Invented Lives: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

Lost Generation Trilogy #2

by James R. Mellow

Reconstructs the events in the marriage of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald and analyzes the legend of the Fitzgeralds in terms of the era and society in which they lived

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

569 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1984

About the author

James Robert Mellow was an American art critic and biographer.

Reviews

[Lisa Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mellow’s biographical account of the adventures and travails of Scott and Zelda is smooth reading. The author has deftly managed to give us the full, dizzying picture of the vast number of places and associations the Fitzgeralds packed into their short, chaotic lives without exhausting our interest in following their stories to their bitter ends.
Who were the Fitzgeralds? With the publication of Scott’s first novel, he and Zelda became the Golden Couple, dazzling New York with sunny looks and boozy Devil-May-Care ways, globetrotting and hobnobbing with Paris Cafe Society then heading south to party with the French Riviera set. All the big names of the 1920s literary expatriates are here, Hemingway, of course. This decade of drunken, wild escapades ended with a big crash in 1930 with Zelda’s commitment to a Swiss mental asylum and Scott’s descent into alcoholism.
We stick with these people because we care about them and want to understand what went so desperately wrong for two people gifted with such promise but who are genetically-damned to mental illness.

[Dawn Wallhausen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps the majority of my problems with this book lie in the fact that it doesn't cast its main characters as very likable people: F. Scott and Zelda come off as vain, self-centered, childish, irrational, plastic, and far too concerned with what others think of them. The fact that I didn't much like them as people (as they were portrayed) made it difficult for me to want to continue reading about them. It didn't much help that the author had a tendency to repeat himself. One could probably edit about 150 pages of material from this book and still manage to cover all of the main points the author wanted to make.

I did, however, find the portions about Fitzgerald's relationships with some of the other prominent authors of his day interesting.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive, well-researched, engaging and, ultimately, heartbreaking. Mellow's biography utilizes perfect selections of letters, diary entries, and wild anecdotes to explore the star couple's relationship from its beginning through its rocky decline. Like any Fitzgerald biography, it can get fuzzy and skips around as parties and alcoholic binges blur together, but that is possibly more of a commentary on Fitzgerald rather than Mellow. Even when it was difficult to tell when events occurred in relation to the stages of F. Scott and Zelda's relationship, Invented Lives was thoroughly entertaining and novel.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew the broad outlines of their lives but not the details that this book provides. I lost a lot of respect for F. Scott who was an angry drunk, treating those around him terribly when he was drunk, which was most of the time. He squandered his talent and wasted his years. I wish the book had delved into his thought-life more, but it does a solid job of presenting his life in a dispassionate manner.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those poor people. I knew the whole story but reading them fall apart is so tragic.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s dense, but the density is necessary to explain Mellows points so I can forgive that. It made the book a slog at some points, but it did flesh out who Scott and Zelda were. The disappointing part was that I liked them so much less by the end.

I empathized with the alcoholism which ruined them. Yet, there was also much in their lives, and with the writers of that generation in general, that reminded me of the “tech bros” of today. They were given lots of money to play with and insulated from the consequences. Many were not good people. Fitzgerald had talent, but not as much as others and rather than mature it, he wasted it.

He seems abusive, especially to Zelda when she had her mental breakdown and the blaming her for the nosedive of his career gets infuriating when it’s plain that it was due to his alcoholism.

They tried so hard to be happy and had all the tools for it, but they failed miserably at happiness.

I would be interested in a book about how they affected their daughter.

[Maranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly great dual biography of the Fitzgeralds!