Unpopular opinion. Sorry, y'all. 
 Before reading A Gentleman in Moscow, I'd seen a ton (and I do mean a ton) of reviews bowing down to the magic that is this book. Five star review after five star review. Not to mention the description itself suggested heavy character development. I was smitten with this book before I read the first word. And to my great sadness, this novel did not live up to the hype I'd created for it. 
 More than anything, I was bored. Now I'm not one to need a fast-paced, overly engaging, heart-pounding plot. I do just fine with mundane and simple. Character development is what I really care about, and I've found that books with excellent characters tend to have less intense plots. I was prepared and ready for that here. But at the bare minimum, I need to see a point, regardless of how plain it is; the story still must have a clear objective, a reason for it to exist in the first place. I did not get that from A Gentleman in Moscow. 
 As each chapter unfolded, I kept thinking to myself: "Why?" What was the point here? What is the climax of the story going to be? And I found that once the smallest glimmer of excitement began to shine, it was quickly extinguished by more of nothing at all. It was disappointing. 
 When you put a count on house arrest in a grand hotel in the heart of a tumultuous Russia, I'm ready for something...anything...to happen. But quite the opposite. It seemed like every single character was perfectly content and perfectly happy with their present circumstances. And even worse, as a reader, I also felt completely content and happy. If everything is so hunky-dory, why even write a novel at all? 
 I suppose most of my disinterest stems from a severe lack of knowledge about Russian history. The only thing I really know is that Stalin was a person, the KGB was some sort of thing, and communism happened. (And maybe communism is still happening. I don't even know. It's embarrassing to admit I know this little to the Internet, but there you have it. I'm an idiot in Russia.) Perhaps if I was more well-versed in the goings on of Russian politics and daily life during the 20th century, I'd have been more invested in the story. But as it stands, I was just bored and underwhelmed.