Modern Classics Tender Is the Night
by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0141183594 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0141183594 Global Overview for this book
1 journaler for this copy...
Storyhouse book group choice for Feb'23. I have read 'The Great Gatsby' a while ago, so am looking forward to this.
(15/02/23) Interim review about the first part 100-or-so pages. I didn’t finish this before the book group, although I did (am) finding it a very tough read. Fitzgeralds style is overblown and unnecessarily fussy. Here is an example sentence, about Dick Diver, the enigmatic Doctor (we don’t know his and wife Nicole’s back story yet), “… there was a pleasingness about him that simply had to be used - those who possessed that pleasingness had to keep their hands in, and go along attaching people that they had no use to make of.” Ugh.
Even if I could forgive the style and language as mid-1920's a la mode - gay rich American ex-pats on the French Riviera - I’m not finding the characters engaging, and the plot slow and obscure, so far. I’m taking a break to enjoy some other books first!
(19/03/23) I have an admission, I’ve not read the 45 page scholarly introduction in my copy, plus 2 page bibliography! I'm sure I've missed out on some insights and context, but to be honest I’ve spent enough time in the lives of the Diver’s, actress Rosemary Hoyt, and the (mostly) vapid and louche ‘circle’ of their friends and acquaintances. The novel is split into 3 books, set mostly in the South of France during the inter-war years. I had assumed that Rosemary was the main character as she was the narrator in Book I, but the rest of the novel focusses on the rise and fall or Doctor Diver, his relationship with his schizophrenic wife, and then in Book III his divorce and virtual estrangement from his children and previous life.
From a high point as part-owner of a clinic in Switzerland (with Nicole’s money), an attractive, charismatic, and well regarded author in his field, it all goes wrong. He married Nicole, not such for her money, but more as some sort challenge or experiment. In the end, as she becomes less dependent on him, he loses his purpose, and becomes a disconnected and unfulfilled lotus eater. He tries an affair (with Rosemary), doesn’t quite become a ‘serious’ alcoholic, and eventually is cuckolded and moves back to upstate New York. He goes back to general practice but in a slightly shiftless way. There are strong parallels with Fitzgerald’s own life and breakup, hence the 40 page introduction, but to be honest I could care less. Not a fun read for me I’m afraid.
(15/02/23) Interim review about the first part 100-or-so pages. I didn’t finish this before the book group, although I did (am) finding it a very tough read. Fitzgeralds style is overblown and unnecessarily fussy. Here is an example sentence, about Dick Diver, the enigmatic Doctor (we don’t know his and wife Nicole’s back story yet), “… there was a pleasingness about him that simply had to be used - those who possessed that pleasingness had to keep their hands in, and go along attaching people that they had no use to make of.” Ugh.
Even if I could forgive the style and language as mid-1920's a la mode - gay rich American ex-pats on the French Riviera - I’m not finding the characters engaging, and the plot slow and obscure, so far. I’m taking a break to enjoy some other books first!
(19/03/23) I have an admission, I’ve not read the 45 page scholarly introduction in my copy, plus 2 page bibliography! I'm sure I've missed out on some insights and context, but to be honest I’ve spent enough time in the lives of the Diver’s, actress Rosemary Hoyt, and the (mostly) vapid and louche ‘circle’ of their friends and acquaintances. The novel is split into 3 books, set mostly in the South of France during the inter-war years. I had assumed that Rosemary was the main character as she was the narrator in Book I, but the rest of the novel focusses on the rise and fall or Doctor Diver, his relationship with his schizophrenic wife, and then in Book III his divorce and virtual estrangement from his children and previous life.
From a high point as part-owner of a clinic in Switzerland (with Nicole’s money), an attractive, charismatic, and well regarded author in his field, it all goes wrong. He married Nicole, not such for her money, but more as some sort challenge or experiment. In the end, as she becomes less dependent on him, he loses his purpose, and becomes a disconnected and unfulfilled lotus eater. He tries an affair (with Rosemary), doesn’t quite become a ‘serious’ alcoholic, and eventually is cuckolded and moves back to upstate New York. He goes back to general practice but in a slightly shiftless way. There are strong parallels with Fitzgerald’s own life and breakup, hence the 40 page introduction, but to be honest I could care less. Not a fun read for me I’m afraid.
