Read Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald What a…
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Read Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
What a great book!
I've only read this and *The Great Gatsby* of Fitzgerald's works, and though I love *Gatsby,* this might just edge it out.
Book 1 was solid, though I think weaker than the rest. It's beautifully written, but could feel a bit repetitive and handhold-y at times (I get it, Rosemary is naïve and her mother is hard but a good parental figure). It really immerses you in the languid lives of the characters, though perhaps too much at times. That said, I do love the juxtaposition between this mostly languid, lazy atmosphere and the often sudden moments of extreme violence: how the narrative never really lingers on the violence. It creates such a vivid portrait of how these people live, how nothing seems to truly, deeply matter to them. The characters were memorable and the plot mostly enjoyable, but I wasn't fully engrossed.
Book 2 and 3, however, are where things get truly extraordinary. Dick and Nicole Diver are such vivid, complex and engrossing characters (roman à clefs of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald?). My perception of them kept changing throughout the novel. I knew from the start (it is the premise, after all) that the marriage between the two was largely a façade, but I had no idea how deep and complex their issues were and how flawed they were as people. They're both such tragic characters. Intelligent, charismatic people who through tragedy have their lives thrown together and, for a while, destroyed. Nicole has something of a happy ending, but Dick seems to fade into obscurity. Though there are occasional interjections from other perspectives, Book 2 mostly focuses on Dick's perspective and Book 3 on Nicole's. This too changed my perceptions of the characters.
I knew Book 2 started as a flashback to how the Divers met, but I had no idea that Rosemary would end up so ancillary to the rest of the book (I knew she was a just supporting protagonist, like Nick Carraway was in *Gatsby*, but I thought she'd keep that role for most of the book), but I think it works well. She introduces the Divers to the reader as an outsider, creating this very different image of them to the truth that is revealed across the rest of the novel. I love how, in a way, unsatisfying it is that Rosemary and Dick's affair, though the first domino in the ultimate collapse of the Diver's marriage, ultimately isn't that prevalent in the novel. They don't really love each other much, Dick seems to sour on Rosemary as he realises how fickle and surface level he is, how she doesn't seem to grow up, while Rosemary can't accept Dick as anything but the perfect, yet fake image he once presented himself as. Rosemary is "Daddy's Girl", and though Dick clearly has a thing for women he can act paternal towards (Nicole isn't the only patient of his he falls for), it seems in this case he wanted something more. Maybe don't marry your patient, though, Dick. Maybe don't do that.
It's such a dreary, miserable book. The Divers are rudderless (especially Dick) and seem incapable of finding happiness in their intellect, their wealth, their friends, their beautiful homes. Though not to the same extent, everyone around them seems to be in a similar malaise. Abe North is an alcoholic who ends up dead. Tom Banbam is rudderless like Dick. Nicole was molested by her father, the route of her mental health issues, yet he gets no comeuppance. He's dying towards the end of the book and calls out for Nicole, perhaps an opportunity for both of them to get closure, but he ends up surviving and fleeing before Nicole can meet him, leaving a satisfyingly unsatisfying dangling thread.
My thoughts here are a bit all over the place, which I apologise for. I just really loved this book and wanted to share my thoughts in a pseudo review/analysis.
#entertainment
source
What a great book!
I've only read this and *The Great Gatsby* of Fitzgerald's works, and though I love *Gatsby,* this might just edge it out.
Book 1 was solid, though I think weaker than the rest. It's beautifully written, but could feel a bit repetitive and handhold-y at times (I get it, Rosemary is naïve and her mother is hard but a good parental figure). It really immerses you in the languid lives of the characters, though perhaps too much at times. That said, I do love the juxtaposition between this mostly languid, lazy atmosphere and the often sudden moments of extreme violence: how the narrative never really lingers on the violence. It creates such a vivid portrait of how these people live, how nothing seems to truly, deeply matter to them. The characters were memorable and the plot mostly enjoyable, but I wasn't fully engrossed.
Book 2 and 3, however, are where things get truly extraordinary. Dick and Nicole Diver are such vivid, complex and engrossing characters (roman à clefs of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald?). My perception of them kept changing throughout the novel. I knew from the start (it is the premise, after all) that the marriage between the two was largely a façade, but I had no idea how deep and complex their issues were and how flawed they were as people. They're both such tragic characters. Intelligent, charismatic people who through tragedy have their lives thrown together and, for a while, destroyed. Nicole has something of a happy ending, but Dick seems to fade into obscurity. Though there are occasional interjections from other perspectives, Book 2 mostly focuses on Dick's perspective and Book 3 on Nicole's. This too changed my perceptions of the characters.
I knew Book 2 started as a flashback to how the Divers met, but I had no idea that Rosemary would end up so ancillary to the rest of the book (I knew she was a just supporting protagonist, like Nick Carraway was in *Gatsby*, but I thought she'd keep that role for most of the book), but I think it works well. She introduces the Divers to the reader as an outsider, creating this very different image of them to the truth that is revealed across the rest of the novel. I love how, in a way, unsatisfying it is that Rosemary and Dick's affair, though the first domino in the ultimate collapse of the Diver's marriage, ultimately isn't that prevalent in the novel. They don't really love each other much, Dick seems to sour on Rosemary as he realises how fickle and surface level he is, how she doesn't seem to grow up, while Rosemary can't accept Dick as anything but the perfect, yet fake image he once presented himself as. Rosemary is "Daddy's Girl", and though Dick clearly has a thing for women he can act paternal towards (Nicole isn't the only patient of his he falls for), it seems in this case he wanted something more. Maybe don't marry your patient, though, Dick. Maybe don't do that.
It's such a dreary, miserable book. The Divers are rudderless (especially Dick) and seem incapable of finding happiness in their intellect, their wealth, their friends, their beautiful homes. Though not to the same extent, everyone around them seems to be in a similar malaise. Abe North is an alcoholic who ends up dead. Tom Banbam is rudderless like Dick. Nicole was molested by her father, the route of her mental health issues, yet he gets no comeuppance. He's dying towards the end of the book and calls out for Nicole, perhaps an opportunity for both of them to get closure, but he ends up surviving and fleeing before Nicole can meet him, leaving a satisfyingly unsatisfying dangling thread.
My thoughts here are a bit all over the place, which I apologise for. I just really loved this book and wanted to share my thoughts in a pseudo review/analysis.
#entertainment
source
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