okcartographer 's review for:

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2.0

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At times meandering, the novel characterizes (or satirizes?) Fitzgerald's signature Jazz Age with pompous, fragile, effusive and sardonic figures. Divided between prose, poetry, epistles, and stage directions, the novel grapples with themes of existential change and doubt-in-self at its best, while dismissing violence and tragedy at its worst. It was tough to chew and at its conclusion feels like Fitzgerald plugging his own stylistic dexterity. It's easy to now see Gatsby as a distillation of Paradise's multitudes.