A day ago I finished Amor Towles' book of short stories Table for Two. I have read the previous books by this author and have enjoyed them enough to be confident in these stories as well. Let's take a look at them...

One of the stories I enjoyed was called The Ballad of Timothy Touchett. This is about a guy called Timothy: a recent university graduate, dreams of becoming a novelist but worries that he lacks the transformative life experiences essential for writing something truly impactful. He takes up a position at a rare bookshop, where he meets Mr. Pennybrook, a shadowy figure who entices him into forging signatures in rare books, claiming it's simply a favour for dying clients. Initially exhilarated by the subversive thrill of it, Timothy agrees, and they soon start selling the falsified editions, convinced of their skill and artistry. Eventually, however, their venture collapses when a living author identifies a forged signature, leading to Timothy’s arrest.

Ironically, Timothy’s subsequent prison experience becomes the very “life experience” he believed he needed, forcing him to confront the moral compromises that landed him there. It really is one of those moralistic stories in which the reader has to look really close into the text to see what the moral is and how it is seen playing out. I think what I got from this is that there is a fine line between making people happy using your art and making things better for yourself. Life experience required for creating art is important, but there are questions as to how Timothy got there.

Another story I enjoyed was called I Will Survive, which was so good it almost became my favourite in the anthology. John is a respected lawyer in his sixties and secretly delights in roller skating through the park to the rhythm of disco music—a hobby he’s kept hidden from everyone. However, his daughter, Nell, discovers his private pastime and, with innocent intentions, records a video of him skating and sends it to her mother, Peggy.

What begins as a playful revelation quickly escalates into a marital conflict, as Peggy, feeling deceived, confronts John. The video stirs up unresolved insecurities and long-standing miscommunication between the two, ultimately leading to the breakdown of their marriage. This story explores the delicate nature of trust in relationships, as well as the unintended consequences of keeping personal passions hidden from those closest to us. This story was heartbreaking and I just ended up really disliking Peggy as a character because she had already been through a heartache, I know, but this minority issue in which John enjoys something more than being around her makes her seem like such a horrid person.

My favourite story from this anthology however, was called The Bootlegger. This is about a night at Carnegie Hall, Tommy becomes increasingly annoyed by an elderly man who regularly records performances, in clear violation of the hall’s policy. Eventually, his frustration drives him to report the man, leading to a permanent ban. However, Tommy later learns the recordings were intended for the man’s bedridden wife, who found immense comfort in them. Guilt-ridden, Tommy decides to track down the elderly man to offer an apology, only to be met instead by the man’s daughter.

She rebukes Tommy, criticising his lack of compassion. This encounter prompts Tommy to reflect on his own rigid adherence to rules and his need for control, making him realise how his actions caused a deeper harm than he had anticipated. It is a fascinating story which this review does not even cover the internal conflicts of. The scenes where the man (Mr Fine) and Tommy meet are so tense and filled with unspoken emotion - it is brilliant.

All in all, this was a beautiful anthology filled with amazing stories, each with characters who experience humanity and inhumanity in different ways - each with their own meaning of 'morality'. It is this that they come into conflict with others because of. Each person's definition of what is right and wrong is different and there is a fine line between each.