Table for Two, Amor Towles, author, Edoardo Ballerini, J. Smith-Cameron, narrators
What an interesting examination of the human condition. Using a variety of short stories, and one novella, each concentrating on particular characters that have either been wronged by the outside world or been wronged by their own faulty choices, Towles takes the reader down a path that exposes their human frailties and basic values, or the lack thereof. The book begins with one of the characters, Charley, an older gentleman and former police detective, illegally taping a performance at Carnegie Hall. When he is caught by Tom, and he is reported to the management, he explains that he is taping it for his wife Betty who was now too ill to attend performances with him. Was Tom being self-righteous or responsible? Was Charlie breaking the law for a good reason? Should he be excused? Tom feels guilty about what he did. Should he? Was Charley angry? In this story, and all of the others, each experience motivates a character to move forward or remain stuck in the past, percolating about the injustices experienced by them. The stories are told with a light, sometimes witty touch, so they are never overwhelming or dark.
The short stories feature different characters that are subtly connected, and their relationship to each other is knitted together seamlessly at the end. Towles eloquently shows each character with a capacity for dignity and righteousness and/or a capacity for breaking rules and cruelty, even when the intent was not to hurt, but rather, to do the right thing. The choices made by the characters are influenced by the ways in which they have suffered, or perhaps have been abused by the system, or by the ways in which they have lived within the system. Whether from the grief of loss and/or disappointment, or from the inability to understand the whole picture and instead be guided by confusion and misdirection, some characters make foolhardy choices. Some characters were lonely, some felt abandoned, some felt betrayed or betrayed others, some were desperately trying to be independent. Many were dissatisfied with their lives in some way and felt unable to change the direction. The stories reveal how some of us, who are aging and experiencing the exigencies of age, can be given a new lease on life in unexpected places. When offered choices that encourage independence, can we begin again? I wondered if Towles drew from the pieces of his own life experiences and feelings in these tales. Doesn't everyone need a purpose in life and to have hope for a brighter future, even after disappointment and loss? Must grief and the feeling of desperation and an overactive imagination control us as it did some of the characters? Shouldn’t we live life to the fullest?
Many of the characters were trapped and locked in their own mindset, hiding from life and reality. They were not living, or were living in the shadows or in the past. I thought that the message from this book was that we all need to face our challenges head-on, with courage and a creative approach for the future. Perhaps we cannot do what we always did, but does that mean we should stop doing?
Can an actor who is typecast break free, can an out-of-work photographer who is blackballed seek a new career, can a person who feels wronged only seek vengeance, can a widow or widower find happiness alone, will our decisions make or break us? The fantasy world of Hollywood, the wild and frantic world of New York City, all combine to create a life for the characters. Is the Hollywood world that creates fantasy and dreams for their followers and nightmares for others nirvana? Although everything is connected in the end, sometimes it was hard to remember the beginning. Still, the writing captured my imagination, and it all came together, in the end. There were some characters who did the right thing for the wrong reasons and some who did the wrong thing for the right reasons, and some who were simply right or wrong. Towles revealed the strengths and weakness of people through his depiction of their lives even when sometimes it seemed like it was the theater of the absurd.