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The Cut-Glass Bowl
"The Cut-Glass Bowl" is a short story by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in the May 1920 issue of Scribner's Magazine, and included later that year in his first short story collection Flappers and Philosophers.
25 pages, Unknown Binding
First published May 1, 1920
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314 people want to read
About the author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
2,103 books25.6k followersFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
July 20, 2018
"Evelyn, I'm going to give a present that's as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through."
Was it a curse or a coincidence that everything around Evelyn seems to crumble down? Her beauty fades, her relationship's in decline and all that was related to the infamous cut-glass bowl..
Remind me to never buy a cut-glass bowl or accept it as a gift, ever! 😂
Was it a curse or a coincidence that everything around Evelyn seems to crumble down? Her beauty fades, her relationship's in decline and all that was related to the infamous cut-glass bowl..
Remind me to never buy a cut-glass bowl or accept it as a gift, ever! 😂
August 6, 2023
People always put their stress or mental illness on object, it could be person or inanimate or a bowl.
This the idea which build a story on it.
It's good somehow.
This the idea which build a story on it.
It's good somehow.
September 26, 2019
I don’t know what I just read, didn’t feel like Fitzgerald!
February 1, 2022
Again, what is with all the anti-swede rhetoric……..?
SPOILER .
When glass bowls start verbally assaulting middle aged women it becomes difficult to keep turning the pages .
Other than that, it was a ‘I suppose I’ll keep reading because then I can update my progress on Goodreads’ book. My eyes dragged WEARILY from page to page. The most emotive movement I made was an exasperated eyeroll at the Meta Moment that Fitzgerald pulled out at the end
SPOILER .
When glass bowls start verbally assaulting middle aged women it becomes difficult to keep turning the pages .
Other than that, it was a ‘I suppose I’ll keep reading because then I can update my progress on Goodreads’ book. My eyes dragged WEARILY from page to page. The most emotive movement I made was an exasperated eyeroll at the Meta Moment that Fitzgerald pulled out at the end
August 14, 2022
"Evelyn, I'm going to give a present that's as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through."
Witnessing the skyfall of a family. The betrayal, change and decline. Understanding what beauty meant, how it fades and how affects persons. I enjoyed the symbolism behind the cut-glass age witch you learn about in the beggining.
"But by the time all this had happened the cut-glass age was over, anyway."
Witnessing the skyfall of a family. The betrayal, change and decline. Understanding what beauty meant, how it fades and how affects persons. I enjoyed the symbolism behind the cut-glass age witch you learn about in the beggining.
"But by the time all this had happened the cut-glass age was over, anyway."
October 31, 2025
"After the wedding the lunch-bowls were arranged in the sideboard with the big bowl in the centre; the glasses were set up in the china-closet; the candlesticks were put at both ends of things-- then the struggled for existence began."
🩷
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December 8, 2019
I happen to have thoroughly enjoyed this story - so much so that it surprised me to see a relatively low average for Fitzgerald. For anyone hesitant to read it given the reviews, I must disagree with the overwhelming sentiment that this piece did not feel like Fitzgerald. On the contrary, I found his descriptive passages and the overarching themes to be decidedly Fitzgerald-esque, even if they are not as fully realized in an early short story of his than they would be in a more mature and major work. The somewhat gothic elements are slightly uncharacteristic of him, but nonetheless I found it very creative to mark the passage of time and the unfolding of an unhappy relationship through an item as arbitrary and superficial as a cut-glass bowl. There is no inherent symbolism to the cut-glass bowl in general (rather, Fitzgerald ascribes his own meaning in this specific context) but I certainly think such an item effectively sets the turn-of-the-century, decadent zeitgeist (especially at the very beginning). I also found Evylyn's suspicion of alcohol particularly ironic considering the author's relationship with the stuff...anyway, I found this an enjoyable and worthwhile read, though it may not have been as profound or gobsmacking as some of Fitzgerald's other works.
December 20, 2015
You may read online here.
Opening lines:
There was a rough stone age and a smooth stone age and a bronze age, and many years afterward a cut-glass age. In the cut-glass age, when young ladies had persuaded young
men with long, curly mustaches to marry them, they sat down several months afterward and wrote thank-you notes for all sorts of cut-glass presents—punch-bowls, finger-bowls, dinner-glasses, wine-glasses, ice-cream dishes, bonbon dishes, decanters, and vases—for, though cut glass was nothing new in the nineties, it was then especially busy reflecting the dazzling light of fashion from the Back Bay to the fastnesses of the Middle West.
5* Tender Is the Night
5* The Great Gatsby
4* The Crack-Up
3* The Ice Palace
3* Babylon Revisited and Other Stories
4* The Last Tycoon
1* Thank You for the Light
3* Tales of the Jazz Age
3* Financing Finnegan
2* This Side of Paradise
2* An Alcoholic Case
2* Three hours between planes
4* The Beautiful and Damned
3* Head and Shoulders
3* The Cut Glass Bowl
TR Novels and Stories, 1920-1922
TR Flappers and Philosophers
Opening lines:
There was a rough stone age and a smooth stone age and a bronze age, and many years afterward a cut-glass age. In the cut-glass age, when young ladies had persuaded young
men with long, curly mustaches to marry them, they sat down several months afterward and wrote thank-you notes for all sorts of cut-glass presents—punch-bowls, finger-bowls, dinner-glasses, wine-glasses, ice-cream dishes, bonbon dishes, decanters, and vases—for, though cut glass was nothing new in the nineties, it was then especially busy reflecting the dazzling light of fashion from the Back Bay to the fastnesses of the Middle West.
5* Tender Is the Night
5* The Great Gatsby
4* The Crack-Up
3* The Ice Palace
3* Babylon Revisited and Other Stories
4* The Last Tycoon
1* Thank You for the Light
3* Tales of the Jazz Age
3* Financing Finnegan
2* This Side of Paradise
2* An Alcoholic Case
2* Three hours between planes
4* The Beautiful and Damned
3* Head and Shoulders
3* The Cut Glass Bowl
TR Novels and Stories, 1920-1922
TR Flappers and Philosophers
July 22, 2015
I love that he can explain how extremely important beauty is in our lives in just so many little pages. How i person can be unwanted and depressed as she become older and how a person can feel left out, sad and depressed with an artifical hand. And i hate that even these story was writen so many years ago, these things havent changed.
September 24, 2019
This is a short story in Scott Fitzgerald’s Book Flappers and Philosophers.
Fitzgerald starts exploring his themes of the unrealized dreams inherent to middle age. This theme reaches maturity and fruition in The Great Gatsby.
He gets quite heavy handed and states these themes with no subtlety at the end of the story. This is understandable given that this is a very early story of his and he’s still finding his sea legs.
Fitzgerald starts exploring his themes of the unrealized dreams inherent to middle age. This theme reaches maturity and fruition in The Great Gatsby.
He gets quite heavy handed and states these themes with no subtlety at the end of the story. This is understandable given that this is a very early story of his and he’s still finding his sea legs.
October 15, 2024
fitzgerald is intimidated by women
August 11, 2025
Fitzgerald’s writing style isn’t my favorite here as he gets a little lost in his own story, but the story itself is good. Fitzgerald believes that fate is about the only thing that can stop the rich from having it all. If Evylyn herself were maybe a bit more sympathetic or likable, I may have enjoyed the story more.
The structure of events (deaths emotional, physical, and spiritual) is really damn good.
The structure of events (deaths emotional, physical, and spiritual) is really damn good.
April 8, 2017
A little pretentious at the end but it was OK
July 31, 2021
An interesting short story, whose subtlety dissipates with each page. I like watching Evelyn's decline (I'm not a psychopath I promise) and like how she psychologically links each step in her downfall to the titular 'cut-glass bowl'. It just gets a bit obvious and overstated by the end.
May 10, 2016
The Cut Glass Bowl is another remarkable short story by Fitzgerald. Man, he just writes so beautifully. I changed upon a small novella, Penguin Modern Classics (Grey Covers) which contain three of Fitzgerald's short stories. By far, the Cut Glass Bowl is my favorite. It's about the story of a lady Evelyn and a cursed glass bowl that she owns. How the bowl manages to function in all of her major life turning events is so well woven in the story, and yet retains its stand. Sigh. Worth a read people!
June 3, 2017
Not one of my favorite F. Scott short stories, because of the depressing and intriguing plot. However, I love the way he describes Eve's beauty and delivers her emotions. " And this was probably because of the qualities in her beauty that women had feared and men had followed had vanished. Her eyes were still as large and as dark and as sad, but the mystery had departed; their sadness was no longer eternal, only human.." The bowl and its role in this story haunts me for weeks, as well as the curse that Eve brought to herself. This totally worth a read though I do not fancy it that much.
June 25, 2016
God, Fitzgerald just has a way with words. Some of the imagery and sentences in here are so gorgeous. The only two flaws with this story is that I had a really confusing time at first and the curse really feels like a perverse nice-guy fantasy, if that makes any sense (without giving it away).
For a full review of F. Scott Fitzgerald's stories and more, check it out here.
For a full review of F. Scott Fitzgerald's stories and more, check it out here.
May 11, 2016
Life had been the sum of her current love affairs/ it was now the sum of her current problems/the flight of time and the end of beauty/unfulfilled desire/all the accidents and the little minutes -they made up the crucial hours/radiating divine vagueness that helps lift beauty out of time/ great walls bear down/ 100 prisms, myriad many colored glints and gleams and crossings and interlacing a of light-- little gleams of blue
January 8, 2011
The tale of Mrs. Piper and a cursed cut-glass bowl given to her as a gift from a former boyfriend, who described it as hard, beautiful, empty, and easy to see through...
February 17, 2016
The tragic tale of a family and a cursed cut glass bowl. Fitzgerald's vivid descriptions are spellbinding.
August 10, 2021
Not his best work, it almost felt like it didn’t conclude properly….
April 17, 2020
3-3.5*
“The Cut-Glass Bowl” was Published in 1920 initially in Scribner Magazine and then later in 1920 as part of the collection Flappers and Philosophers. These short stories along with F. Scott Fitzgeralds first novel This Side of Paradise, also published in 1920, are the forerunners to the themes he would write about throughout this life – despair, loss, aspiration, optimism, excesses and glitter. Fitzgerald knew and observed them firsthand in a decade he daubed “the greatest, the gaudiest spree in history” – a decade which became known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties. He was part of a group of writers known as the “Lost Generation”.
The “Lost Generation” was a term generally given to those in their twenties and thirties who had seen such horrors in WWI – the ‘Great War’ – that they had become disillusioned and turned to a more materialistic, care-free way of life. Whilst in literature, the “Lost Generation” refers to a group of American, several of whom emigrated to Europe, writers and poets (both men and women) of this period. The most famous members were Gertrude Stein – who is often credited as coining this phrase, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“The Cut-Glass Bowl” gives us Evylyn Piper, a New York housewife whose domestic tragedies and disappointments are connected by a single, insidious object. Whilst it is an everyday object the cut glass bowl is also a reflection of its owners troubles.
She and Harold had been given the bowl as a wedding present by a previous suitor of Evylyn. The bowl had not been given with joy but more as a slight on Evylyn – he had told her ‘Evylyn, I’m going to give a present that’s as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through.’ He obviously felt so rejected by Evylyn for choosing another over him, someone who she felt might better provide for her.
It is the bowl that seems to mark each tragedy that comes to Evylyn and Harold from that time on – marriage difficulties, the loss of her daughter’s hand, a disastrous dinner and a war notification.
It is an interesting and rather sad tale which certainly embodies a number of Fitzgerald’s themes. As an early piece it is, perhaps, not as polished as later writing. Mind you his breakthrough novel This Side of Paradise was also published in 1920 to acclaim so that may be a touch unfair. Short story writing is a wonderful thing when done well. Fitzgerald had many short stories published not only bringing in much needed income but surely affirming his ability as a writer of this form?
What I enjoyed as much as anything is reading beyond the story itself – about Fitzgerald, about the themes behind his stories. Which made me feel that he was a man of his time and he wrote of that time and the characters he knew. I enjoyed The Cut-Glass Bowl and what it opened up to me about a specific period of history and those, like Fitzgerald, who shared their observations and thoughts on it. So, in case you feel the same, I have put a number of links below* for you to check out and I do hope find interesting and enjoy.
Whilst I’m not sure if I’ve pushed the boundary, just a touch, on what is acceptable to the #1920Club challenge by choosing a short story but I have certainly enjoyed taking part.
*for list see: https://lovebooksreadbooks.com/2020/0...
“The Cut-Glass Bowl” was Published in 1920 initially in Scribner Magazine and then later in 1920 as part of the collection Flappers and Philosophers. These short stories along with F. Scott Fitzgeralds first novel This Side of Paradise, also published in 1920, are the forerunners to the themes he would write about throughout this life – despair, loss, aspiration, optimism, excesses and glitter. Fitzgerald knew and observed them firsthand in a decade he daubed “the greatest, the gaudiest spree in history” – a decade which became known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties. He was part of a group of writers known as the “Lost Generation”.
The “Lost Generation” was a term generally given to those in their twenties and thirties who had seen such horrors in WWI – the ‘Great War’ – that they had become disillusioned and turned to a more materialistic, care-free way of life. Whilst in literature, the “Lost Generation” refers to a group of American, several of whom emigrated to Europe, writers and poets (both men and women) of this period. The most famous members were Gertrude Stein – who is often credited as coining this phrase, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“The Cut-Glass Bowl” gives us Evylyn Piper, a New York housewife whose domestic tragedies and disappointments are connected by a single, insidious object. Whilst it is an everyday object the cut glass bowl is also a reflection of its owners troubles.
She and Harold had been given the bowl as a wedding present by a previous suitor of Evylyn. The bowl had not been given with joy but more as a slight on Evylyn – he had told her ‘Evylyn, I’m going to give a present that’s as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through.’ He obviously felt so rejected by Evylyn for choosing another over him, someone who she felt might better provide for her.
It is the bowl that seems to mark each tragedy that comes to Evylyn and Harold from that time on – marriage difficulties, the loss of her daughter’s hand, a disastrous dinner and a war notification.
It is an interesting and rather sad tale which certainly embodies a number of Fitzgerald’s themes. As an early piece it is, perhaps, not as polished as later writing. Mind you his breakthrough novel This Side of Paradise was also published in 1920 to acclaim so that may be a touch unfair. Short story writing is a wonderful thing when done well. Fitzgerald had many short stories published not only bringing in much needed income but surely affirming his ability as a writer of this form?
What I enjoyed as much as anything is reading beyond the story itself – about Fitzgerald, about the themes behind his stories. Which made me feel that he was a man of his time and he wrote of that time and the characters he knew. I enjoyed The Cut-Glass Bowl and what it opened up to me about a specific period of history and those, like Fitzgerald, who shared their observations and thoughts on it. So, in case you feel the same, I have put a number of links below* for you to check out and I do hope find interesting and enjoy.
Whilst I’m not sure if I’ve pushed the boundary, just a touch, on what is acceptable to the #1920Club challenge by choosing a short story but I have certainly enjoyed taking part.
*for list see: https://lovebooksreadbooks.com/2020/0...
August 6, 2025
The story follows Evangeline Knight, a once beautiful woman who receives a cut-glass bowl as a wedding gift. Each episode aligns with a moment in which the bowl plays a role, either literally or symbolically, in her downfall. The cut-glass bowl itself is the central symbol, representing both superficial beauty and emotional coldness.
The story strips the upper-middle class of respectability. Evy's marriage, status, and appearance are revealed to be illusions that hide betrayal, disappointment, and guilt. This is a critique of the American Dream and the futility of pursuing idealised beauty or status, reinforcing the idea that beauty without depth is ultimately destructive.
The author employs a third-person omniscient narrator, with the bowl appearing at key moments, almost like acts in a tragic play. The prose is elegant, and Fitzgerald doesn't over-explain; rather, he leaves room for interpretation. He uses the bowl to question the dangers of valuing surface over substance, whether in people, relationships, or social aspirations.
The Cut-Glass Bowl is a powerful story that explores how beauty, pride, and emotional coldness can lead to quiet personal ruin. Fitzgerald offers a critique of material values, gender roles, and the illusion of control.
The story strips the upper-middle class of respectability. Evy's marriage, status, and appearance are revealed to be illusions that hide betrayal, disappointment, and guilt. This is a critique of the American Dream and the futility of pursuing idealised beauty or status, reinforcing the idea that beauty without depth is ultimately destructive.
The author employs a third-person omniscient narrator, with the bowl appearing at key moments, almost like acts in a tragic play. The prose is elegant, and Fitzgerald doesn't over-explain; rather, he leaves room for interpretation. He uses the bowl to question the dangers of valuing surface over substance, whether in people, relationships, or social aspirations.
The Cut-Glass Bowl is a powerful story that explores how beauty, pride, and emotional coldness can lead to quiet personal ruin. Fitzgerald offers a critique of material values, gender roles, and the illusion of control.
November 29, 2023
3.5 stars. Interesting premise of a story which revolves around the gifting of a cut-glass bowl being the tragic downfall of this American family. I have lots of thoughts on the ending of this story but can’t seem to find the words yet.
Favorite lines:
“After the wedding the punch bowls were arranged in the side board with the big bowl in the centre; the glasses were set up in the china closet; the candlesticks were put at both ends of things—and then the struggle for existence began.”
“Radiating that divine vagueness that helps to lift the beauty out of time.”
“Yet, like all men who are preoccupied with their own broadness, he was exceptionally narrow.”
And finally from the last page…
“You see, I am fate…I am the flight of time and the end of beauty and unfulfilled desire; all the accidents and imperfections and the little minutes that shape the crucial hours are mine. I am the exception that proves no rules, the limits of your control, the condiment in the dish of life.”
oh how I love you Fitzgerald 🥰
Favorite lines:
“After the wedding the punch bowls were arranged in the side board with the big bowl in the centre; the glasses were set up in the china closet; the candlesticks were put at both ends of things—and then the struggle for existence began.”
“Radiating that divine vagueness that helps to lift the beauty out of time.”
“Yet, like all men who are preoccupied with their own broadness, he was exceptionally narrow.”
And finally from the last page…
“You see, I am fate…I am the flight of time and the end of beauty and unfulfilled desire; all the accidents and imperfections and the little minutes that shape the crucial hours are mine. I am the exception that proves no rules, the limits of your control, the condiment in the dish of life.”
oh how I love you Fitzgerald 🥰
December 4, 2025
"...then the struggle for existence begins. "
This is a story that theoretically shouldn't work. I mean seriously, a cut-glass bowl serving as a metaphor for the failure of lives lived.
Yet somehow, it is its mere pedestrian glamour, that makes the subtle horror of its presence, an object to be feared. An object of unstated horror, lurking in the heart of an aspiring, socially ambitious family.
A bowl of glass through which one can see through the shallowness of their aspirations. The emptiness of their moral fiber. And the hypocrisy of their flatulent dreams.
It's actually a fun read in fashion. The Pippers are not particularly likable characters and it's kind of fun to sit back, and watch with cynical amusement the slow disintegration of the Piper family and their dreams of aspiration.
This is a story that theoretically shouldn't work. I mean seriously, a cut-glass bowl serving as a metaphor for the failure of lives lived.
Yet somehow, it is its mere pedestrian glamour, that makes the subtle horror of its presence, an object to be feared. An object of unstated horror, lurking in the heart of an aspiring, socially ambitious family.
A bowl of glass through which one can see through the shallowness of their aspirations. The emptiness of their moral fiber. And the hypocrisy of their flatulent dreams.
It's actually a fun read in fashion. The Pippers are not particularly likable characters and it's kind of fun to sit back, and watch with cynical amusement the slow disintegration of the Piper family and their dreams of aspiration.
August 2, 2017
This was a depressing story about Evelyn, a wife and mother, who cannot stop horrible things from happening to her family despite her cautious efforts to help them and herself avoid discomfort. Fitzgerald seems to comment on the beautiful way that life hurts us while also seeming meaningless and empty like that cut-glass bowl. In the end, Evelyn breaks the bowl in her grief after receiving a letter that her son died at war and seems to have killed herself in the process. This makes the bowl a poignant symbol of her hard, beautiful, empty, and painful life.
Evelyn seems to give the "bowl" power over her mentality by personifying it into an evil god-like figure who is out to harm her.
Evelyn seems to give the "bowl" power over her mentality by personifying it into an evil god-like figure who is out to harm her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2020
The Cut-Glass Bowl by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a relatively short story, but its sketchy plot contains an entire life. This story with a hint of mysticism centered around a crystal bowl presented to the main character Evelyn by her former admirer, whom she rejected for another man. All the troubles taking place in the life of this woman, one way or another, are directly or indirectly related to this bowl.
It is an interesting story. There is nothing superfluous in it - a minimum of secondary characters, events and thoughts. The narrative is like a good short movie, everything is clear and meaningful.
It is an interesting story. There is nothing superfluous in it - a minimum of secondary characters, events and thoughts. The narrative is like a good short movie, everything is clear and meaningful.
September 4, 2021
“Under it, walked all people, and the light that came through to them was refracted and twisted until shadow seemed light and light seemed shadow - until the whole panorama of the world became changed and distorted under the twinkling heaven of the bowl.”
September 29, 2023
✅ wonderful writing, vivid, wise, cynical
✅ life-span of a marriage
✅ emptiness and supposedly perfect family life
✅ so little said in this short story and yet everything is said
✅ life-span of a marriage
✅ emptiness and supposedly perfect family life
✅ so little said in this short story and yet everything is said
October 27, 2024
Again, I'm searching for meaning in this story... Yes, it's a story, but; why tell it. Is Fitzgerald the sitcom writer prior to TV? Do people just watch the other fictional lives of people in their minds-eye at his time. Who reads this, there's no twist... no motivation... for me anyway.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews