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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Maybe 2.5. I didn't love this one. It felt messy and poorly structured in comparison with The Great Gatsby, and the characters really didn't grab me.
Fitzgerald is unparalleled in painting portraits of American life in the early 1900s, as long as you subscribe to the idea of realistic cinematic life. The highs are gay and sparkling, champagne fueled and jubilantly boisterous, but the lows are nefariously bleak. The contrast between the two illustrates a very monochromatic story and I am burnt out on Fitzgerald after reading both the ‘Beautiful and Damned’ and the ‘Great Gatsby.’ While his novels are always dependable proverbials of a great vocabulary, his sentence structures are exhausting.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It seems I read a lot of books about alcoholic men who go mad. Ah, well, this book was certainly a rollercoaster of unexpected and depressing twists, and I loved it.
“Only for a brief moment every day in the warmth and renewed life of a first high-ball did his mind turn to those opalescent dreams of future pleasure- the mutual heritage of the happy and the damned.”
I enjoyed [b:The Beautiful and the Damned|6316645|The Beautiful and the Damned|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328307635l/6316645._SY75_.jpg|2432116] a lot more than [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490528560l/4671._SY75_.jpg|245494]. [a:F. Scott Fitzgerald|3190|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1517864008p2/3190.jpg] wrote [b:The Beautiful and the Damned|6316645|The Beautiful and the Damned|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328307635l/6316645._SY75_.jpg|2432116] with such a sense of urgency - the writing was just so sharp and cutting throughout. I felt as a reader that Fitzgerald must have put a lot of energy and into writing this story. He really left his heart and soul on the page.
The protagonist, Anthony Patch, is really an anti-hero and he and his wife, Gloria are the epitome of what I’d call “beautiful people”. They are socialites who party all the time, and try to “keep up with the Jones’s”. Alcoholism and its effect on marriage was a big theme, and ended up being a big issue for Fitzgerald in his own life. Also, the lack of a meaningful pursuit and common goals in their lives was the couple’s ultimate downfall.
The novel is probably overly dramatic at times and so that is why I can’t get to 5 stars with my rating, but I enjoyed this immensely. 4 stars.
I enjoyed [b:The Beautiful and the Damned|6316645|The Beautiful and the Damned|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328307635l/6316645._SY75_.jpg|2432116] a lot more than [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490528560l/4671._SY75_.jpg|245494]. [a:F. Scott Fitzgerald|3190|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1517864008p2/3190.jpg] wrote [b:The Beautiful and the Damned|6316645|The Beautiful and the Damned|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328307635l/6316645._SY75_.jpg|2432116] with such a sense of urgency - the writing was just so sharp and cutting throughout. I felt as a reader that Fitzgerald must have put a lot of energy and into writing this story. He really left his heart and soul on the page.
The protagonist, Anthony Patch, is really an anti-hero and he and his wife, Gloria are the epitome of what I’d call “beautiful people”. They are socialites who party all the time, and try to “keep up with the Jones’s”. Alcoholism and its effect on marriage was a big theme, and ended up being a big issue for Fitzgerald in his own life. Also, the lack of a meaningful pursuit and common goals in their lives was the couple’s ultimate downfall.
The novel is probably overly dramatic at times and so that is why I can’t get to 5 stars with my rating, but I enjoyed this immensely. 4 stars.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Perfectly captures the 20-something arrogance and self-centeredness of fairly intelligent and educated beautiful people, then explores what happens if there seems no need to grow up (until it's too late) and the party people get stale. It's interesting that, although the characters seem to enjoy them at first, at least, the parties are never described in any positive way to the reader.