The Beautiful and the Damned, by the highly esteemed F. Scott Fitzgerald.
It was completely random that I picked this one up directly after reading and trashing Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays. And now I feel as though I may owe her an apology.
They were practically the same book. I mean not at all the same story, of course, but the same theme: beautiful people are shallow and narcassistic. I found Didion's version distasteful, while Fitzgerald's version leaves me all a-glow that American writers can pen such classics. Clearly, I have issues.
I think if I had never read Didion's two latest memoirs (Blue Nights and A Year of Magical Thinking), I would have found Play It As It Lays a much more engaging read. The problem for me was that I kept inserting the writer into the story. Didion's writing is evocative, beautiful and spare, her characters are expressively drawn and engaging, even in their self-involvement, and the style of her writing beautifully mirrors the changing times of the 1970s.
I could write the same review for the Beautiful and the Damned: Fitzgerald's writing is evocative, beautiful and spare, his characters are expressively drawn and engaging, even in their self-involvement, and the style of his writing beautifully mirrors the changing times of the 1920s.
None of the characters (and I mean none, not major character, nor minor) in either book have any (and I mean none, nada, zero, zilch) redeeming features. They aren't people you are meant to like, to enjoy, to wish to spend time with, or in any way even feel empathy, pity or sorrow for. "Contempt" probably best describes how I felt about each and every one of them; mostly because they are so shallow, self involved and short sighted.
So, why read these books? Shallow, self involved and short sighted would describe most people for the first thirty years of their lives, don't you think? It is the rare person who can be young and insightful; I know I wasn't. Morality tales are often dull; but this one delivers the message in a way that doesn't feel preachy.
Buzzfeed, oddly enough, doesn't have much to say about this book:
More money, more problems. Or so it goes for the novel’s protagonist, Anthony Patch, and his wife, Gloria. This book deals with extreme wealth and the devastating effects alcoholism can have.
That's not really what I got out of it: the main character does spend his life waiting around to inherit $30million US, and is deep in the throws of alcoholism, and thus, not able to really enjoy it when he finally receives it.
But "evils of alcoholism" doesn't ring true as the real moral of this tale: the real moral is "one needs intelligent occupation in life, or one withers and dies."
Plus, money management skills are imperative for every grown up. None of which are lessons I require at this stage of my life. That said, I'm really, really glad I read this book, and I'm glad I read it when I did: its made me step back and appreciate the artistry in Joan Didion's writing, something that I think is worth appreciating.
Next: The Easter Markets!
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