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A review by astoriedsoul
Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck
2.0
I've been on a binge-reading spree lately regarding anything about Zelda Fitzgerald--I don't really know why. I guess it started with my reading of Therese Anne Fowler's Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, and it snowballed from there. I picked up both the paperback and audio book for Erika Robuck's Call Me Zelda, thinking it would offer more insight into Zelda's final years, since the Fowler's focused more on the years before Zelda's committal to a hospital. While it delivered on this front, it fell short on many others.
I'll say now that I really, really wanted to love this book--but it turned out to just be "ok." First, the point of view just doesn't work. The story is told from Anna's perspective, Zelda's nurse, so Zelda takes a complete backseat to the story. I couldn't connect with Anna, at all. I found her rather two-dimensional and faceless, a bit of a Mary Sue, and this limited my ability to immerse myself in this story. Anna's narrative also limits how much we get to know the Fitzgeralds, because her perspective is limited to what she sees and learns from Zelda. A more omniscient third-person perspective would have been better suited for this story. It would allow readers an unbiased and in-depth look into the emotions, psyches, and inner-workings of each character. Anna doesn't know Scott, but only learns about him through Zelda and limited interaction. She's not a historical figure anyway as far as I know, so this just didn't sit well with me. What resulted was a very biased and unfavorable characterization of Scott. I may not be a fan of his (though I love his work), but I want him represented fairly, and I don't feel this was allowed because of Anna's point of view.
This is my second complaint about this book: Scott's portrayal. It seems in this narrative that he can do nothing right and that he's just a nasty, self-centered man focused on his novels. This isn't entirely true according to historical record and personal documents. Scott loved Zelda and she him. Yes, they had marital problems, but this is what makes their relationship real and what has made it last in stories and in literary history for decades. I am of the camp that believes Zelda's "madness" was more due to patriarchal structures of the time, brought about by some of Scott's actions and behaviors (chronic depression brought about by being forbidden to create and be herself, nothing more), but Scott is not without good qualities. He wants to do the right thing, to get her well, and he will do whatever it takes to have "his Zelda" back. That's heartbreaking for how much love is behind that. He does what he thinks is best based on what he knows and what was available at the time; Anna is incapable of seeing past the frustrations and her blinded perception of him. There's always two sides to every story, and domestic strife is a new level of issue, which is never black and white. This isn't even considered in this narrative. Sp, I felt, in all, that Scott's portrayal was completely unfair. I wasn't overly happy with the portrayal of Zelda either for similar reasons regarding Scott's portrayal. Zelda just comes across as a madwoman, and she falls rather flat in the narrative. Moreover, she becomes something of an object--something or someone people talk about, but that's it. This novel carries her namesake, so I'd expect her to be the focus, but she takes a complete backseat to Anna's musings.
Overall, I was hoping this novel would bring something new to the realm of biography, fiction, and scholarship on Zelda Fitzgerald, but it didn't. It was just a basic, self-reflective journey on the part of the narrator as she comes to terms with her own life. The Fitzgeralds just serve as the tools with which to do this. It wasn't groundbreaking. However, to be fair, it wasn't a bad novel either. I enjoyed it for what it was--it was an entertaining weekend read, and a novel that was nice to have in the car on audio book for my daily commutes to and from work. But, if you're looking for a work of biographical fiction that offers great insight into the stunning and interesting figure of Zelda Fitzgerald, pick up Therese Anne Fowler's novel, or pick of Nancy Milford's Zelda: A Biography.
This review originally appeared on my website: The Literarium
I'll say now that I really, really wanted to love this book--but it turned out to just be "ok." First, the point of view just doesn't work. The story is told from Anna's perspective, Zelda's nurse, so Zelda takes a complete backseat to the story. I couldn't connect with Anna, at all. I found her rather two-dimensional and faceless, a bit of a Mary Sue, and this limited my ability to immerse myself in this story. Anna's narrative also limits how much we get to know the Fitzgeralds, because her perspective is limited to what she sees and learns from Zelda. A more omniscient third-person perspective would have been better suited for this story. It would allow readers an unbiased and in-depth look into the emotions, psyches, and inner-workings of each character. Anna doesn't know Scott, but only learns about him through Zelda and limited interaction. She's not a historical figure anyway as far as I know, so this just didn't sit well with me. What resulted was a very biased and unfavorable characterization of Scott. I may not be a fan of his (though I love his work), but I want him represented fairly, and I don't feel this was allowed because of Anna's point of view.
This is my second complaint about this book: Scott's portrayal. It seems in this narrative that he can do nothing right and that he's just a nasty, self-centered man focused on his novels. This isn't entirely true according to historical record and personal documents. Scott loved Zelda and she him. Yes, they had marital problems, but this is what makes their relationship real and what has made it last in stories and in literary history for decades. I am of the camp that believes Zelda's "madness" was more due to patriarchal structures of the time, brought about by some of Scott's actions and behaviors (chronic depression brought about by being forbidden to create and be herself, nothing more), but Scott is not without good qualities. He wants to do the right thing, to get her well, and he will do whatever it takes to have "his Zelda" back. That's heartbreaking for how much love is behind that. He does what he thinks is best based on what he knows and what was available at the time; Anna is incapable of seeing past the frustrations and her blinded perception of him. There's always two sides to every story, and domestic strife is a new level of issue, which is never black and white. This isn't even considered in this narrative. Sp, I felt, in all, that Scott's portrayal was completely unfair. I wasn't overly happy with the portrayal of Zelda either for similar reasons regarding Scott's portrayal. Zelda just comes across as a madwoman, and she falls rather flat in the narrative. Moreover, she becomes something of an object--something or someone people talk about, but that's it. This novel carries her namesake, so I'd expect her to be the focus, but she takes a complete backseat to Anna's musings.
Overall, I was hoping this novel would bring something new to the realm of biography, fiction, and scholarship on Zelda Fitzgerald, but it didn't. It was just a basic, self-reflective journey on the part of the narrator as she comes to terms with her own life. The Fitzgeralds just serve as the tools with which to do this. It wasn't groundbreaking. However, to be fair, it wasn't a bad novel either. I enjoyed it for what it was--it was an entertaining weekend read, and a novel that was nice to have in the car on audio book for my daily commutes to and from work. But, if you're looking for a work of biographical fiction that offers great insight into the stunning and interesting figure of Zelda Fitzgerald, pick up Therese Anne Fowler's novel, or pick of Nancy Milford's Zelda: A Biography.
This review originally appeared on my website: The Literarium