I just could not get into this book ... sacrilege I know

FINALLY! Good GOD I am exhausted. This book is just another brilliant expose on an idea or ghost of who dear old Scott might have been. The delusions of the drink and all. But good lord how much did I despise Anthony and Gloria! What horrific humans. Not a soft spot for either one. What propelled me forward is the writing.

The elixir of Fitzgerald’s poetry and prose. His deep emotional state and mental demise. He as himself inserting different versions of who he imagined into his books. He may have believed in the multiverse because he certainly existed as all of these men in many realms simultaneously.

This story in particular is despicable and yet you can’t stop staring at it’s characters: Spoiled. Arrogant. Self indulgent. Self centered. Self destructive. And by the end I wanted to slap Anthony and Gloria so hard. On BOTH cheeks. I wanted to shake them and tell them they don’t know from suffering and hardship. I wanted them to shut UP. And even when they got what they wanted they might as well have been dead and buried for they had murdered their insolent souls.

However….. do not let this rant fool you: Fitzgerald may be in my humble opinion the greatest writer of the 20th century. But that’s just me….

Hmmm.....Anthony and Gloria. How do you describe Anthony and Gloria?

So far Anthony and Gloria are two of the most vile characters that aren't criminals or evil that I've ever read. They're entitled. Classist. Wasteful. Narcissistic. Greedy. Anthony's a weak alcoholic and Gloria is vainer than Snow White's stepmother.

The story starts out with Anthony graduating from college, the assumed heir to his grandfather's seventy five million. He's dreamy, likes to wax philosophic, party, but can't figure out what he wants to do with his life. Since he has a bunch of bonds that collect interest and an allowence from Gramps he doesn't have to work.

He falls in love with Gloria, the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Besides this, she has that unattainable, cold air. She's selfish and narcissistic to the core and doesn't even attempt to hide it. Strangely, it's these qualities that Anthony seems to love most of all.

They get married and drift through life. Anthony starts a high end job through his connections but can't hack it, working nine to five overwhelms and depresses him. So he and Gloria drift through life, with vague plans that he will write the next great novel and she will be a movie star. Their problems are beyond ridiculous. Their "problems" are things like Anthony gets pisses at Gloria because she can't even put the clothes in the laundry bag for the maid to wash, and he gets mad that he's the husband and he has to do it.

Well, Gramps sees Anthony and Gloria for the useless wastes of space that they are and when he dies, he has disinherited Anthony. So begins their downfall. They still have the interest from the money in the bank, but they're like children. They are incapable of budgeting their money and the "tragedies" start.

They can't stop partying because they "need to release the stress" from their money problems. Anthony is useless and can't sell any of his stories. No one wants to hire him, and he doesn't especially try all that hard. Poor Gloria can only get bit parts in the movies, which she turns down. She's thirty and just pretty now instead of breathtakingly beautiful and she has a mini breakdown over it. Anthony descends into a slide of alcoholism and overspending and they are selling off their bonds one by one and are incapable of supporting themselves like real people.

I won't give away the end, which is an out of left field one. Fitzgereld's prose is absolutely beautiful and articulate. Even though it was written in and of the time of the twenties there is a timelessness in the book. The aristocrats that died out in Victorian times unable to adapt to the new world. The decadent southern planters that couldn't survive when their greedy world came crashing down. The fall of Rome. Even the recent wall street decline comes to mind.

Even though this book is very good I won't give it five stars for two reasons. One, although the writing and themes are very good, there's no real plot and the structure seems odd and meandering. The ending out of no where is odd too. Second, there is no way I'm giving Anthony and Gloria five stars. They really are repulsive examples of human beings.

A good read. However, two more unlikeable characters would be difficult to find. Anthony a self absorbed waffling wannabe novelist and Gloria his narcissistic wife. Greed, laziness and debauchery. Set between 1910-1920s it is interesting to read about those times and the prohibition jazz age era.

Saying all that I liked the book it grew on me and the ending was unexpected.

Without any equivocation, the prose is beautiful—but just like beauty, the damn book had too many flaws.

Starting with painful characters who are fully absorbed in themselves. I see too many authors (male) of this era talking about women in the most misogynistic terms—frankly, that is exhausting.

My brother recommended this book to me, which is, of course, a classic. Had I read this book at a different time when I wasn't so cognizant of locker room talk, I would have overlooked it. I couldn't get past the arrogant, absorbed characters.

A woman should be able to kiss a man beautifully and romantically without any desire to be either his wife or his mistress

Maybe it's me reading too much into the book, but then this:

A sense of responsibility would spoil her. She's too pretty

...like bye.

I'm really not good at finances, but Anthony dude, even I know that little money + lot of spending = no money

The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a 1922 publication.

"Gatsby" was a school assignment for me- and although it was rare for me to enjoy assigned reading, I liked it. But, for some reason, I have never read another book by Fitzgerald. I have, though, been quite curious about him and his wife in their private life- which has been the subject of books and movies for years. I have several books on my Kindle about Zelda, which I had planned to work into my reading schedule sometime this year. But, in the meantime, I thought it would be a good idea to read another book by this author. I chose this one for two reasons- the simplest one was that I already had it on my Kindle, and because allegedly Fitzgerald had modeled the characters after himself and Zelda.

Unfortunately, the book fell flat for me. To begin with the characters are not at all likeable. They are too empty, shallow, lazy… and BORING- with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I kept thinking things would pick up- but they just kept getting worse with the characters circling the drain, even after they finally get what they thought would bring them happiness.

My experience with this book has given me second thoughts about reading anything about the Fitzgeralds- but because so much has been made about that marriage- and Zelda in particular, I’ll still probably delve into their lives at some point- but I’m not in a big hurry to tackle those books anytime soon, if they were anything like the couple in this book. Oy!

Overall, this book isn’t terribly long- but I felt like it took ages to read it and that’s never a good sign. I’m not sure I’ll ever tackle another novel by this author- but if I do, I’ll approach it with caution.

2 stars

This book was... heavy. I read it in a couple days, but it's so emotionally and mentally exhausting it was just painful most of the time. Fitzgerald almost viciously pulls the rug out any time there's a slight chance of things getting better for Gloria and Anthony who, rather than confronting their flaws and getting their shit together, seem to alternate between wallowing and reveling in their self-destructive boredom and self-pity. It's a study in absolute misery. It reminded me more than a little of Dickens' Bleak House, watching Richard and Ada's downward spiral as the lawsuit eats up any ambition or practicality they ever had. Unlike Richard and Ada, however, Gloria and Anthony aren't particularly deserving or likable, and that's probably one of the bigger flaws for many of this book's detractors. For a lot of people it must be like watching a car crash which also happens to make you late for work...frustrating and a bit tragic. But I actually found them quite sympathetic (if not the most well-defined characters) and even relatable at times, which made their decline all the more real, disturbing, and frightening to me. There are a lot of horrible aspects of their personalities and thoughts that I can't imagine would be easy to relate to, or to admit relating to, for most people, but I certainly could and can't be the only one. Ultimately I found it moving, yet somewhat raw and hollow, and though I didn't like it as much as This Side of Paradise or Gatsby it didn't do anything to lessen my admiration of Fitzgerald and his beautiful prose. "Say things to the world that are true": though I don't know much about its author, that quote has been stuck in my mind since I first saw it, but never so much as when I was reading this book.

This novel is said to be a "fierce parable about...the ruin wrought by time." I like the phrase. One could say that phrase encapsulates the singularness of Fitzgerald's novels.

"Anthony Patch with no record of achievement, without courage, without strength to be satisfied with truth when it was given him. Oh, he was a pretentious fool, making careers out of cocktails and meanwhile regretting, weakly and secretly, the collapse of an insufficient and wretched idealism. He had garnished his soul in the subtlest taste and now he longed for the old rubbish. He was empty, it seemed, empty as an old bottle-"

At age twenty-four, Fitzgerald was an acclaimed writer. Fourteen years later, he was an alcoholic living in a cheap motel and his wife was being treated for schizophrenia. Unable to write, he had a nervous breakdown. "The Crack-Up," which he wrote during his brokenness, is one of the most profoundly illuminating essays I've read. This is his second novel.

Anthony, the main character in this novel, tries to make sense of life, love, money, and relationships. There is heedfulness to surroundings, a main character who is curious, lonely, and perceptive. But those moments stray. Often, the dialogue is laborious. Anthony is difficult to stick with because he appears flat, his female counterpart unconvincing, and the plot inflexible.

Libro incredibile, non so che altro dire. Assolutamente sottovalutato, ma di grande sottigliezza sarcastica, e di grande profondità.
Una disamina disillusa, poetico-decadente dei valori della civiltà americana e della classe giovane di fine anni ‘10.
L’ho amato

Jesuuuuus. The Great Gatsby has n o t h i n g on The Beautiful and Damned. The writing itself is, in my opinion, Fitzgerald at his best. Subtle turns of phrase and insights dizzy you every few pages. These characters are the very worst of everyone, and you can't help but recognize yourself in them and find their thinking makes sense, and then of course, hating yourself for it. The ending is sublime- I won't give it away, but the irony, the weightiness, the character progressions (or degradations)- all send a thrill through you.

With this I’ve read all of Fitzgerald’s (completed) novels and most of his short stories - this is my least favorite. The love story gone wrong is more heartbreaking and psychologically captivating in Tender is the Night, the portrayal of the young man of the era is more compelling in This Side of Paradise, and the carelessness and wealth is more poignantly displayed in Gatsby. Maybe the autobiographical component is its most redeeming factor, but I prefer Hemingway’s depiction of Zelda and Fitzgerald in A Moveable Feast to Fitzgerald’s own self-reflection. A depressing work. But, as always, beautifully written.

Maury’s exposition in the chapter ‘Symposium’ was undoubtedly the highlight - I knew while reading it (at around the halfway point of the novel) that it would be the jewel of the novel. The ambience itself is as good as the content, which is a bit all over - but that’s undoubtedly what it was going for anyway. Maury ontop of the railroad shed, soliloquizing as his audience is too drunk to count, is an unforgettable image. Gloria’s quick interjection reminded me of Quine’s naturalized epistemology in its own self-defeat.

“‘I think I shall tell you the story of my education,’ continued Maury, ‘under these sardonic constellations.’” (274)
(This sentence is my favorite in the book and one of the best I’ve read in a long while. I love it).

“‘I learned a little of beauty - enough to know that it had nothing to do with truth - and I found, moreover, that there was no great literary tradition; there was only the tradition of the eventual death of every literary tradition…Then I grew up, and the beauty of succulent illusions fell away from me. The fiber of my mind coarsened and my eyes grew miserably keen. Life rose around my island like a sea, and presently I was swimming.’ (275)
(Last sentence is another favorite)

“‘I grew up then, into this land of jazz, and fell immediately into a state of almost audible confusion’” (276) (Fitzgerald invented the term The Jazz Age - and Hemingway the term The Lost Generation. Pretty sick)

“‘There’s only one lesson to be learned from life, anyway,’ interrupted Gloria, not in contradiction but in a sort of melancholy agreement. ‘What’s that?’ demanded Maury sharply. ‘That there’s no lesson to be learned from life.’” (278)

“‘Trying to take a piece of actuality and give it a glamour from your own soul to make up for the inexpressible quality it possessed in life and lost in transit to paper or canvas?’” (278)

“‘Once upon a time all the men of mind and genius in the world became of one belief - that is to say, of no belief. But it wearied them to think that within a few years after their death many cults and systems and prognostications would be ascribed to them which they had never meditated nor intended. So they said to one another: ‘let’s join together and make a great book that will last for ever to mock the credulity of man. Let’s persuade our more erotic poets to write about the delights of the flesh, and induce some of our robust journalists to contribute stories of famous amours. We’ll include all the most preposterous old wives’ tales now current. We’ll choose the keenest satirist alive to compile a deity from all the deities worshipped by mankind, a deity who will be more magnificent than any of them, and yet so weakly human that he’ll become a byword for laughter the world over - and well ascribe to him all sorts of jokes and vanities and rages, in which he’ll be supposed to indulge for his own diversion, so that the people will read our book and ponder it, and they’ll be no more nonsense in the world. Finally, let us take care that the book possesses all the virtues of style, so that it may last for ever as a witness to our profound skepticism and our universal irony.’ So the men did, and they died. But the book lived always, so beautifully had it been written, and so astounding the quality of imagination with which these men of mind and genius had endowed it. They had neglected to give it a name, but after they were dead it became known as the Bible.’
(Maury’s speech ends shortly after that. This is really impressive for the time at which it was written - I’m sure it scandalized many readers).

“‘Because desire just cheats you. It’s like a sunbeam skipping here and there about a room. It stops and holds some inconsequential object, and we poor fools try to grasp it - but when we do the sunbeam moves on to something else, and you’ve got the inconsequential part, but the glitter that made you want it is gone -‘“ (367)

“It seemed that the only lover she had ever wanted was a lover in a dream” (425)

“‘Or what becomes of everybody you used to know and have so much in common with?’ … ‘they change,’ said Gloria. ‘All the qualities that they don’t use in their daily lives get cobwebbed up.’” (442)