Books don't often make me show physical, outward emotion. They don't often find themselves in my hands for several hours at a time, either. But this one did both.
Therese Anne Fowler nailed it. The story of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, is absolutely mesmerizing. Buying the book is buying a ticket into the mind of an artist - you ride with Zelda on an emotional roller coaster from the beginning to the end of her relationship with Scott. And this isn't a one-ticket roller coaster, it's the big one - the one that makes you think you might be the first casualty at the theme park.
The novel starts in Montgomery, Alabama. Zelda seems like the relatively normal Southern teenager: about to celebrate her 18th birthday, a talented dancer, a volunteer for the local Red Cross chapter. But there's something different about her. She's ridiculously quick-witted. She has no filter, in conversations or in her behavior. And she's fun. She's really fun.
The romance between Zelda and Scott is breathtaking. In the early days of their courtship, he throws her an elaborate birthday bash in her hometown, very similar to Gatsby. As Scott is in the army, he soon begins traveling, penning a steady flow of correspondences with Zelda as he goes. The book reflects both Scott and Zelda's letters, and you soon realize that Zelda's talent for writing almost matches Scott's, an important point to remember as the book progresses.
You're then taken on a whirlwind adventure through the engagement and marriage of the two, which happens hours after Zelda arrives in New York City for the first time. It's amazing to see how Zelda's Southern ways quickly disintegrate - the city life and the flapper lifestyle are becoming increasingly popular, and she dives into it head first (literally, when she impulsively bobs her hair). Her socially eccentric behaviors and attitudes are fueled by Scott, who insists on spending excessive amounts of money to showcase his success after the publication of This Side of Paradise. However, the money isn't always there, and you see the ups and downs a writer and writer's family experiences as the work comes and goes.
Therese Anne Fowler nailed it. The story of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, is absolutely mesmerizing. Buying the book is buying a ticket into the mind of an artist - you ride with Zelda on an emotional roller coaster from the beginning to the end of her relationship with Scott. And this isn't a one-ticket roller coaster, it's the big one - the one that makes you think you might be the first casualty at the theme park.
The novel starts in Montgomery, Alabama. Zelda seems like the relatively normal Southern teenager: about to celebrate her 18th birthday, a talented dancer, a volunteer for the local Red Cross chapter. But there's something different about her. She's ridiculously quick-witted. She has no filter, in conversations or in her behavior. And she's fun. She's really fun.
The romance between Zelda and Scott is breathtaking. In the early days of their courtship, he throws her an elaborate birthday bash in her hometown, very similar to Gatsby. As Scott is in the army, he soon begins traveling, penning a steady flow of correspondences with Zelda as he goes. The book reflects both Scott and Zelda's letters, and you soon realize that Zelda's talent for writing almost matches Scott's, an important point to remember as the book progresses.
You're then taken on a whirlwind adventure through the engagement and marriage of the two, which happens hours after Zelda arrives in New York City for the first time. It's amazing to see how Zelda's Southern ways quickly disintegrate - the city life and the flapper lifestyle are becoming increasingly popular, and she dives into it head first (literally, when she impulsively bobs her hair). Her socially eccentric behaviors and attitudes are fueled by Scott, who insists on spending excessive amounts of money to showcase his success after the publication of This Side of Paradise. However, the money isn't always there, and you see the ups and downs a writer and writer's family experiences as the work comes and goes.
The novel portrays Scott's controlling behaviors in several ways, one strong representation occurring when Zelda gives birth to their daughter. During her pregnancy, the couple planned on naming the baby Patricia; however, in the delivery room, Scott insists on naming the girl after himself, calling her Scottie. Zelda disagrees, but Scott prevails, and Scottie was Scottie because of Scott's impulse. The famous "I hope she'll be a fool. That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." comes from this delivery - Zelda wept it at her daughter's birth.
Zelda and Scott take Europe by storm, moving there at the suggestion that it will help Scott with his writing, because that's what several American writers are doing - packing up and moving into an exclusive expatriate circle of the rich and famous on the French Riviera. Said circle includes the likes of Ernest Hemingway (whom Scott takes a keen liking to - almost an obsession with) and Gertrude Stein - now known as The Lost Generation.
Wine. Whiskey. Affairs. Sunbathing. Dancing. Writing. Traveling. The lifestyle the couple leads in Paris is lavish and full of indulgent activities. You quickly see the deterioration of both Zelda and Scott's health, both mentally and physically. Scott drinks all the time. He's unfaithful to Zelda. When he's not writing, he's with Hemingway, helping him become an established author, or passing time one of the many bars on the Riviera. But he still loves his wife, always finding a way to hook her again after she begins to fade away from him.
Zelda takes interest in her own artistic talents - painting, writing, dancing. Writing is one of her strongest suits: she wrote stories for magazines under both her and Scott's name, in order to get the most money for it. The effect this has on her mentality is disastrous, though. Both she and Scott have egos the size of Manhattan, and as Scott's increases with his popularity, Zelda's begins to shrivel, taking her personality down with it. She compensates by throwing herself at her dancing, practicing ballet for hours a day, obsessively mastering technique until she's completely exhausted herself. You know, though, that her love for Scott is what's causing these obsessions - she's filling the void where he used to be, always by her side, now spending it with other people, women, friends and alcohol.
The climax of the novel happens toward the end. It's the event that we who have studied the lives of the Fitzgeralds know is coming - Zelda experiences a mental breakdown in a Parisian movie theater. From then on, she spends her life in and out of mental institutions (where, from the novel, it seems as though she isn't entirely sick), bouncing from one to another with long breaks in between, until her tragic ending.
SPOILER ALERT: The next paragraphs will reveal the end of the book. You've been warned!
The ending of the book made me cry. Twice.
Zelda and Scott remained married, although they end up living in different places during their middle aged years. Zelda moves back to Montgomery, away from Scott and his lifestyle, for the sake of her mental health, while Scott moves to work on writing and movies in California and other places.
Here's the first time I cried: While Zelda is in Montgomery, living at her parents' house, she receives news that Scott has died of a heart attack. There she is, in the same place where she used to wait anxiously for his letters to arrive during their courtship, now very much detached from him, and learning of his death. Instead of hopping on the train for his funeral, she stays. Her mental stability isn't strong enough. She never says goodbye.
To me, this was heartbreaking. You can almost visualize the couple becoming increasingly more dependent on each other, you can see their intense love and need for one another become stronger as you turn every page. In a way, the effect their lives have on each other lead to their destinies. Zelda's mental health takes a toll on Fitzgerald's work, her distractions causing him to "lose his touch" and struggle with his writing. Fitzgerald's lifestyle takes a toll on Zelda - his behaviors possibly being the reason for his wife's mental breakdown and eventual return to Montgomery. They are where they are, separated and broken versions of their once exuberant personas, because of each other.
I wont tell you the second time I cried, although you already know what happens if you've studied the end of Zelda's life. I already knew, but the culmination of all of the emotions the novel stirred up inside of me made it impossible not to cry.
If you haven't yet read this book, I encourage you to do so. Thank you, Therese Anne Fowler, for restoring my faith in literature. My addiction to books is again in full swing.
Zelda and Scott take Europe by storm, moving there at the suggestion that it will help Scott with his writing, because that's what several American writers are doing - packing up and moving into an exclusive expatriate circle of the rich and famous on the French Riviera. Said circle includes the likes of Ernest Hemingway (whom Scott takes a keen liking to - almost an obsession with) and Gertrude Stein - now known as The Lost Generation.
Wine. Whiskey. Affairs. Sunbathing. Dancing. Writing. Traveling. The lifestyle the couple leads in Paris is lavish and full of indulgent activities. You quickly see the deterioration of both Zelda and Scott's health, both mentally and physically. Scott drinks all the time. He's unfaithful to Zelda. When he's not writing, he's with Hemingway, helping him become an established author, or passing time one of the many bars on the Riviera. But he still loves his wife, always finding a way to hook her again after she begins to fade away from him.
Zelda takes interest in her own artistic talents - painting, writing, dancing. Writing is one of her strongest suits: she wrote stories for magazines under both her and Scott's name, in order to get the most money for it. The effect this has on her mentality is disastrous, though. Both she and Scott have egos the size of Manhattan, and as Scott's increases with his popularity, Zelda's begins to shrivel, taking her personality down with it. She compensates by throwing herself at her dancing, practicing ballet for hours a day, obsessively mastering technique until she's completely exhausted herself. You know, though, that her love for Scott is what's causing these obsessions - she's filling the void where he used to be, always by her side, now spending it with other people, women, friends and alcohol.
The climax of the novel happens toward the end. It's the event that we who have studied the lives of the Fitzgeralds know is coming - Zelda experiences a mental breakdown in a Parisian movie theater. From then on, she spends her life in and out of mental institutions (where, from the novel, it seems as though she isn't entirely sick), bouncing from one to another with long breaks in between, until her tragic ending.
SPOILER ALERT: The next paragraphs will reveal the end of the book. You've been warned!
The ending of the book made me cry. Twice.
Zelda and Scott remained married, although they end up living in different places during their middle aged years. Zelda moves back to Montgomery, away from Scott and his lifestyle, for the sake of her mental health, while Scott moves to work on writing and movies in California and other places.
Here's the first time I cried: While Zelda is in Montgomery, living at her parents' house, she receives news that Scott has died of a heart attack. There she is, in the same place where she used to wait anxiously for his letters to arrive during their courtship, now very much detached from him, and learning of his death. Instead of hopping on the train for his funeral, she stays. Her mental stability isn't strong enough. She never says goodbye.
To me, this was heartbreaking. You can almost visualize the couple becoming increasingly more dependent on each other, you can see their intense love and need for one another become stronger as you turn every page. In a way, the effect their lives have on each other lead to their destinies. Zelda's mental health takes a toll on Fitzgerald's work, her distractions causing him to "lose his touch" and struggle with his writing. Fitzgerald's lifestyle takes a toll on Zelda - his behaviors possibly being the reason for his wife's mental breakdown and eventual return to Montgomery. They are where they are, separated and broken versions of their once exuberant personas, because of each other.
I wont tell you the second time I cried, although you already know what happens if you've studied the end of Zelda's life. I already knew, but the culmination of all of the emotions the novel stirred up inside of me made it impossible not to cry.
If you haven't yet read this book, I encourage you to do so. Thank you, Therese Anne Fowler, for restoring my faith in literature. My addiction to books is again in full swing.
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