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Parties
‘I want to give a really bad party. I mean it. I want to give a party where there’s a brawl and seductions and people going home with their feelings hurt and women passed out in the cabinet de toilette. You wait and see.’
The crackle of gin on ice, the low hum of gossip, the first chords of the band – whether you love or loathe parties, Fitzgerald writes them like no one else. From glittering occasions complete with an orchestra and dancing girls to a fist-fight at the end of a toddler’s birthday, this is a dazzling collection of party pieces from the master of celebration.
Selected from The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night and Flappers and Philosophers
VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.
A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human
The crackle of gin on ice, the low hum of gossip, the first chords of the band – whether you love or loathe parties, Fitzgerald writes them like no one else. From glittering occasions complete with an orchestra and dancing girls to a fist-fight at the end of a toddler’s birthday, this is a dazzling collection of party pieces from the master of celebration.
Selected from The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night and Flappers and Philosophers
VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.
A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human
- GenresClassics
160 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2020
8 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
2,304 books25.8k 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 4, 2020
I expected more of this. This book contains an extract from "The Great Gatsby" and "Tender Is the Night" - with no explanation whatsoever. If you haven't read the books (I haven't), you have no idea of the context or who is who. You're completely lost.
The rest of the book consist of three short stories from Fritzgerald's short story collection "Flappers and Philosophers". But again, no explanation. I just figured (and later looked it up) that these stories have to be short stories because I could understand them completely without an introduction.
Even so the book was cheap, it wouldn't have hurt the unnamed editor to at least try a little bit.
The rest of the book consist of three short stories from Fritzgerald's short story collection "Flappers and Philosophers". But again, no explanation. I just figured (and later looked it up) that these stories have to be short stories because I could understand them completely without an introduction.
Even so the book was cheap, it wouldn't have hurt the unnamed editor to at least try a little bit.
January 5, 2022
It’s good when you’re in quarrantine and want to party. This book will take you to the best ones without the background story. Nothing more nothing less. But honestly The Great Gatsby is great mostly because of his background story.
April 30, 2022
A fantastic introduction to Fitzgerald and also a little reminder of why we love his writing as much. Each story is well contained (even the book excerpts) and leaves you with a hmmm and a smile. Excellent stuff!
July 19, 2023
A weird collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald parties from some of his most famous novels. I guess the main takeaway from F. Scott is that he threw the hell of a party, never mind the pre-existentialism and probing insight into the psychology of the lost generation.
August 23, 2025
Was probably my fault because I didn’t realise it was just excerpts but a good crash course on each of his big hits. I still think Gatsby’s introduction is the best scene setter writing about society
July 18, 2023
a little party never killed nobody
February 29, 2024
The party scene in Gatsby is my favourite piece of writing EVER! So this was indulgent and enjoyable for me
January 14, 2025
Lively quick read. I haven’t finished all Fitzgerald books and was unfamiliar with some of the characters but it wasn’t hard to follow at all
January 28, 2021
lovely, quick read :) i missed fitzgerald’s writing so much
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews