The Early Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is a collection of the earliest works of F. Scott Fitzgerald; each were written prior to his most known work, "The Great Gatsby." This edition includes an active table of contents to help you easily find the work you are looking for.

Included works:

Novels:
This Side of Paradise
The Beautiful and the Damned

Short Story Collections:
Flappers and Philosophers
Tales of the Jazz Age (which includes "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")

This book is annotated and includes biography about the life and times of Fitzgerald and critical essays on major works is also included.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, Literature, Ebooks

1285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

Francis 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.

Reviews

[Jovana Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best spent 14 dollars in 2020. Okay, one of the best spent 14 dollars in general.

The thing with Fitzgerald is that his writing takes me to another world, the aesthetic of his writing is something I admire a lot; all the work he puts into the form, polishing it until we get perfection. He is one of those writers that use a careful selection of words that in a small amount of space(pages) tells a lot and lingers in your mind.

➔Some themes, motifs, and characters you will find in these stories:

The Flapper✔

Conflicting feelings about religion(Catholicism)✔

Tragic love✔

Irony✔

Hope and longing for what is gone✔

South vs North ✔

➔ Benediction

“Well, he and I were talking about sweetness a few weeks ago. Oh, I don’t know — I said that a man named Howard — that a man I knew was sweet, and he didn’t agree with me, and we began talking about what sweetness in a man was: He kept telling me I meant a sort of soppy softness, but I knew I didn’t — yet I didn’t know exactly how to put it. I see now. I meant just the opposite. I suppose real sweetness is a sort of hardness — and strength.”

*******

“I used to build dreams about you. A man has to have something living to cling to.”

One of the stories I liked the least in this collection. It’s a story about a 19-year-old Lois, visiting her brother who she hasn’t seen for 17 years, ever since he has gone training to be a priest. They discuss religion and what it takes to be a good priest, and how people aren’t religious anymore. The story left me neutral after reading, since it leaves a lot of the things unsaid.

2,5/5

➔ Head and Shoulders

"But life hadn’t come that way. Life took hold of people and forced them into flying rings. He laughed to think of that rap at his door, the diaphanous shadow in Hume, Marcia’s threatened kiss.

“And it’s still me,” he said aloud in wonder as he lay awake in the darkness. “I’m the man who sat in Berkeley with temerity to wonder if that rap would have had actual existence had my ear not been there to hear it. I’m still that man. I could be electrocuted for the crimes he committed.
“Poor gauzy souls trying to express ourselves in something tangible. Marcia with her written book; I with my unwritten ones. Trying to choose our mediums and then taking what we get — and being glad.”

The delicious irony in this one. I loved it. Definitely a story that stays with the reader, it gets even more tragi-comic when you tie the characters to Fitzgerald and Zelda.

Clearly a 5/5 for me.

➔ The Ice palace

" You’ve a place in my heart no one else ever could have, but tied down here I’d get restless. I’d feel I was — wastin’ myself. There’s two sides to me, you see. There’s the sleepy old side you love an’ there’s a sort of energy — the feeling that makes me do wild things. That’s the part of me that may be useful somewhere, that’ll last when I’m not beautiful any more.”

Now this one. It resonated with my southern soul a lot. The difference between North and South is striking in any country it seems; This story also tied it down to the Flapper Sally Carrol Happer, which is one of his iconic flappers.

5/5 for relatability and South/North Polarisation.

➔ Bernice bobs her hair

“People over forty can seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.”

Social competition + pettiness = a fun story with a snappy ending and a message about how hypocritical society can be.

4,5/5.

➔ The Offshore pirate

“Courage—just that; courage as a rule of life, and something to cling to always. I began to build up this enormous faith in myself. I began to see that in all my idols in the past some manifestation of courage had unconsciously been the thing that attracted me. I began separating courage from the other things of life. All sorts of courage—the beaten, bloody prize-fighter coming up for more—I used to make men take me to prize-fights; the déclassé woman sailing through a nest of cats and looking at them as if they were mud under her feet; the liking what you like always; the utter disregard for other people's opinions—just to live as I liked always and to die in my own way…”

One of those stories that has elements that generally work together – a flapper sassy main female character, a kidnapping, a love story, and a twist at the end. Although not my favorite from the collection, the story is charming.

3/5.

➔ May Day

“Just that. I was always queer — little bit different from other boys. All right in college, but now it’s all wrong. Things have been snapping inside me for four months like little hooks on a dress, and it’s about to come off when a few more hooks go. I’m very gradually going loony.”

The lengthiest in the collection, this story used May day riots as a historical context and well.. I am not well educated in that part of American history, so it was tough for me to get through, will return to this one in the future for a reread when I have more info on the topic.

➔ The Jelly Bean

This story left me indifferent, overall wasn’t a bad story but compared to the other stories from this collection it falls into the background.
2/5.

➔ The Diamond as big as the Ritz

“Under the stars,” she repeated. “I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to some one. Now they frighten me. They make me feel that it was all a dream, all my youth.”

“It was a dream,” said John quietly. “Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.”
“How pleasant then to be insane!”

I loved everything about this. The fantastical elements were incorporated in such a good way into the story. I want to read Benjamin Button now, because damn.
4,5/5

➔ Winter dreams

"The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him. In a sort of panic he pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes and tried to bring up a picture of the waters lapping on SherryIsland and the moonlit veranda, and gingham on the golf-links and the dry sun and the gold color of her neck’s soft down. And her mouth damp to his kisses and her eyes plaintive with melancholy and her freshness like new fine linen in the morning. Why, these things were no longer in the world! They had existed and they existed no longer.

For the first time in years the tears were streaming down his face. But they were for himself now. He did not care about mouth and eyes and moving hands. He wanted to care, and he could not care. For he had gone away and he could never go back any more. The gates were closed, the sun was gone down, and there was no beauty but the gray beauty of steel that withstands all time. Even the grief he could have borne was left behind in the country of illusion, of youth, of the richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished.

“Long ago,” he said, “long ago, there was something in me, but now that thing is gone. Now that thing is gone, that thing is gone. I cannot cry. I cannot care. That thing will come back no more.”

A mixture of Gatsby-esque main character and love story with elements of Fitzgerald’s own life and with his reoccurring theme of longing for what is gone – what’s there not to love?
5/5

➔ Absolution

Another story that centers around religion, reminds me a lot of The sisters by James Joyce. However, I don’t connect with those types of stories a lot, so they leave me cold
3/5.

Overall, I am not disappointed by this collection, would recommend it to any Fitzgerald lover, off to find Tales of the Jazz Age, because apparently, this man can’t do bad.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fitzgerald has never let me down. Review to come.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've read The Great Gatsby, don't bother reading these stories, as you'll find the same theme in all of them. Fitzgerald was in his twenties when he wrote most of them and they're all concerned with the feelings of inadequacy young people feel when they start becoming seriously interested in the opposite sex - particularly when they feel they've had fewer advantages than others and don't quite measure up. Many of us go through that, but I wonder how many would want to read about it over and over and over.

[Matthew Tallon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's weird reading this from when Fitzgerald was writing to make ends meet, cos one story will be incredibly beautiful and cool and incisive about the intersection between class and interior consciousness, and then the next one will be about a zany pirate named Carlyle.

[Roxana Sabau · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been exactly two hours since I finished it and I swear I can't remember the plot of a single one of these short stories. The man did grow to be a literary genius so maybe these were just sketches that were never supposed to see the light.

[Elena L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like people who say he only wrote about romance didn’t read the whole book

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these short stories. The first story in the collection, "Benediction," was my least favorite - the motivations of the characters were a little too opaque. I'm glad I continued reading, however, since there were a number of great stories in this book. I particularly enjoyed two stories for their humor: "Head and Shoulders" (light and amusing) and "May Day" (dark, but with a very funny - and true - sequence involving two drunk young men). "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" was also very funny and a wonderful character study.
I didn't particularly enjoy "Winter Dreams," but it was interesting to read the story as a sort of proto-Gatsby tale. Also, "The Ice Palace" should be required reading for anyone who wants to move to the Upper Midwest - Fitzgerald knew his people very well!
Overall a very strong short story collection.

[Lilanthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of short and not so short stories. Took me a while to get through them all but I enjoyed being transported to another world with each one!
Some quotes that I would like to remember:

Benediction:
A story about a girl who goes to visit her Seminarian brother whom she hasn’t seen in a very long time.
“What is more beautiful than the landscape of loss? What is more heart-breaking, more haunting, more romantic?”
“I used to build dreams about you. A man has to have something living to cling to.”
Head and shoulders:
“Poor gauzy souls trying to express ourselves in something tangible. Marcia with her written book; I with my unwritten ones. Trying to choose our mediums and then taking what we get—and being glad.”
THE ICE PALACE:
The Opening line: “The sunlight dripped over the house like golden paint over an art jar,”
“I couldn’t ever marry you. You’ve a place in my heart no one else ever could have, but tied down here I’d get restless. I’d feel I was—wastin’ myself. There’s two sides to me, you see. There’s the sleepy old side you love; an’ there’s a sort of energy—the feelin’ that makes me do wild things. That’s the part of me that may be useful somewhere, that’ll last when I’m not beautiful anymore.”
Was it all a dream?

BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR:
“People over forty can seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.”
Story started slow….works out to a jolly good and thrilling ending!

THE OFFSHORE PIRATE:
“All life is just a progression toward, and then a recession from, one phrase—‘I love you.”

MAY DAY: The longest story, couldn't get through. Listened to the book and the monotonous voice made it even more boring.
THE JELLY-BEAN: It was like watching an old movie!
THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ:
“Under the stars,” she repeated. “I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to someone. Now they frighten me. They make me feel that it was all a dream, all my youth.”

“It was a dream,” said John quietly. “Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.”
“How pleasant then to be insane!”
WINTER DREAMS
"The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him. In a sort of panic he pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes and tried to bring up a picture of the waters lapping on SherryIsland and the moonlit veranda, and gingham on the golf-links and the dry sun and the gold color of her neck’s soft down. And her mouth damp to his kisses and her eyes plaintive with melancholy and her freshness like new fine linen in the morning. Why, these things were no longer in the world! They had existed and they existed no longer.

For the first time in years the tears were streaming down his face. But they were for himself now. He did not care about mouth and eyes and moving hands. He wanted to care, and he could not care. For he had gone away and he could never go back any more. The gates were closed, the sun was gone down, and there was no beauty but the gray beauty of steel that withstands all time. Even the grief he could have borne was left behind in the country of illusion, of youth, of the richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished.

“Long ago,” he said, “long ago, there was something in me, but now that thing is gone. Now that thing is gone, that thing is gone. I cannot cry. I cannot care. That thing will come back no more.”

Absolution: All so real feelings of youth in the midst of rigid Catholic beliefs, confession and contrition!

[Utpal Pathak · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I began reading this marvelous collection of Fitzgerald's early works, I came to realize why I love him so darn much, and why I shouldn't waste my time with anyone else!
He has a knack for writing about failures of human beings that no-one else ever had, or no other writer ever will have. My goodness, the way this man talks about failures and miseries of a wretched being makes you wanna weep!
Some stories were so darn dauntingly delirious that it made me feel like I could go on reading them till the end of times and still won't get bored!
Fitzgerald holds a power over my soul and everything I am, he makes me feel alive and understood, and it's no wonder that if I had one wish in life, it'd be to sit down with him and have a conversation about life and stuff!

[Himanshi Yadav · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed these stories even though most of them followed the same themes- idealism, dreams, longing for youth, the modern flapper as heroine, and the spoiled crashing world of riches. I particularly loved May Day, Winter Dreams, The Ice Palace and Head and Shoulders. May Day being the best from the collection, follows a unique and raw portrayal of the political tension at the end of world war I, intermingling various plots and characters to end in a shocking revelation. Each of the story is beautifully written and somehow reflecting on the superficiality of the world around him, Fitzgerald sympathises, condemns and ridicules the same world he desperately wanted to be a part of, which is why his stories are filled with sharp sardonic wit and poignancy.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Done with most some of the stories here, as they were in Flappers and Philosophers. Methinks the Fitzgeralds (Yes--Zelda too, as indicated in an essay she contributes toward the end of this book) are overdoing this focus on the flapper as a curiosity unique to that particular era (to be replaced by the vapid Valley Girl of today?). Anyhow, as with Flappers and Philosophers, two stories stand out here: the hilarious Head and Shoulders, and Bernice Bobs Her Hair (I applaud the ending--brava, Bernice!). And dated as the plot may be by today's standards, Benediction stands out for its disturbing end--we WANT to know if Lois kept her tryst with her lover!

[Msol · Rating 4 out of 5]

En realidad me refiero a "Cuentos rebeldes" pero no lo encontré en Goodreads (quizás esté en inglés) por lo tanto anoto mi reseña en este que me parece el más similar.
Personajes a cual más superficial pero que llegan a caer bien. No había leído nada de Fitzgerald y no me disgustó para nada a pesar de que los relatos cortos no me atraen.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fitzgerald is one of my favorite writers, but reading these short stories in succession felt more thematic than it should, which was disappointing for me. It's like Fitzgerald has only one perspective and can't think past it. Alas.

[David Blankenship · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even at an early age Fitzgerald's writing style was amazing. But the stories? Not so great. They are often uneven and meandering. Yes, there are things worth reading here, but they strike me as unfinished most of the time.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Megan Umansky · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very slow read that requires lots of attention. Some great short stories in the collection I must say, but the rest was a bore.

[Craig Mellor]

The story about the bobbed haircut, loved it! Didn't read the rest though.

[Nene · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never even liked Fitzgerald at his prime.

I don't know what convinced me I'd enjoy his early works.

This was my personal hell.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't actually read that much Fitzgerald (yet), but a thought that occurred to me--one that I haven't subjected to much analysis but that I'll mention anyway--is that Hemingway and Fitzgerald are sort of a Lennon and McCartney for their era. Paul McCartney can grate on me sometimes. He can be too cutesy--sort of like listening to The Boston Pops. McCartney seems to want to ingratiate. Lennon is darker and has more bite. This is all a bit simplistic of course, but overall McCartney paints prettier, but not necessarily better, pictures. In the end I like some McCartney, but prefer Lennon. I think I feel similarly about Hemingway and Fitzgerald (where Hemingway=Lennon and Fitzgerald=McCartney).
Now I'll probably read more from both authors and decide that's crap. Maybe.

Benediction: Unimpressed
Head and Shoulders: Better, but the ending almost feels like bathos to me. Too quaint or something. Too cute.
The Ice Palace: This is far better than the first two stories.

More reaction to come.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair: Catty. The image of Bernice laughing with two long braids in her hands is fun.
The Offshore Pirate: Again, the ending feels a little cute. It's Paul McCartney again!
May Day: This is the longest story in the collection, and as a result many of the characters feel a bit more fleshed out in this one, which I like. The very end feels a little too obvious for me, but there are some good bits here.
The Jelly-Bean: I like when Fitzgerald writes about place. There's some of that in this story. I also like that the ending isn't too heavy handed. That said, this story isn't that meaty.
The Diamond As Big As the Ritz: This one feels a bit like a sci-fi/fantasy tale.
Winter Dreams: This is another favorite. Does it say something about me (or about Fitzgerald) that my favorites in this collection are The Ice Palace and Winter Dreams?
Absolution: I was ready to dislike this story since the other tale of religion in the collection, Benediction, was nothing special. I ended up liking this one a lot more.

Overall, a mixed bag. There are some good stories and some good parts of stories, definitely, but at times it felt like reading for school, like I had to force myself to get through--a sensation I haven't had in a long, long time.

[Ivo Habets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sommige van deze vroege verhalen van Fitzgerald zijn absoluut briljant: Head and Shoulders, The Ice Palace, Bernice Bobs her Hair en Absolution zijn zo ongeveer meesterwerkjes.
May Day is een poging om hoger te mikken dan een kort verhaal - het is dan ook bijna een novelle - maar ergens in dat proces sterft het een beetje in schoonheid. Het werkt nét niet.

Mijn probleem met deze verhalenbundel, de reden dat het bij vier sterren (eigenlijk 3,5) blijft, zijn de twee misperen. The Offshore Pirate, sorry, maar dat is een totale mislukking. Misschien dat het karakter van flapper Ardita nog wel interessant is, maar de plot is zo lachwekkend dom, dat had niet misstaan in een doktersromannetje (ondanks dat de plot zelf in de slotzin ter discussie wordt gesteld - dat werkt niet). En The Diamond as big as the Ritz, die fantasy-flauwekul hoeft van mij helemaal niet. Het is op zich een knappe interpretatie van de Midas-mythe met begin-twintigste-eeuwse economische inzichten, maar dit slaat totaal dood. Dat heeft, toegegeven, ook met mijn literatuuropvatting te maken.

Het beste is Fitzgerald als hij zo dicht mogelijk bij zijn eigen leven blijft, zie daar de meest geslaagde verhalen en ook precies waarom Absolution wel werkt: je voelt de pijn van de kleine Fitzgerald. Karakters van vlees en bloed, dat is wat literatuur mooi maakt.

[Wynne • RONAREADS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story (or novella) "May Day," published by Art of the Novella, which makes beautiful graphically designed books. I'm adding this book cover since it doesn't exist as a single title.
I read it alongside "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," which I am about 20 pgs. away from finishing.

"May Day" was unlike other Fitzgerald I'd read. First, the language was very simple to understand. It follows four characters who interact with each other over the period of single afternoon and evening. There's down on his luck Garret (I think), beautiful but finicky Edith, and soldiers Kay and Rose. In typical Fitzgerald style, all are generally unlikeable. Edith looks at herself in the mirror while she tells herself she's pretty and ready for love, the soldiers are slimy guys hell bent on scoring some booze, and the story opens on Garret begging money off of a friend because he's caught in a toxic relationship with a woman named Jewel.
Not much happens other than watching the characters maneuver through as the night deteoriates. But it's still beautiful. The novella I had included a single quote on the back: "All crowds need to howl." What a great line...

I've read a couple places that Scott took credit for a few short stories that Zelda wrote. It just so happened I read that while I was reading this and it made me wonder (since the language seemed so different) but who cares who wrote it? It's still great.

[jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Diamond as Big as a Ritz" and the pirate story were the most memorable stories. the others ones were forgettable. After reading the diamond story, i didn't want to read his other stories because i wanted this one to go on and on. It reminded me of a Roald Dahl's story because of the wonderful imagery and imagination. It's interesting to note that this story only sold for $400 while others which were not nearly as good sold for much more. the story's main theme is how much wealth corrupts - even to the point of murder.

I'm not very impressed by fitzgerald's characters. i know that it's harder to portray a three dimensional character in a short span of a story, but even his characters in his novels lack depth and vulnerability. His use of language is superb:

"The Montana sunset lay between two mountains like a gigantic bruise from which dark arteries spread themselves over a poisoned sky."

beautiful. just beautiful. reading Fitzgerald for me is like listening to a concert pianist play Chopin. i'd give anything to write like that.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was my first experience reading anything non-Gatsby written by Fitzgerald, and the charm of it came from locating the touchstones of Gatsby before it became Gatsby. For example, in the penultimate story of the work, "Winter Dreams," Fitzgerald lifts whole quotations from his own text and recycles them into Gatsby when describing Daisy's house in Chapter 8. The turn of phrase here and there echoes across his work, and although I found the short stories evocative and not compelling, the window into Fitzgerald's world and point of view is enlightening. I think in advance of teaching Gatsby next year I will read This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and The Damned. Since the only person who taught me Gatsby was Mr. Anstett in 10-Honors in 1993, I think the Independent Study must beat on, and the more non-Gatsby I read, the more luminous and unique Gatsby becomes.

[Mandi Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way Fitzgerald both develops and explores human connections and relationships. I appreciate that his best work seems to driven more by character development than by plot development. While he can sometimes be pretentious and while some language and societal aspects are antiquated, it is his philiosophy on life and how he interprets the opposite sex that are most fascinating.

Most of his female characters within the short stories are decidedly selfish and unlikeable. However, his talent is so great that the reader is still compelled to care for these women and have an honest desire to follow their stories to the conclusion.

While nothing will ever compare to The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald's other writings are just as illuminating and entertaining.

[Johnmichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will quote James Gould Cozzens here on F. Scott Fitzgerald gift for writing:
" a talent for saying not merely the right, the apt, the vivid, or moving thing, but the thing which, having all those qualities, so far transcends your reasonable expectation that you see that it couldn't have been done merely by intelligence, or training, or hard trying, and must simply have been born in a sort of triumphant flash outside the ordinary process of thought".

[Michaux Dempster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep into this book in the middle of a rainy summer night, and just found the best sentence yet: "...it is well known among ladies over thirty-five that when the younger set dance in the summer-time it is with the very worst intentions in the world, and if they are not bombarded with stony eyes stray couples will dance weird barbaric interludes in the corners, and the more popular, more dangerous girls will sometimes be kissed in the parked limousines of unsuspecting dowagers."

[Christine Otis · Rating 4 out of 5]

His stories take me back to a much different place and time when men courted woman with marriage being the ideal. I like the language, the motion of the characters, the spunk of the women; they have something to say and are willing to take risks.

His stories make me look up the time period to have a better understanding of life and the language flappers used.

And the hair, oh the hair, from when it was long, to chop, chop, now it is gone.

Such rebels these girls were...

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting collection to compare to his novels. Some feel very familiar and thematically similar, like Winter Dreams - the best story in the group, with a lot in common with Gatsby. Others are of a completely different more fantastical tone, like The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and The Offshore Pirate. They're all about men trying to woo beautiful young women with money and status, but in very different ways. He's a good writer.

[Sarah Fowler Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know Fitzgerald wrote such fantastic short stories; I've only ever read The Great Gatsby. I can't believe we didn't study these in my Short Narrative courses in college! He writes such vivid characters and in such phenomenal visual detail. The plots can be thin or unlikely, but it doesn't even matter because the writing is so good.

[Lisa James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories provides an excellent look into Fitzgerald's talents prior to the publication of Gatsby, which he's best known for. They range from the slightly fantastical Diamond As Big As the Ritz, to the defiant Bernice Bobs Her Hair.

Looking forward to reading more of his work!