Rich college boys, who are full of themselves, dominate the story. However, the plot is rather thin and uninteresting.

2.5*
The inclusion of poetry in between the narrative does little to enhance the overall experience. The writing style seems to deliberately mirror the characters, jumping haphazardly from one scene to another. It lacks a clear thread or purpose, resulting in a rather bland and unengaging read.

There are only a few fleeting moments of inspiration here and there, but they are not enough to salvage the book.

And so, unfortunately, my streak of mediocre books continues. It seems that I am still in search of that truly great literary gem that will capture my imagination and leave a lasting impression.

The 85th book of 2021 is Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise" from 1920.

It's a messy and juvenile debut, told through vignettes without a proper "plot". It reflects its era and reminds one of other novels like Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", Woolf's "Jacob's Room", and Nabokov's "Glory".

The first half has a major flaw - a lack of self-awareness. While later Fitzgerald works explore vapidness as a theme, this one just feels vapid without dissecting it. This gets better towards the end, but it's still a lot of detached prose with a self-centered and unlikable protagonist, Amory Blaine, who does little but talk about his world view and favorite books.

The structure is a jumble of things: random numbered lists, chapters in script form with no clear advantage, and even a Q&A page. The Introduction suggests Joyce's "Portrait" was a big influence, which Fitzgerald tried to downplay.

Despite its faults, the novel was an instant success in 1920, making Fitzgerald rich and famous. Just two books later, he wrote "The Great Gatsby", showing he learned the craft extremely fast. There are tiny glimpses of his later genius in the beautifully structured sentences among the bland characters, events, and dizzying structure.