100 Books in 2018

14/ tender is the night by f. scott fitzgerald

read: 14.02.18 - 20.02.18

book: Tender is the Night

author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

blurb: Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, 'Tender Is the Night' is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character, Tender Is the Night is lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative.

review: I had a very mixed experience reading this book, and I am still trying to sort my feelings about it into some order. I needed to read this book for my extended essay project which is about mental illness in literature, but what made more of impact on me was not the depiction of mental illness but instead the general plot itself.

After reading 'The Great Gatsby' I assumed that I would like the rest of Fitzgerald's works. But once I had ploughed through 150 pages of this book, I realised that this would not be the case. I found the beginning of this novel SO difficult to get involved in the story, and I had a real problem with the speed in which the story moved. Nothing was explained clearly, and things would happen with no real explanation or consequence.

But as the novel progressed I enjoyed it more. I guess I was attracted to the darker side of the characters who seemed to gain more depth as the novel continued. I was interested in learning more about the characters, and I especially liked the fact that there was more focus on human emotions towards the end of the novel.

The settings of this book were all described beautifully, but it didn't help that I couldn't understand 100% of the time what was happening in the novel. Overall, it's the type of book which I think I will re-read at some point in the future. Not soon though.

rating: 7/10