A review by ecari
Zelda by Nancy Milford

2.0

My theory is that I'm just not a "biography-lover." This is supposed to be a great biography, and there's no question that Zelda Fitzgerald had an interesting (and difficult) life, but I just wasn't captivated. It was intriguing to learn that F. Scott Fitzgerald "borrowed" so much material from her letters and diaries, and their relationship was certainly a fascinating example of co-dependency. But I got bored. There was a lot of primary source material from her letters, his letters, her stories/books, and his. However, since they both essentially only wrote about themselves and their lives, the result was a lot of repetition. I confess that I only read the first sentence of each paragraph for the last 100 pages or so. All that said, one of my book-club members pointed out that for literary types, this book may be heaven-sent. Also, the depiction of Zelda's mental illness is very effective - you feel somewhat trapped in her frantic reality as you read. In the end, though, I say it wasn't for me.