Critically Acclaimed Debut Novelist Amor Towles to Appear at Barnes & Noble, Portland, Oregon

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep. 10, 2011 - Barnes & Noble, Clackamas Town Center is pleased to welcome critically acclaimed debut novelist Amor Towle as he presents his new book, RULES OF CIVILITY. Please join us to meet the author on Tuesday, September 27th at 7:00 pm, and bring your friends.

This event takes place at Barnes & Noble, Clackamas Town Center in Portland, Oregon. The event is free and open to the public.

WHO:   
Amor Towles, Debut Novelist

WHAT:   
Reading, Q&A and signing of his new book, RULES OF CIVILITY

WHERE:            
Barnes & Noble, Clackamas Town Center
12000 SE 82nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97086
Phone: 503-786-3464

WHEN:             
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
7:00 pm

COST:                
Free

Editorial Reviews:

From Barnes & Noble
It's 1938 and twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent and roommate Evelyn Ross have moved to New York, determined to small-town Depression boredom with lively nights in the City That Never Sleeps. Determined to escape the clattering confines of a Wall Street secretarial pool, Katey searches for romance and advantage where she can find it; and find it she does, but in Amor Towles' polished debut, chance often trumps design. A stimulating look at a great city that no longer exists. (P.S. An early review justly predicted "Readers will quickly fall under its spell of crisp writing, spark,ling atmosphere and breathtaking revelations, as Towles evokes the ghosts of Fitzgerald, Capote and McCarthy.")

The New York Times - Liesl Schillinger
With this snappy period piece, Towles resurrects the cinematic black-and-white Manhattan of the golden age of screwball comedy, gal-pal camaraderie and romantic mischief…

Publishers Weekly
In his smashing debut, Towles details the intriguing life of Katherine Kontent and how her world is upended by the fateful events of 1938. Kate and her roommate, Evelyn Ross, have moved to Manhattan for its culture and the chance to class up their lives with glamour—be it with jazz musicians, trust fund lotharios, or any man with a hint of charm who will pay for dinner and drinks. Both Kate and Evelyn are enamored of sophisticated Tinker Grey, who they meet in a jazz club; he appears to be another handsome, moneyed gent, but as the women vie for his affection, a tragic event may seal a burgeoning romance's fate. New York's wealthy class is thick with snobbery, unexpected largesse, pettiness, jealousies, and an unmistakable sense of who belongs and who does not, but it's the undercurrent of unease—as with Towles's depiction of how the upper class can use its money and influence to manipulate others' lives in profoundly unsavory ways—that gives his vision depth and complexity. His first effort is remarkable for its strong narrative, original characters and a voice influenced by Fitzgerald and Capote, but clearly true to itself. (July)

Redbook
"Part love story, part social observation, 100 percent absorbing."

The San Francisco Chronicle
"Even the most jaded New Yorker can see the beauty in Amor Towles' Rules of Civility, the antiqued portrait of an unlikely jet set making the most of Manhattan."

the Oprah Magazine O
"The new novel we couldn't put down in the crisp, noirish prose of the era, Towles portrays complex relationships in a city that is at once melting pot and elitist enclave and a thoroughly modern heroine who fearlessly claims her place in it."

Good Housekeeping
"It's the Depression, and a gal Friday with a mouth like Dorothy Parker's is dallying with the smart set turns out she's not the only climber. A joyride through the ups and downs of 1930s high society."

Wall Street Journal
"This very good first novel about striving and surviving in Depression-era Manhattan deserves attention The great strength of Rules of Civility is in the sharp, sure-handed evocation of Manhattan in the late '30s."

People
"Put on some Billie Holiday, pour a dry martini and immerse yourself in the eventful life of Katey Kontent [Towles] clearly knows the privileged world he's writing about, as well as the vivid, sometimes reckless characters who inhabit it."

About the author:
Amor Towles was born and raised just outside Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale University and received an MA in English from Stanford University, where he was a Scowcroft Fellow. He is a Principal at an investment firm in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and two children.

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Press Release for upcoming events for Barnes & Noble at Clackamas Town Center in Portland, Oregon. Events are subject to change, please contact the store for details.