Rules Of Civility

I read Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.  The story is set in the jazz age, 1938, New York City and involves 3 friends, Katey, Eve, and Tinker, each wild, spontaneous and proud of being unpredictable.  The story was captivating.  Cigarettes are smoked.  Gin and martinis are drunk.  Doormen open the doors of apartment buildings. The character Katey Kontent (sounds like the emotion and not the table of) tells the story.  She likes old books and she finds one by George Washington that has 110 rules of civility.  All 110 rules are listed at the end of the book.  Most of the rules make total sense.  Don't sop up more sauce with your bread than you can eat in one bite.  Allow others to speak without interrupting. Don't pick or clean your teeth in public.  Don't gossip.  I said most of the rules make sense. Actually all the rules make sense with one exception; don't raise one eyebrow higher than the other.  Speaking as a person who's right eye brow waggles up and down without much control, I have to ask, what could possibly be wrong with that?  Katey tries to apply these rules (not the eyebrow one) to herself and to her friends.  Sometimes she and sometimes her friends don't live up to these rules and as she ages, Katey becomes able to accept that about herself and about her friends.  I really enjoyed this story.