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Available
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Publication
Penguin Classics (1996), Paperback, 304 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: This Side of Paradise is a novel about post-World War I youth and their morality. Amory Blaine is a young Princeton University student with an attractive face and an interest in literature. His greed and desire for social status warp the theme of love weaving through the story..
User reviews
LibraryThing member TheCrowdedLeaf
Ahhhh Mr. Fitzgerald. How you woo me with your lyrical prose and bore me with your philosophical shpeel.
There were times during This Side of Paradise where I was overcome by what I was reading because it was just that amazing. And then there were times where I glazed over the philosophy with dry
This Side of Paradise revolves around Amory Blaine. There are many words to describe Amory: self-involved, self-indulgent, self-conscious. Overly dramatic, lost, found, curious, lonely, broken, bruised. Affected. Amory is a character. He’s full of life but completely lost. He’s a dreamer and an idealist and a realist all at the same time; he is one big hypocritical oxymoron, and he’s completely overwhelmingly tragic.
We begin Amory’s life from whence all his issues started: Beatrice. Beatrice is dear old mother with her delicacy and indulgences, and her personality makes Amory into the person he is because of her eccentricities and failures. We follow Amory through school and his younger years (where he’s disliked by his classmates because they don’t get him), through his college years (where he’s liked by classmates because they don’t get him), vaguely through World War I, and always through his women, until we meet Rosalind – the beginning, end, and in-between of everything Amory wanted and could never have.
Amory is always looking for himself, and never finding the person he wants. He loses himself in whatever he likes at the time, whether it be school, an idea, a place, or a person. He’s never happy and never content for long. He wants to be remembered, but never sticks to anything long enough to be cause for remembrance. He’s lost, and I feel sad for him. He never quite finds what he’s looking for.
The best description of Amory can be found on the twelfth page of the book:
“It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.”
There were times during This Side of Paradise where I was overcome by what I was reading because it was just that amazing. And then there were times where I glazed over the philosophy with dry
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eyes and an annoying buzz in my ears. But looking beyond those parts, I have to acknowledge Paradise as Fitz’s first novel, and therefore the good parts were made that much better since he had nothing Gatsby-like to live up to. The bits of genius were effortless and beautiful because they were the first of their kind, pure and innocent. Paradise seems like it was easy for Fitz. Fun. I feel like I can tell this is his first novel because it wouldn’t be until later that the pressure of being a “good writer” would hit him. For that reason, I enjoyed this novel tremendously.This Side of Paradise revolves around Amory Blaine. There are many words to describe Amory: self-involved, self-indulgent, self-conscious. Overly dramatic, lost, found, curious, lonely, broken, bruised. Affected. Amory is a character. He’s full of life but completely lost. He’s a dreamer and an idealist and a realist all at the same time; he is one big hypocritical oxymoron, and he’s completely overwhelmingly tragic.
We begin Amory’s life from whence all his issues started: Beatrice. Beatrice is dear old mother with her delicacy and indulgences, and her personality makes Amory into the person he is because of her eccentricities and failures. We follow Amory through school and his younger years (where he’s disliked by his classmates because they don’t get him), through his college years (where he’s liked by classmates because they don’t get him), vaguely through World War I, and always through his women, until we meet Rosalind – the beginning, end, and in-between of everything Amory wanted and could never have.
Amory is always looking for himself, and never finding the person he wants. He loses himself in whatever he likes at the time, whether it be school, an idea, a place, or a person. He’s never happy and never content for long. He wants to be remembered, but never sticks to anything long enough to be cause for remembrance. He’s lost, and I feel sad for him. He never quite finds what he’s looking for.
The best description of Amory can be found on the twelfth page of the book:
“It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.”
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LibraryThing member overthemoon
One of the mysteries of my life is why do I have to keep on reading to the bitter end books that are incredibly boring? I felt like giving this one up many times but kept right on to the very end. It is a mishmash of novel, notes, dialogue, play, poetry all revolving around the early life and loves
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of Amory Blaine, an apparently extremely good-looking man and apparently an intellectual but he failed to arouse the slightest interest. I liked the short stories of Flappers and Philosophers much better. Despite the promises of the introduction there is nothing racier than a kiss in the dark, and I was really annoyed by the many mistakes (such as Cecilia on one page and Cecelia on another) - is FSF so sacred that they should not be corrected in a new edition? Overall impression: written by a student who thinks undergraduate life is riveting, and wanting to show off all his literary knowledge. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cait86
I am a big fan of The Great Gatsby, so I thought I would pick up this novel, Fitzgerald's first. Unfortunately, it was no where near as good. I liked it, but I didn't love it.
Summary: This Side of Paradise is the story of Amory Blaine, an egotistical young man who lives in the elite upper class
Amory's voice reminded me a little of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye, a book that I do not really enjoy. Both boys are lazy, sarcastic, self-important characters who complain a lot but do nothing. The up side of This Side of Paradise is Fitzgerald's prose, which is lovely, and the setting of the 1920s, a time period that I find infinitely interesting. Sprinkled throughout the book is Amory's poetry, which I guess shows his growth as an artist and a person, but I found it distracting. While this book doesn't live up to The Great Gatsby, it is interesting to see how Fitzgerald grew as an author, and since This Side of Paradise is semi-autobiographical, the reader gains a lot of insight into Fitzgerald's life. All-in-all, I am glad I read it, but this was definitely not one of my favourite reads for the year. Recommended for Classics-lovers or Fitzgerald aficiandos, but that's about it.
Summary: This Side of Paradise is the story of Amory Blaine, an egotistical young man who lives in the elite upper class
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world of 1910s and 1920s America. The reader watches as Amory attends a private prep school, goes to Princeton, fights in WWI, and then drifts along as one of the "lost generation." He loves, he loses, and he believes himself to have grown from a "personality" into a "personage." I, however, am still not sure of the destinction between the two, nor do I believe that Amory changes all that much.Amory's voice reminded me a little of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye, a book that I do not really enjoy. Both boys are lazy, sarcastic, self-important characters who complain a lot but do nothing. The up side of This Side of Paradise is Fitzgerald's prose, which is lovely, and the setting of the 1920s, a time period that I find infinitely interesting. Sprinkled throughout the book is Amory's poetry, which I guess shows his growth as an artist and a person, but I found it distracting. While this book doesn't live up to The Great Gatsby, it is interesting to see how Fitzgerald grew as an author, and since This Side of Paradise is semi-autobiographical, the reader gains a lot of insight into Fitzgerald's life. All-in-all, I am glad I read it, but this was definitely not one of my favourite reads for the year. Recommended for Classics-lovers or Fitzgerald aficiandos, but that's about it.
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LibraryThing member gbill
There’s no doubt Fitzgerald was a good writer, and that he “wrote what he knew”. On the positive side of This Side of Paradise there are touching sentiments of youth, one’s college days, and lost innocence, both collectively post WWI, and individually in love lost. There are also a variety
The thing that makes him hard to read for me, at least in his early efforts such as this, is that “what he knew” was such lazy affluence. The main character is given everything; he has good looks, money, talent, and attends Princeton. Unfortunately he is also egotistic, spoiled, and lackadaisical – and therefore damn hard to like. Complaining about the “tiresome” war, so removed from its horrors, stating how the lower classes are “narrower, less pleasant, and personally more selfish” among other things throughout the book … it rings of elitism.
Quotes:
On media:
“It’s worse in the case of newspapers. Any rich, unprogressive old party with that particularly grasping, acquisitive form of mentality known as financial genius can own a paper that is the intellectual meat and drink of thousands of tired, hurried men, men too involved in the business of modern living to swallow anything but predigested food. For two cents the voter buys his politics, prejudices, and philosophy.”
On religion:
“And Monsignor, upon whom a cardinal rested, had moments of strange and horrible insecurity – inexplicable in a religion that explained even disbelief in terms of its own faith: if you doubted the devil it was the devil that made you doubt him.”
On the outlook for women at the time:
“’Rotten, rotten old world,’ broke out Eleanor suddenly, ‘and the wretchedest thing of all is me – oh, why am I a girl? Why am I not a stupid - ? Look at you; you’re stupider than I am, not much, but some, and you can lope about and get bored and then lope somewhere else, and you can play around with girls without being involved in meshes of sentiment, and you can do anything and be justified – and here am I with the brains to do everything, yet tied to the sinking ship of future matrimony. If I were born a hundred years from now, well and good, but now what’s in store for me – I have to marry, that goes without saying. Who? I’m too bright for most men, and yet I have to descend to their level and let them patronize my intellect in order to get their attention. Every year that I don’t marry I’ve got less chance for a first-class man.”
On writing:
“Every author ought to write every book as if he were going to be beheaded the day he finished it.”
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of literary forms, including some dabbling in stream of consciousness, which I give Fitzgerald credit for. “The Debutante”, the first chapter in Book Two, written in play form, is excellent.The thing that makes him hard to read for me, at least in his early efforts such as this, is that “what he knew” was such lazy affluence. The main character is given everything; he has good looks, money, talent, and attends Princeton. Unfortunately he is also egotistic, spoiled, and lackadaisical – and therefore damn hard to like. Complaining about the “tiresome” war, so removed from its horrors, stating how the lower classes are “narrower, less pleasant, and personally more selfish” among other things throughout the book … it rings of elitism.
Quotes:
On media:
“It’s worse in the case of newspapers. Any rich, unprogressive old party with that particularly grasping, acquisitive form of mentality known as financial genius can own a paper that is the intellectual meat and drink of thousands of tired, hurried men, men too involved in the business of modern living to swallow anything but predigested food. For two cents the voter buys his politics, prejudices, and philosophy.”
On religion:
“And Monsignor, upon whom a cardinal rested, had moments of strange and horrible insecurity – inexplicable in a religion that explained even disbelief in terms of its own faith: if you doubted the devil it was the devil that made you doubt him.”
On the outlook for women at the time:
“’Rotten, rotten old world,’ broke out Eleanor suddenly, ‘and the wretchedest thing of all is me – oh, why am I a girl? Why am I not a stupid - ? Look at you; you’re stupider than I am, not much, but some, and you can lope about and get bored and then lope somewhere else, and you can play around with girls without being involved in meshes of sentiment, and you can do anything and be justified – and here am I with the brains to do everything, yet tied to the sinking ship of future matrimony. If I were born a hundred years from now, well and good, but now what’s in store for me – I have to marry, that goes without saying. Who? I’m too bright for most men, and yet I have to descend to their level and let them patronize my intellect in order to get their attention. Every year that I don’t marry I’ve got less chance for a first-class man.”
On writing:
“Every author ought to write every book as if he were going to be beheaded the day he finished it.”
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LibraryThing member MrsSpoon
Way better than I thought Fitzgerald would be, not having read him in high school. All you people having quarter-life crisis should take a look at this one.
LibraryThing member jkrejci
This, Fitzgerald's first book written at the tender age of 23, while in my opinion clearly his worst, hints at the enormous talent underlying some of his later masterpieces. This Side of Paradise is self-consciously autobiographical and has an unfortunate tendency towards pretentiousness and
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self-absorption. The narrative is also less mature than his later works, and tends to wander. Nonetheless, it is worth a read for glimpses of the incomparable Fitzgerald style. Show Less
LibraryThing member fuzzy_patters
A decent novel. You can see the effort to become the great novelist he would become, but it seems experimental and forced at times. Additionally, Fitzgerald's worldview at twenty-three seemed to be lacking in maturity, but it is not a bad coming of age story. I would liken it to Joyce's Portrait of
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the Artist as a Young Man and Maugham's Of Human Bondage except that they were better written than This Side of Paradise. Still, I am glad I read it, and I will remember it. Show Less
LibraryThing member HVFCentral
This is only my second foray into the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had read "The Great Gadsby" years ago, as part of a college reading assigment. I also had seen the movie starring Robert Redford.
So, over the past few weeks I approached this other great Fitzgerald work with a sense of
Yet, in the life meanderings of protagonist Amory Blaine, I found not a pointless pursuit of nothing much, ending in quiet tragedy. Rather, there is a sense of ultimate success on the part of Blaine, as the narrative closes. Here is a person that seemed to have no real purpose in life, other than a continuation of the first two shallow fraternity years in an Ivy League college.
But Amory is no typical Ivy-Leaguer. His wealth comes from some nouveau riche earnings of his late father's smart investments. Tragedy seems to loom on every page, as his inheritance dries up and he is left with nothing. He has not even a healthy ambition to drive him.
As a romancer, he can seduce, but never truly win, the most beautiful women crossing his path. They all approach their liaisons with him, fully aware that it is going nowhere. He is a rake without pretense.
Blaine's frustrations with the ladies are part of his character development, in his sysiphusian forward-and-back-again career path to nowhere. But in this there is nothing really unique about the character. There is not a man alive, who wouldn't love to have the same romantic experiences as Amory. Eventually the smart ones realize that the best women are the nice ones. The most alluring ones are the ones along the edge of society, not the ones that place themselves front and center, as Amory's love interests always manage to do.
So the story ends, somewhere around the year 1930, with Amory at around thirty years of age.
In the final chapters, Fitzgerald wraps it up with some prescient social commentary, which seem even to point to reforms in our society that may yet be a hallmark of the Obama era. Fitzgerald pleads - why does our society not more highly value those with creative gifts? Why do we stress a liberal education, and then cast to the gutter those that excel in the liberal arts?
Fitzgerald says, no wonder socialism has such an allure to the intelligentsia! If the business and monied classes cared more about letters, music, and the arts, then there would be a place for those so gifted! Yet any advanced civilization needs to celebrate those gifts! Fitzgerald has written this book as a commentary on America's need to put its money where its mouth is. If you can write and create - then it is in society's best interest to take good care of you. The failure to do so may be an overturning of our free market system (one needs only to look at people like Bill Ayers to see how it all may come topsy turvy, even in our generation).
But, one wonders about Mr. Blaine at the age of fifty and beyond. I can easily envision him as a respected adademic, with a wife that is also a professor. In his late middle years he has one or two young children, that bring him great joy. He has served on several local boards by this time.
And, at long last, he is happy.
So, over the past few weeks I approached this other great Fitzgerald work with a sense of
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anticipation, and maybe a little hesitation. Gadbsy had left me flat and drained. I expected Paradise to do the same. Yet, in the life meanderings of protagonist Amory Blaine, I found not a pointless pursuit of nothing much, ending in quiet tragedy. Rather, there is a sense of ultimate success on the part of Blaine, as the narrative closes. Here is a person that seemed to have no real purpose in life, other than a continuation of the first two shallow fraternity years in an Ivy League college.
But Amory is no typical Ivy-Leaguer. His wealth comes from some nouveau riche earnings of his late father's smart investments. Tragedy seems to loom on every page, as his inheritance dries up and he is left with nothing. He has not even a healthy ambition to drive him.
As a romancer, he can seduce, but never truly win, the most beautiful women crossing his path. They all approach their liaisons with him, fully aware that it is going nowhere. He is a rake without pretense.
Blaine's frustrations with the ladies are part of his character development, in his sysiphusian forward-and-back-again career path to nowhere. But in this there is nothing really unique about the character. There is not a man alive, who wouldn't love to have the same romantic experiences as Amory. Eventually the smart ones realize that the best women are the nice ones. The most alluring ones are the ones along the edge of society, not the ones that place themselves front and center, as Amory's love interests always manage to do.
So the story ends, somewhere around the year 1930, with Amory at around thirty years of age.
In the final chapters, Fitzgerald wraps it up with some prescient social commentary, which seem even to point to reforms in our society that may yet be a hallmark of the Obama era. Fitzgerald pleads - why does our society not more highly value those with creative gifts? Why do we stress a liberal education, and then cast to the gutter those that excel in the liberal arts?
Fitzgerald says, no wonder socialism has such an allure to the intelligentsia! If the business and monied classes cared more about letters, music, and the arts, then there would be a place for those so gifted! Yet any advanced civilization needs to celebrate those gifts! Fitzgerald has written this book as a commentary on America's need to put its money where its mouth is. If you can write and create - then it is in society's best interest to take good care of you. The failure to do so may be an overturning of our free market system (one needs only to look at people like Bill Ayers to see how it all may come topsy turvy, even in our generation).
But, one wonders about Mr. Blaine at the age of fifty and beyond. I can easily envision him as a respected adademic, with a wife that is also a professor. In his late middle years he has one or two young children, that bring him great joy. He has served on several local boards by this time.
And, at long last, he is happy.
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LibraryThing member PinkPandaParade
With this first novel, 23-year old Fitzgerald was catapulted into fame as the offspring of the Jazz Age, and with no surprise. This novel, which covers the life of Amory Blaine, a wandering Princeton egoist who is bored and disillusioned with the world around him, is reminiscent not only of the
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lost generation after World War I, but of the great coming-of-age novels of our time, most notably Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.It was Fitzgerald himself who said that he was merely "a product of a versatile mind in a restless generation-—with every reason to throw my mind and pen in with the radicals." The appeal of this book is hence universal and completely timeless, and just like Holden Caufield, many will take on this character and his hedonism as their own, recognizing his faults and weaknesses and learning, probably before he does, from his mistakes. Based partly on Fitzgerald's own burgeoning academic life, the author claims to capture "a new generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken." Probably the most experimental of all of Fitzgerald's books, filled not only with the actual story text, but also with acridly humorous lists, melodramatic poems, and even a section written like a play, all coming together seamlessly to show how Blaine learns from his friendships, affairs, and intellectual and spiritual lessons and mishaps how to become a more mature (though not necessarily a better and happier) person.Though not all will be drawn to this self-absorbed character, many still will find a thread of themselves in this man. As Fitzgerald's first novel, this is probably his most unadulterated and honest, and hence is of great value to all Fitzgerald followers. Those who have read other Fitzgerald books may not find this to be like the others. It lacks the flapper-filled floating atmosphere of The Great Gatsby, which is certainly his greatest novel. It lacks the sweet and insipid romance of such novels as my personal favorite, Tender is the Night. Still, there is a pervading sense of instability in Amory that seems extant in many of Fitzgerald's heroes and heroines, a certain off-center quality that keeps them down to earth at the same time it makes them other-worldly. Amory carries this quality like a sword and shield, and, more than any one of Fitzgerald's characters, looks at the world around him with the illusion that he is far above it because of his idiosyncrasies. Show Less
LibraryThing member kdavidw
Fitzgerald written about a young man named Amory. Amory comes from some old money, goes to Princeton, fights in the war, and along the way, has several intense love relationships. It's a story about self-discovery and love where Amory famously ends the novel by saying, "I know myself, but that is
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all--." Show Less
LibraryThing member bhryk0
This is the story of Amory Blaine and takes place in the early 1900's, just before and after WWI. Amory was born to a family of wealth and lived a rather leisurely life.
LibraryThing member vandev11
Fitzgerald’s first major novel concerns Amory Blaine, a Princeton University student who has various escapades involving love and tries desperately to discover his identity.
“This Side of Paradise” works well as a novel for 12th graders, as it provides a bridge between high school and college,
“This Side of Paradise” works well as a novel for 12th graders, as it provides a bridge between high school and college,
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and can be readily applied to the college experience today. The book also provides several different writing style templates that can easily be analyzed and juxtaposed. It also is a good example of amateur writing and when paired with a novel like “The Great Gatsby,” it can be used to show an author’s writing style develops over time. Show Less
LibraryThing member larson23
This book, compared to "The Great Gastby", wasn't nearly as good. I absolutely loved "The Great Gastby", but this book was more difficult for me to get into. I still enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but it just didn't have the same spark that interested me.
This book is a wonderful example of a rich
There are several things that do relate to the time period, the first one that pops out is going to the movies then, prohibition and World War One.
Overall, this was a really good book that I enjoyed, but it isn't my favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald book.
This book is a wonderful example of a rich
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man being shaded in the depths of his dreams. Armory, the main character, comes from a weathly family. He doesn't really think of what is going to happen now, it is always what will benefit him from the future, well, that is what I get from him, anyway. He goes with whatever will get him the most popularity throughout the book and ends up kind of just broken with everything at the end. There are several things that do relate to the time period, the first one that pops out is going to the movies then, prohibition and World War One.
Overall, this was a really good book that I enjoyed, but it isn't my favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald book.
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LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy
This Side of Paradise
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Introduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson
This Side of Paradise originally published in 1920 by Scribner
Barnes & Noble Classics trade paperback edition published in 2005 (by Barnes & Noble)
Classics
WHO: Amory Blaine,…
WHAT: recounts his life as he comes of
WHERE: Blaine hails from the Mid-West, goes to Princeton and makes occasional forays into New York City to participate in social life.
WHEN: The narrative covers roughly ten years, from 1908-1918, with very little time spent on Blaine’s military service in 1917.
WHY: Blaine seeks to define himself philosophically…
HOW: by taking into consideration his experiences, what he has been taught formally and through the mentorship of a priest.
+ This Side of Paradise is a unique diary in form that functions as a thinly disguised autobiography of F. Scott Fitzgerald himself.
- Without an academically informed approach, This Side of Paradise comes across as a self-indulgent account of a spoiled brat. With bad poetry.
OTHER: I purchased paperback copy of This Side of Paradise (by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Introduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson ) from Barnes and Noble (the retail store in Medford, OR.) I did not read theIntroduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson. I learned to never do that when reading the Classics (unless the Classic is a re-read) as the academics who write these things often include spoilers. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Introduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson
This Side of Paradise originally published in 1920 by Scribner
Barnes & Noble Classics trade paperback edition published in 2005 (by Barnes & Noble)
Classics
WHO: Amory Blaine,…
WHAT: recounts his life as he comes of
Show More
age, goes to boarding school, college, war, and falls in love a couple of times.WHERE: Blaine hails from the Mid-West, goes to Princeton and makes occasional forays into New York City to participate in social life.
WHEN: The narrative covers roughly ten years, from 1908-1918, with very little time spent on Blaine’s military service in 1917.
WHY: Blaine seeks to define himself philosophically…
HOW: by taking into consideration his experiences, what he has been taught formally and through the mentorship of a priest.
+ This Side of Paradise is a unique diary in form that functions as a thinly disguised autobiography of F. Scott Fitzgerald himself.
- Without an academically informed approach, This Side of Paradise comes across as a self-indulgent account of a spoiled brat. With bad poetry.
OTHER: I purchased paperback copy of This Side of Paradise (by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Introduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson ) from Barnes and Noble (the retail store in Medford, OR.) I did not read theIntroduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson. I learned to never do that when reading the Classics (unless the Classic is a re-read) as the academics who write these things often include spoilers. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.
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LibraryThing member Maura49
I would not recommend Fitzgerald's debut novel as a good introduction to his work. It tells the story of Amory Blaine's early life and loves, and his development as a person. There are flashes of brilliance which indicate a writer of talent but there are many rambling, self- indulgent passages as
Fitzgerald experiments with different forms, sometimes diving into dialogues and includes some rather bad poetry.
Amory, a rich and selfish boy learns a few harsh lessons along the way, but one tires of him long before the end of the novel. He has a tendency to preach at people such as at the end of the book when he delivers a lecture on socialism to a rich man who has offered him a lift
I enjoyed the earlier part of the novel best when he is at Princeton, making friends, reading extensively and enjoying the mind broadening experience of College life.
On the whole though it might be better to start with some of Fitzgerald's excellent short stories or the novels of his best period,such as "The Great Gatsby"
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well.Fitzgerald experiments with different forms, sometimes diving into dialogues and includes some rather bad poetry.
Amory, a rich and selfish boy learns a few harsh lessons along the way, but one tires of him long before the end of the novel. He has a tendency to preach at people such as at the end of the book when he delivers a lecture on socialism to a rich man who has offered him a lift
I enjoyed the earlier part of the novel best when he is at Princeton, making friends, reading extensively and enjoying the mind broadening experience of College life.
On the whole though it might be better to start with some of Fitzgerald's excellent short stories or the novels of his best period,such as "The Great Gatsby"
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LibraryThing member MColv9890
Amory Blaine is one of the more frustrating characters I've ever come to like. He is certainly self-interested to a degree that most would consider unhealthy. His self-interested escapades see him try everything from athletics and poetry to failing on purpose, going to war, and arguing for
I see that the general consensus on the thing is that this novel is in some shape or form inferior to Fitzgerald's other novels. Well I'm no critic and I've not been through all F. Scott Fitzgerald's books. Some may dislike Amory and his self-righteous monologues, but in a world in which everyone is self-interested, well you'd be crazy to be any other way.
The high moments of this novel are definitely those involving women. Amory's drunken escapade falls far short of Fitzgerald's own escapades and is most definitely toned down if this novel is to be at all autobiographical. He loses many lovers but Rosalind being the key love figure. His love for Eleanor being second best, not for Amory but for the quality of the story being told.
The end is the best portion of the novel. However that may be just because I, unlike Amory, am sentimental and not romantic. The difference being something between hoping that it never ends and praying to God that it does.
All in all, not a bad or difficult read.
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socialism to name a few. His philosophy is that he is beautiful and superior to more or less everyone he meets, save Burne Holliday. His mother dies young (an alcoholic), he is mentored by a priest who becomes his only 'father figure'. I see that the general consensus on the thing is that this novel is in some shape or form inferior to Fitzgerald's other novels. Well I'm no critic and I've not been through all F. Scott Fitzgerald's books. Some may dislike Amory and his self-righteous monologues, but in a world in which everyone is self-interested, well you'd be crazy to be any other way.
The high moments of this novel are definitely those involving women. Amory's drunken escapade falls far short of Fitzgerald's own escapades and is most definitely toned down if this novel is to be at all autobiographical. He loses many lovers but Rosalind being the key love figure. His love for Eleanor being second best, not for Amory but for the quality of the story being told.
The end is the best portion of the novel. However that may be just because I, unlike Amory, am sentimental and not romantic. The difference being something between hoping that it never ends and praying to God that it does.
All in all, not a bad or difficult read.
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LibraryThing member ccayne
Beautiful writing is its best attribute
LibraryThing member jawalter
eBook
You know something's wrong when the climax of your book involves your main character talking to a completely new character about communism. The real problem, however, is that Fitzgerald's book focuses on a main character who is not only insufferable, but boring as well. The side characters
I've read somewhere that This Side of Paradise is somewhat autobiographical, and while that might explain some of it, it fails to excuse any of it. This was a pointless exercise in tedium.
You know something's wrong when the climax of your book involves your main character talking to a completely new character about communism. The real problem, however, is that Fitzgerald's book focuses on a main character who is not only insufferable, but boring as well. The side characters
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exist merely to give him something to do and the plot meanders pointlessly.I've read somewhere that This Side of Paradise is somewhat autobiographical, and while that might explain some of it, it fails to excuse any of it. This was a pointless exercise in tedium.
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LibraryThing member Sanjana19
The writing is pretty good, but the story drags. There's no real plot, which I suppose not every book needs. But while I liked Amory Blaine, I also found him kind of boring.
Fitzgerald had a tendency to write only what he knew, since all his books are kind of related to the same idea of
It was nothing compared to The Great Gatsby.
Fitzgerald had a tendency to write only what he knew, since all his books are kind of related to the same idea of
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disillusionment, and the the separation between the classes. I never finished it, but I got about halfway through and I thought it was okay.It was nothing compared to The Great Gatsby.
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LibraryThing member CGlanovsky
Glanced through other reviews: bored by philosophical shpeel? It rings of elitism? There's no real plot? Obviously, everyone is entitled to their opinion. If saying so sounds dismissive, it may be because one person's entitlement to have them is different from an obligation in the rest of us to
It isn't The Great Gatsby. That is true, as so many reviewers below point out, but then again all books but one aren't The Great Gatsby. This is a great example of the Bildungsroman. The journey of reading this sort of story is to see a character take shape in interaction with an environment. The interesting thing with Amory--the "Egotist"--is how conscious he seems to be of his own Self taking shape, even from a very young age. He is hyper-aware of how his poses redound upon his reputation in society. You are, I think, absolutely meant to recoil at the self-indulgence and shallowness of his patrician lifestyle. His philosophical musings are, I think, meant to sound amateurish. Many of his romantic woes are meant to seem maudlin. If he seems to be drifting through life, I think it's in the nature of his generation, it's representative of a time and place. Note the conspicuous absence of the World War; there's an elephant in the room. To those who felt there was no plot, that Amory doesn't undergo a change, that the story seems to promote class-ist sentiments, you perhaps gave up before the culminating dialogue between a thoroughly broken-down Amory and the father of one of his dead Princeton acquaintances. His love life has been repeatedly sabotaged by economic interests, his family fortune is entirely dried-up, his mentor has died beloved for his service to mankind, and Amory has no idea what to do with himself. Facing real poverty, he goes on to articulate a case for Socialism that rings true even today: a society that refuses to make concessions to its working class cannot be surprised when they resort to organization and agitation on their own behalf. He calls for a meritocracy where every child (or every male child) is begun on an equal footing with equal access to education and opportunity and called upon to achieve for the sake of honor and self-respect rather than mere financial gain. Amory plans to commit his pen to the cause of social justice. Surely this is not an argument for elitism, and surely this is a change from the Amory who cared only for his social status. Best of all, his transformation--admittedly sudden--organically arises from his experience, from thwarted love most of all. Amory himself concedes that his zeal is a sublimation of his feelings for Rosalind, and a poor substitute.
There is that Ancient Greek axiomatic exhortation to "know thyself." In This Side of Paradise Fitzgerald has posited a case in rebuttal. Amory's excessive self-consciousness is his stumbling block. Even in the end he cannot escape his own scrutiny. Even he knows that his self-knowledge is an impediment. "I know myself... but that is all."
So, this book:
*Makes a philosophical statement about a well-lived life
*Has a political message about the world
*Captures the tone of a period in history
*Sketches a complicated and evolving personality (personage?)
*Is written in an innovative structure
*Is written with powerful language
*Provides insights into the early life of one of America's greatest writers
and
*Is capable of inspiring strongly differing opinions and perspectives.
If only he'd never written The Great Gatsby. Maybe then we could read the rest of his work in peace with a clear head.
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heed them.It isn't The Great Gatsby. That is true, as so many reviewers below point out, but then again all books but one aren't The Great Gatsby. This is a great example of the Bildungsroman. The journey of reading this sort of story is to see a character take shape in interaction with an environment. The interesting thing with Amory--the "Egotist"--is how conscious he seems to be of his own Self taking shape, even from a very young age. He is hyper-aware of how his poses redound upon his reputation in society. You are, I think, absolutely meant to recoil at the self-indulgence and shallowness of his patrician lifestyle. His philosophical musings are, I think, meant to sound amateurish. Many of his romantic woes are meant to seem maudlin. If he seems to be drifting through life, I think it's in the nature of his generation, it's representative of a time and place. Note the conspicuous absence of the World War; there's an elephant in the room. To those who felt there was no plot, that Amory doesn't undergo a change, that the story seems to promote class-ist sentiments, you perhaps gave up before the culminating dialogue between a thoroughly broken-down Amory and the father of one of his dead Princeton acquaintances. His love life has been repeatedly sabotaged by economic interests, his family fortune is entirely dried-up, his mentor has died beloved for his service to mankind, and Amory has no idea what to do with himself. Facing real poverty, he goes on to articulate a case for Socialism that rings true even today: a society that refuses to make concessions to its working class cannot be surprised when they resort to organization and agitation on their own behalf. He calls for a meritocracy where every child (or every male child) is begun on an equal footing with equal access to education and opportunity and called upon to achieve for the sake of honor and self-respect rather than mere financial gain. Amory plans to commit his pen to the cause of social justice. Surely this is not an argument for elitism, and surely this is a change from the Amory who cared only for his social status. Best of all, his transformation--admittedly sudden--organically arises from his experience, from thwarted love most of all. Amory himself concedes that his zeal is a sublimation of his feelings for Rosalind, and a poor substitute.
There is that Ancient Greek axiomatic exhortation to "know thyself." In This Side of Paradise Fitzgerald has posited a case in rebuttal. Amory's excessive self-consciousness is his stumbling block. Even in the end he cannot escape his own scrutiny. Even he knows that his self-knowledge is an impediment. "I know myself... but that is all."
So, this book:
*Makes a philosophical statement about a well-lived life
*Has a political message about the world
*Captures the tone of a period in history
*Sketches a complicated and evolving personality (personage?)
*Is written in an innovative structure
*Is written with powerful language
*Provides insights into the early life of one of America's greatest writers
and
*Is capable of inspiring strongly differing opinions and perspectives.
If only he'd never written The Great Gatsby. Maybe then we could read the rest of his work in peace with a clear head.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ElOsoBlanco
I really like Fitzgerald, and I think this book has some redeeming qualities, but the wandering story of Amory Blaine just didn't make me care, and that's why I didn't care for this novel.
LibraryThing member fodroy
This begins slowly. You really have to work to get through the first half, but once you get through that it really pays off. There are many brilliant moments in this book.
LibraryThing member lucthegreat
Good book. I really liked it when I read it, but as I reflect now (a couple summers later), I think that Fitzgerald gets rather tiring. It's 'On the Road' that has done this to me, particularly a quote on the back mentioning that it was closer to Whitman's American Dream than Fitzgerald's.
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Fitzgerald is a confused boy living in a make-believe world, whereas Whitman and Kerouac celebrate Life. I prefer that. Today. Show Less
LibraryThing member dysmonia
This was my first Fitzgerald. The author came up in conversation and, having realized I had never read anything by him, the next time I was at the library I went to the fiction section and this was the only Fitzgerald currently on the shelf (my branch is one of the smallest in the county; much of
I had heard of This Side of Paradise, but I have no idea whether it's a good introduction to the author. As I read, I felt like I needed someone smarter than me to tell me what was important about the book.
I noticed the changes in writing style: at times the story was told in third person, at times it was a play, at times a poem, and there was a brief couple of pages that were first person.
I've read other fiction that takes place when this book does (the nineteen-teens), but most of it was historical fiction, while Paradisewas actually realistic fiction when it was published: a coming of age story about a young man growing up as the world around him is experiencing growing pains.
I liked it, and I felt the writing was good, but I was alternately bored and interested. I couldn't figure out why the main character's two years at war were almost completely ignored (but I wasn't disappointed by the fact, that's for sure).
I think my next Fitzgerald will be The Great Gatsby, for no other reason that it's the most famous.
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what I read I have transferred in from the other locations). I had heard of This Side of Paradise, but I have no idea whether it's a good introduction to the author. As I read, I felt like I needed someone smarter than me to tell me what was important about the book.
I noticed the changes in writing style: at times the story was told in third person, at times it was a play, at times a poem, and there was a brief couple of pages that were first person.
I've read other fiction that takes place when this book does (the nineteen-teens), but most of it was historical fiction, while Paradisewas actually realistic fiction when it was published: a coming of age story about a young man growing up as the world around him is experiencing growing pains.
I liked it, and I felt the writing was good, but I was alternately bored and interested. I couldn't figure out why the main character's two years at war were almost completely ignored (but I wasn't disappointed by the fact, that's for sure).
I think my next Fitzgerald will be The Great Gatsby, for no other reason that it's the most famous.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
I read this while on a trip to Washington and made no note on what I thought of the reading. My memory is that it was OK.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1920-03-26
Physical description
304 p.; 6.7 inches
ISBN
0140189769 / 9780140189766