Rules of Civility is one of those books where you rate it 5-stars and are then tempted to reconsider all the other ratings you have given out because surely the other fives were not this sort of five.
In the last 2-3 years, I have not read a book nearly as absorbing or as beautiful as this one. What Towles does with his prose is poetic and meaningful.
In the end, this is a book that forced me to sit back and think of all the “people of great color and character that have held welcome sway over” my own life. For that alone, I am grateful.