joynerperez 's review for:

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2.0

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I wanted to like this book on the simple basis that I loved The Great Gatsby (possibly my favorite novel). Unfortunately, unlike Gatsby, this novel never really grasps you. The prose is still beautifully constructed, but mostly the main character just meanders on with no real purpose. Characters come in and out that I never really care about. I heard the message loud and clear, but that's mostly because Fitzgerald drove it home bluntly with a 2x4 to the head at the end of the book.