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ryanteston's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
benedettal's review against another edition
4.0
Once again prefacing I’m not big on short stories, I still appreciated this collection a lot. Fitzgerald is my favourite writer, so you can see how the two biases would cancel each other out.
The Babylon revisited collection is a very mature and melancholy one. Fitzgerald seems to take inspiration from his own life to write about the struggles of alcoholism, infidelity and loneliness. Written in 1931, this also is very much influenced by the onset of the Great Depression, which permeates all the stories with this sense of latent desperation. The final stories, like the last kiss and life of a writer (or something like that), but also financing finnegan, also seem to be inspired by Fitzgerald’s time in Hollywood as a has-been successful writer, and again they feel like a confession, a reflection of his own failure.
It’s a very mature piece of work, devoid of whimsical or hopeful elements. The little tragi-comedies succeed one another and showcase Fitzgerald beautiful prose and talent for characterisation, but the fact that they just end like that really shows how they were sort of just written from necessity. Any of them would have been brilliant if developed as a novel, and perhaps Tender is the Night is the sum of this exercise in introspection. It’s as if at this point, he’s not really interested in writing about huge diamonds or old babies, he just wants to expose his longing for his daughter that he feels he lost due to his mistakes, or how futile his life as a writer feels. I will forever agree with Hemingway that he was wasted on short stories, but this collection is a pretty brilliant one.
The Babylon revisited collection is a very mature and melancholy one. Fitzgerald seems to take inspiration from his own life to write about the struggles of alcoholism, infidelity and loneliness. Written in 1931, this also is very much influenced by the onset of the Great Depression, which permeates all the stories with this sense of latent desperation. The final stories, like the last kiss and life of a writer (or something like that), but also financing finnegan, also seem to be inspired by Fitzgerald’s time in Hollywood as a has-been successful writer, and again they feel like a confession, a reflection of his own failure.
It’s a very mature piece of work, devoid of whimsical or hopeful elements. The little tragi-comedies succeed one another and showcase Fitzgerald beautiful prose and talent for characterisation, but the fact that they just end like that really shows how they were sort of just written from necessity. Any of them would have been brilliant if developed as a novel, and perhaps Tender is the Night is the sum of this exercise in introspection. It’s as if at this point, he’s not really interested in writing about huge diamonds or old babies, he just wants to expose his longing for his daughter that he feels he lost due to his mistakes, or how futile his life as a writer feels. I will forever agree with Hemingway that he was wasted on short stories, but this collection is a pretty brilliant one.
budiboksnama's review against another edition
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
shellygrace's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mrears0_0's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-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
2.25
8797999's review against another edition
3.0
Three stories, the titular one and The Cut Glass Bowl were both decent and enjoyable. The final one was short and I got nothing from it.
A decent read but nothing special.
A decent read but nothing special.
zoet's review against another edition
5.0
Babylon Revisited is a really great story to study and I recommend it to everyone ^^
If anyone wants to talk about it with me, just shoot me a message. I studied this pretty extensively for a college course and I really enjoy talking about literary works with other appreciators
If anyone wants to talk about it with me, just shoot me a message. I studied this pretty extensively for a college course and I really enjoy talking about literary works with other appreciators
adamz24's review against another edition
4.0
Almost everything here is pretty remarkable, but "Babylon Revisited" might be my favourite short story. It's still relevant and interesting today, not from a historical point of view solely, but in a truer sense. Fitzgerald got at a certain sort of quiet, subtle human despair that few writers ever have, and I think only David Foster Wallace really did recently.
books_plan_create's review against another edition
English 433: Modern American Lit
Okay, I kind of liked this one, even though I have a huge dislike of Fitzgerald
Okay, I kind of liked this one, even though I have a huge dislike of Fitzgerald