Literary Exploration discussion

final thoughts

I finished reading it yesterday and I found it brilliant! I very nearly fell in love with it.
It's definitely my favourite Fitzgerald so far, although I have only read 3 books by him.

I found it poetic, extremely well written, ravishing. I loved it that it's not only about one thing - although it's a story of mental illness, the portrait of an era, the story of a marriage, it's so much more than this. In the end it's a work of art, a piece of literature, a great book.

My favourite part is probably (view spoiler)[when Nicole says to Dick that inside her she will always be the same person, so he's got to remember how he loves her, because no matter what she will always be like that night, the one he loves (hide spoiler)]. I can relate to this.

I'm very thankful to the group for having brought it up for a group read, otherwise it may have been standing on my bookshelf for some more years (I had bought it long ago) and I would have missed this wonderful book. Thanks Literary Exploration!

I completed this tonight. I preferred it to The Great Gatsby. I think what most appealed to me is the fact that it was semi-autobiographical. Fitzgerald's life was mirrored in many places by this book. In one respect I give him kudos for being willing to examine and publicize his flaws, alcoholism,egotism and the negative aspects of wealth and the lifestyle it engendered. However, I found it strange that he felt that he alone should be able to write about his live with Zelda and her mental illness. According to wikipedia "Fitzgerald was extremely protective of his "material" (i.e., their life together). When Zelda wrote and sent to Scribner's her own fictional version of their lives in Europe, Save Me the Waltz, Fitzgerald was angry and was able to make some changes prior to the novel's publication, and convince her doctors to keep her from writing any more about what he called his "material", which included their relationship."

I didn't do any research about this book or Fitzgerald but reading previous post re fitzgeralds attitude I get how this book was written and the personalities of the characters themselves. I spent the whole book not being able to relate but then I don't have friends that insipid and egocentric.

Nicole's character was the only interesting character and he wrote her well. Mental illness is complicated to experience personally and second hand and he wrote realistically. I think that's the only way I can describe it.

This book was better than gatsby but I dont think I'll go out of my way to read it again