The Great Gatsby is colossal. It's one of those books from your high school reading list that you probably still like. I do. I love Gatsby. When I saw the Baz Luhrman movie was coming out I remembered that I once promised myself I would read all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels. This Side of Paradise is his first novel, published in 1920.

It's not a good book, but it's a sincere book. It's an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink book. You can tell young F. Scott Fitzgerald put EVERYTHING HE HAD into this book. His life, his loves, his poetry, every idea, every experience--he crammed it all in here and called it a novel. A lot of it doesn't fit together. Not all of it is interesting. Some of it is truly puzzling. The saving grace is that behind it all there's this exuberance and passion that keeps you turning the pages.

There's not much plot to speak of. At first you're reading a bildungsroman, the story of a young american, Amory Blaine, coming of age at Princeton University. Then the story seems to focus on his love life and becomes very episodic, with touches that show you this is a very autobiographical book. The last third of the book gets...experimental. Part of it is written as a one-act play. One brief section is stream-of-consciousness (the introduction says Fitzgerald was inspired by Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man). Then there are the poems. Loads and loads of poems. Some of them are just sort of hanging there in the middle of the chapter, without a lot of context as to what they're doing there. Oh, and there are reading lists of the hip authors Amory and his friends are reading at Princeton. Huge swaths of the novel are just discussions between Amory and his classmates about literature.

So, yeah, all the freshman mistakes are here. I can tell F. Scott Fitzgerald is a first-time novelist here because he makes the mistake new comedians make. They do stand-up comedy ABOUT stand-up comedy. Here, Fitzgerald is writing about writing before he knows how to write.

He's still more brilliant than you or I will ever be. Each section, by itself, is obviously the work of a very precocious young genius in the offing. They don't make a novel when you glue them all together, but taken a piece at a time there's a lot of fascinating stuff here. I particularly liked the section where Amory Blaine meets the devil. And some of the Princeton bits reminded me so much of my own college experience, how your mind develops and your ideas change during that time.

But what I take away is how ON FIRE Fitzgerald was to write, to get it all down, to get it all out there. That excitement is there in every line. That's the lesson of the book and it's a good one.

Oh, and I also take away that 'Amory Blaine' is a terrible name for a character.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald, unlike Nekrasov, who: "dedicated the lyre to his people," did not swing at such large-scale projects, having cut out for himself in the gardens of world literature a plot of influence of money, big money, very big money on the individual and Personality (like this, with a capital one). And that's good, thanks to his lyre we have "The Great Gatsby".

"This Side of Paradise" is Fitzgerald's first book, which immediately brought him literary fame as the youngest novelist of the Scribners publishing house and the author of the generational manifesto. And the financial success that came with her made it possible to resume the engagement with Zelda Sayre - in the novel she is depicted in the image of Rosalind - and determined the further themes of creativity. Then Fitzgerald will write all the time about the rich, the young, the beautiful, the talented, the carefree. About the world of expensive exquisite things in which they live. About the specific problems they have to face. About the sufferings of people who are excluded from the opportunity to be equal among equals in the society of the inhabitants of the earthly paradise who enter these circles.

Богатые люди - особые люди
И мудрость мало утешает
По эту сторону от рая...
Well this side of Paradise! ....
There’s little comfort in the wise.
Tiare Tahiti by Rupert Brooke
Фрэнсис Скотт Фицджеральд, в отличие от Некрасова, который: "лиру посвятил народу своему", на такие масштабные проекты не замахивался, выкроив для себя в садах мировой литературы делянку влияния денег, больших денег, очень больших денег на индивидуума и Личность (вот так, с заглавной). И это хорошо, благодаря его лире у нас есть "Великий Гэтсби".

"По эту сторону от рая" первая книга Фицджеральда, которая тотчас принесла ему литературную славу самого молодого романиста издательства "Скрибнерс" и автора поколенческого манифеста. А пришедший с ней финансовый успех позволил возобновить помолвку с Зельдой Сейр - в романе она выведена в образе Розалинды - и определил дальнейшую тематику творчества. Дальше Фицджеральд все время станет писать о богатых, молодых, красивых, талантливых, беззаботных. О мире дорогих изысканных вещей, в котором они обитают. О специфических проблемах, с которыми им приходится сталкиваться. О страданиях людей, отлученных от возможности быть равными среди равных в обществе обитателей земного рая, вхожих в эти круги.

История Эмори Блейна, происходящего из богатой, но беднеющей на протяжении романа до полного разорения к финалу семьи: его детства, его отношений со взбалмошной красавицей матерью, с однокашниками, с наставником, с женщинами - во-многом автобиографична. Так чаще всего и бывает, дебютант пишет первую книгу с себя. В свете этого критичность автора в отношении мотиваций молодого эгоиста ("Романтический эгоист" - первоначальное название романа, под которым рукопись отклонили издательства) выглядит симпатичной. В то время, как бесконечные упоминания красоты героя производят несколько комичное впечатление.

Однако тут следует помнить, что богатство само по себе: дающее обладателю рычаги влияния, возможность созидательной деятельности и улучшения общественных институтов - мало интересует Фицджеральда. Его приоритет в эстетической сфере, отсюда утрированное желание подчеркнуть внешнюю красоту Эмори и Розалинды. Деньги ценны возможностью красиво и неограниченно тратиться на прекрасные сумасбродства. Не случайно их с Зельдой брак стал материальным выражением такого рода взглядов.

Атмосфера ревущих двадцатых, как нельзя лучше подходящих для передачи такого рода образа мыслей и действий, воссоздана в романе с детальной подробностью, а чтение Игоря Князева подсвечивает повествование, которое иногда может показаться чересчур снобским, мягкой самоиронией.

“If being an idealist is both safe and lucrative, I might try it.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald in This Side of Paradise

Oh, Amory! This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s debut novel, was so bad that Scribner declined to publish it multiple times. In fact, during the final vote, Scribner once again declined publication, and Maxwell Perkins, Fitzgerald’s editor, said that he would essentially resign if the talent of F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t published. Only then did Scribner agree to publish.

This is a classic coming-of-age story with lots of teenage angst. Amory Blaine has tremendous potential (boarding school, Princeton) but wastes every opportunity, doing nothing but trying to amass kisses. Of the people most deserving of sympathy in the world, Amory wouldn’t even make the top 10. Or even the top 1,000.

This book is interesting for two reasons. The first is that this book is a thinly disguised autobiography for F. Scott Fitzgerald. The author went to boarding school, attended Princeton, and befriended a priest. Often times, a character’s real-life equivalent is known. For example, Thomas Parke D’Invilliers is John Peale Bishop.

The second reason relates to this work’s literary influence. JD Salinger admitted that he was influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald—The Catcher in the Rye is somewhat a retelling of This Side of Paradise. And, of course, this novel is a steppingstone to The Great Gatsby. Sadly, This Side of Paradise isn’t of the same caliber as The Great Gatsby.

The tone of the book is rather depressing. Fitzgerald himself once said, “It takes a genius to whine appealingly.” He should have heeded his own advice. And the splendor and magic of this book is buried beneath excessively long paragraphs and chapters. As the book resembles an autobiography, it feels aimless and lacks a plot. The dialogue is also unnatural and bulky with characters overexplaining, and Fitzgerald uses too many adverbs (examples: Amory said sharply, he continued coldly, she said faintly, she said finally, and many more!).

Instead of professors merely holding up The Great Gatsby, and the heavens part and a beautiful beam of sunshine plays upon the cover, This Side of Paradise should be included in the curriculum, reassuring students that Fitzgerald wasn’t born with the writing chops to churn out The Great Gatsby. He started off by putting out a mediocre book that even his publisher didn’t want. But keep writing. Keep working.

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Texts – Both are First Edition Library copies (FEL): $75.82 on eBay. The second FEL text comes from a set of 19 FEL books that I bought at an estate sale for $500.
Audiobook - $84.99 per year through Everand

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I am not giving this book a rating. The reason being is that I had a hard time with the main character Amory Blaine. I tried liking the character, but he just rubbed me wrong.

Aside from not liking the main character, this was a wonderfully written story. I can see why Fitzgerald shot out of the gate with this one. And the big treat of this story is Fitzgerald’s “reading list”. Fitzgerald kept alluding to many of the books that he had read during his early years. And one of them was Robert W. Chambers. So it looks like Fitz might have been a weird fiction fan.

Give this book a go and judge the main character for yourself.

Amory Blaine, a mid-Westerner and middle class, begin what feels like the start of the rest of his life, in the place he feels he is meant to be, and on his arrival at Princeton (university) he feels at his life's greatest moment. This is his story, via a mix of narrators, styles, even genres, the story of his painful intellectual and sexual awakening as part of the 'Jazz Age' in the shadows of and after the Great War (World War I), as America begins to find itself moving to Superpower status, whilst it's young as ever question the empowered way of life, and in this case the superpowered to be way of life.

Fitzgerald's quasi autobiographical bildungsroman debut novel is everything: showing the genius to come; showing the failings that would impede his future success; overall thematically looking at America at it's perceived best, and realised worst; dysfunctional romantic liaisons; and at its heart a quest for identity. Loathed by some critics (even now), but loved by readers at the time (his best seller in his lifetime!!!!), this starts with a strong erudite man-on-campus feel that evolves into a lot more. The first Fitzgerald read that I've enjoyed that may now lead me to rereading and reading his other works. Worth reading alone for the final chapters when Amory throws contrary opinions at the monied classes in such a delightful way, with arguments that could still be used today! 7 out of 12.

2022 read

Too little here to like, too much here to ignore. This book comprises set-pieces in the life of a boy growing into adulthood. Amory is attracted and repulsed by his peers endlessly re-classifying them while working his way through prep-school, Princeton, and the trailings of a trust fund in New York.

Amory's internal struggles often come across as affectations-- his lack of energy and focus less a concern for Fitzgerald than his hero's attempts to define success and thereby himself. I want to believe that's the point, but I'm not sure. Here we have all the sinning without any of the repentance, which makes for a frustrating ending. Perhaps there's perspective and enlightenment in the final chapters and the contrast between down on his luck Amory and the successful older businessman foreshadows a trading of ideals for fortune. Seems a bit generous to me though.

Fitzgerald liberally sprinkles poetry and dialogs throughout. They're well written but a little awkward at times. About halfway through the book I read that Fitzgerald had expanded a book he'd previously written to create this one. Let's say it shows.

There's greatness in certain places-- the self destructive love interest, walking in the woods with his classmate, the first kiss/date as a boy. All very moving and authentic, and I'm sure also very autobiographical. What's with all school machinations and posturing? I get that it matters to the protagonist, yet it lacks impact.

Overall, this material is so commonplace in today's media that it's hard to read it with fresh eyes. I want to compare it to Coupland's Generation X, or Caufield's Catcher in the Rye. Perhaps it's the perspective of a depression and a second war that kept me from engaging fully.

I can't help feeling that if Amory spent a couple more chapters sweating his beliefs out to earn room and board I'd have left satisfied. I don't know if my lingering dissatifaction is a credit to Fitzgerald. I doubt it.

“Oh we'll have a talk tonight or perhaps tomorrow night. I want to tell you about your heart-you've probably been neglecting your heart-and you don't know."

“He felt a nervous excitement that might have been the very throb of its slow heart. it was a stream where he was to throw a stone whose faint ripple would be vanishing almost as it left his hand. As yet he had
given nothing, he had taken nothing.”

“I’m a cynical idealist”

“Each life unfulfilled, you see,
It hangs still, patchy and scrappy;
We have not sighed deep, laughed free,
Starved, feasted, despaired--been happy.”

“and beware of trying to classify people too definitely into types; you will find that all through their youth they will persist annoyingly in jumping from class to class, and by pasting a supercilious label on every one you meet you are merely packing a Jack-in-the-box that will spring up and leer at you when you begin to come into really antagonistic contact with the world.”

“No- you’re wrong again, how can a person of your self-reputed brains be so constantly wrong about me? I’m the opposite of everything spring ever stood for. It’s unfortunate, if I happen to look like what pleases some sloppy old Greek sculpture, but I assure you that if it weren’t for my face, I’d be a quiet nun in the convent”

“ I find the only answer to this bitter age--all the world tumbled about our ears, and the closest parallel ages back in that hopeless resignation.”

“There is no more dangerous gift to posterity than a few cleverly turned platitudes.”

“ Women she detested. They represented qualities that she felt and despised in herself-incipient meanness, conceit, cowardice, and petty dishonesty.”

“No, I'm romantic-a sentimental person thinks things will last--a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't. Sentiment is emotional.”

"Beauty and love pass, I know. . . . Oh, there's sadness, too. I suppose all great happiness is a little sad. Beauty means the scent of roses and then the death of roses.”

“Existence had settled back to an ambitionless normality.”

“But the truth is that sex is right in the middle of our purest abstractions, so close that it obscures vision.”

“To begin with, he was still afraid-not physically afraid any more, but afraid of people and prejudice and misery and monotony.”

“He was his own best example -sitting in the rain, a human creature of sex and pride, foiled by chance and his own temperament of the balm of love and children, preserved to help in building up the living consciousness of the race.”

“It was a day easily associated with those abstract truths and purities that dissolve in the sunshine or fade out in mocking laughter by the light
of the moon.”

“They always believe that 'things are in a bad way now, but they haven't any faith in these idealists.”

“He wondered that graves ever made people consider life in vain. Somehow he could find nothing hopeless in having lived.”

“There was no God in his heart, he knew; his ideas were still in riot; there was ever the pain of memory; the regret for his lost youth-yet the waters of disillusion had left a deposit on his soul, responsibility and a love of life, the faint stirring of old ambitions and unrealized dreams. But-oh, Rosalind! Rosalind!..”

7/10

Contains Spoilers

Fitzgerald's first novel catapulted him, almost immediately, into the realm of Great American Writers with its theme of lost innocence and disillusionment after World War I. The story is told in a frantic, disjointed style, sometimes mimicking the frenetic flappers of the jazz age: those who tried to stamp out, on the dance floor, all the malaise of their generation. Paradoxically, it is also a languid tale of a dispirited dilettante who finds himself without much purpose in his life.

It's a curious novel in which all the major moments and crises of the protagonist's life are shrugged off in a desultory fashion, almost as if they were incidentals, and not as the prime movers in his life. His father dies, his mother dies, his closest family friend and mentor dies, he loses his inheritance, his "one true love" throws him over in favour of a financially secure future -- but they are treated as a series of little nothings, to be brushed off. Reflective of the age, perhaps, where youth and spirits and hope and joy had all been trampled, the novel vomits forth a series of disappointments and misfortunes, leading the reader into blind alley after blind alley of impotent despondency.

As quickly as Amory Blaine falls into another disappointment, he pulls himself out in a melancholic stupor, and carries on. Not enough spirit to even be an iconoclast, Amory Blaine's existence conjures up only one word, repeatedly: dilettante. Dilettante. Sleepy-headed dilettante, for all that Fitzgerald tries to convince us otherwise.

The Jazz Age was hungry for this sort of literature it seems, for the first printing of this novel sold out almost immediately (3,000 copies sold in 3 days) , and went on for 11 more printings in the next 2 years alone. Misery loves company, I suppose, -- but then, it was a youthful novel, by a young man who "had seen it all". Indicative of its age again, the jaded of the jazz age were hungry for their lives to be seen -- and no doubt felt that Fitzgerald saw them.

Overall, I found it rather bland and annoying. I read this hot on the heels of The Sun Also Rises and in comparison, this one is a real clunker.

While the themes are virtually identical, Hemingway's novel soars with spirit and soulfulness, and disturbs and moves the reader with its gravitas. This side of paradise, on the other hand, is rather a humdrum destination. I'd rather be on the other side.

It's not bad, but Amory is very self-centered and I would not want to be friends with him. I did not get very interested in the poetry; it just suddenly shows up sometimes throughout the book. The poems were too long. Princeton is very strict. All of Amory's friends talk about things like literature and politics. Amory wants to find out who he is. He falls in and out of love. Fitzgerald's writing is elegant and charming.

There's no denying that F. Scott Fitzgerald was a gifted writer, even in the beginning.

A lot of his problems lay in the thinly-veiled autobiographical nature of his novels.

In "This Side of Paradise," the protagonist--he certainly never does anything heroic--is Amory Blaine. Like Fitzgerald, Amory was born into a family with money, went to prep school then Princeton, drank too much, couldn't find the right woman, and briefly wrote for an ad agency.

The problem with using a bright, young man as a protagonist is that bright young men can be so infernally tedious. Amory and his friends discuss ideas and literature with wearying solipsism, as if they were the first people ever to think.

Again, much if not most of Fitzgerald's novels are autobiographical, and I usually find his work brilliant. The problem with "This Side of Paradise" is that Fitzgerald the author hadn't yet become sufficiently interesting as Fitzgerald the person. Once the alcohol, Zelda, and fame-fueled eccentricity manifested, the stories "showed" us a world apart from our own. "Paradise" does a whole lot of tedious "telling." The potential is obvious, especially if we've read Fitzgerald's later works. Sadly, this is just a long 280 pages of an intelligent boy, who loafed through college, dated a few interesting girls, had and lost a job, and spent a decade of his life telling himself, his peers, and us readers just how damn clever he is.

honestly, the absolute best thing about this book is that i bought my copy when i was 14 on a stand outside of central park one rainy afternoon, after exploring the MET; it was probably one of the most magical days of my life.

fitzgerald's books are a dream (teetering on nightmares, sometimes) and they are all mine.

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on a fitzgerald reread binge for like the 30th time in my life. to absolutely no one's surprise.

This book disappointed me. It is about a bored and boring? over-privileged, self-centered and narcissistic young man with an overblown ego. 2 stars.