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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Every line is so beautifully crafted I'm having a hard time maintaining interest. Either I'm that uncultured or just not into Fitzgerald...
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I happened to have this book on my shelf, and since the libraries are closed and shipping speeds are slow, I decided to try it out, anticipating that I would quiet. I usually set a goal for myself to read at least 50 pages before I decide to stop reading a book that I don’t like, and I was prepared not to like this. I’m not sure I could say why I DO like it—it’s about two spoiled children squandering money and talking about their continual boredom. They start out richer than 9 in 10 Americans but it’s not enough—they wait around for an inheritance, they want lavish wealth, they want to live like aristocrats at Versailles.
From the beginning, Anthony is more interested in the appearance of intellectualism than a true interest in the life of the mind—the novel mentions his expensive leather-bound book collection, but rarely does it mention Anthony reading or having any substantial, intelligent conversation or thought. I think his friendship with Maury Noble (a character I hate more than any other character in the book) illustrates the depths of this pseudo-intellectual vanity.
To Anthony, life is meaningless, but he doesn’t arrive at the usual conclusions (that either he should create meaning or that he should die), but that with enough money he can buy enough pleasure not to notice. Indeed, Anthony never connects his own emptiness to the concept that excessive wealth is also empty.
He marries Gloria, and the two are one mutually parasitic mass. They bring out the worst in each other, and each disparages the other’s attempts to take action or avoid it, but they are each only too happy to use these disparagements as a pretext to maintain inertia; in every other situation, their self-interest is too strong to be minimized simply out of respect for another person’s advice.
At the end of his novel, I considered the two disastrous futures Fitzgerald imagines for himself: those of Anthony Patch and of Richard Caramel. Sadly enough, Fitzgerald ended up as both: he died young because his health, wealth, and happiness were destroyed by alcoholism and the relentless pursuit of capital, only to lose it searching for momentary pleasures; and like Caramel, Fitzgerald’s literary reputation disintegrated in his lifetime, partly because of the stories he wrote looking for profit.
From the beginning, Anthony is more interested in the appearance of intellectualism than a true interest in the life of the mind—the novel mentions his expensive leather-bound book collection, but rarely does it mention Anthony reading or having any substantial, intelligent conversation or thought. I think his friendship with Maury Noble (a character I hate more than any other character in the book) illustrates the depths of this pseudo-intellectual vanity.
To Anthony, life is meaningless, but he doesn’t arrive at the usual conclusions (that either he should create meaning or that he should die), but that with enough money he can buy enough pleasure not to notice. Indeed, Anthony never connects his own emptiness to the concept that excessive wealth is also empty.
He marries Gloria, and the two are one mutually parasitic mass. They bring out the worst in each other, and each disparages the other’s attempts to take action or avoid it, but they are each only too happy to use these disparagements as a pretext to maintain inertia; in every other situation, their self-interest is too strong to be minimized simply out of respect for another person’s advice.
At the end of his novel, I considered the two disastrous futures Fitzgerald imagines for himself: those of Anthony Patch and of Richard Caramel. Sadly enough, Fitzgerald ended up as both: he died young because his health, wealth, and happiness were destroyed by alcoholism and the relentless pursuit of capital, only to lose it searching for momentary pleasures; and like Caramel, Fitzgerald’s literary reputation disintegrated in his lifetime, partly because of the stories he wrote looking for profit.
I have finished all of Fitzgerald’s novels for the first time – the experience that will never again happen to me.
overall feelings represented in an emoji: :(((((
This book wasn’t [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]or [b:The Love of the Last Tycoon|16857|The Love of the Last Tycoon|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1321018965l/16857._SY75_.jpg|1939873](His best work in my opinion!!). It is said that this is his least accomplished novel and I have to disagree because I would say that’s [b:Tender is the Night|4670|Tender is the Night|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421617822l/4670._SY75_.jpg|8272]; I really didn’t like that one.
This book does have a couple of typical Fitzgerald tropes:
-Fall of a man; notably his favorite topic to write about
-Rich privileged Americans and their struggles(yep, pretty dislikeable characters if you ask me)
-A love story that is doomed due to the characters of the characters, which is kind of going on the line of naturalism, I have seen some similarities between this book and Emile Zola’s writing
-Focus on beauty and the decay of the same, beauty = Illusion
-Women crashing cars,Daisy Buchanan where you at
-Parties,of course
-Alcoholism as a way of dealing with problems – or a way of not dealing with them
-Movie industry!(Not as great or in detail as in the Last tycoon, go and read that book!)
-Writing about the high American class – F.S.F. has always written about an overall American higher class
-The irony, ah how I love this, Anthony’s irony, Gloria’s, and even the irony presented in every character here such as Richard Caramel and Maury Noble, and Bloeckman.
By this point, you can see some of the tropes and ideas here that he masterly talked about in his most famous novel The Great Gatsby, but here the focus is on the detrimental and decadent effect of a shallow life view on beauty and material things that fade away and are meaningless on the long run.
The beauty of Fitzgerald's language still strikes and amazes me, only he could write about these topics and not irritate me, which I respect.
Definitely a 3,5 out of 5 but rounding up to 4. Off to his short stories and collected letters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The novel also known as Anthony-Patch- being-that-one-priviliged-rich-white-man-who is-meant-to-be-disliked. Review to come.
overall feelings represented in an emoji: :(((((
This book wasn’t [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]or [b:The Love of the Last Tycoon|16857|The Love of the Last Tycoon|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1321018965l/16857._SY75_.jpg|1939873](His best work in my opinion!!). It is said that this is his least accomplished novel and I have to disagree because I would say that’s [b:Tender is the Night|4670|Tender is the Night|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421617822l/4670._SY75_.jpg|8272]; I really didn’t like that one.
This book does have a couple of typical Fitzgerald tropes:
-Fall of a man; notably his favorite topic to write about
-Rich privileged Americans and their struggles(yep, pretty dislikeable characters if you ask me)
-A love story that is doomed due to the characters of the characters, which is kind of going on the line of naturalism, I have seen some similarities between this book and Emile Zola’s writing
-Focus on beauty and the decay of the same, beauty = Illusion
-Women crashing cars,
-Parties,of course
-Alcoholism as a way of dealing with problems – or a way of not dealing with them
-Movie industry!(Not as great or in detail as in the Last tycoon, go and read that book!)
-Writing about the high American class – F.S.F. has always written about an overall American higher class
-The irony, ah how I love this, Anthony’s irony, Gloria’s, and even the irony presented in every character here such as Richard Caramel and Maury Noble, and Bloeckman.
By this point, you can see some of the tropes and ideas here that he masterly talked about in his most famous novel The Great Gatsby, but here the focus is on the detrimental and decadent effect of a shallow life view on beauty and material things that fade away and are meaningless on the long run.
The beauty of Fitzgerald's language still strikes and amazes me, only he could write about these topics and not irritate me, which I respect.
Definitely a 3,5 out of 5 but rounding up to 4. Off to his short stories and collected letters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The novel also known as Anthony-Patch- being-that-one-priviliged-rich-white-man-who is-meant-to-be-disliked. Review to come.
Was I glad that I read this book as it gave me another insight to Fitzgerald and his life? Yes. Did I actually enjoy reading any part of this book? NO. The two main characters were spoiled and unlikable and still got everything they wanted at the end of the story. But even after all that, they still weren't happy.
I give it a C-. If you want to start reading Fitzgerald, stick to The Great Gatsby, it's more well-know for a reason.
I give it a C-. If you want to start reading Fitzgerald, stick to The Great Gatsby, it's more well-know for a reason.
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
tense
slow-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
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've come to really like Fitzgerald's writing and while it took me some time to finish, I really enjoyed this book. It was very frustrating overall, but I should have guessed that from the title. Can't wait to read of of him
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes