rebekah_nobody's review against another edition
4.0
This was the first Fitzgerald book I read because Gatsby the Great was perpetually checked out of Newton County library in the late 1990s. I was maybe 13 years old.
I remember the beginning scenes clearest of all - how I related to the character of Rosemary, being inexperienced and young, and appreciated this notion of “falling in love” with a family as a whole, or with a grown woman who is loved by a grown man, as a natural precursor to growing up.
I cannot overstate how shaken I was by the book - by the frank urgencies of need among adults, by the prodigious potential and quick disintegration of their professional and personal lives, and by the basic impermanence of ‘sanity’ in the human mind.
It seemed to be about the abundance of decay - the many mortalities of life, including the death of innocence, of marriage, and of brilliant careers… I still think of it as groundbreaking in this way, though it may have only been breaking ground in my mind, not in literary circles or history as a whole.
I remember the beginning scenes clearest of all - how I related to the character of Rosemary, being inexperienced and young, and appreciated this notion of “falling in love” with a family as a whole, or with a grown woman who is loved by a grown man, as a natural precursor to growing up.
I cannot overstate how shaken I was by the book - by the frank urgencies of need among adults, by the prodigious potential and quick disintegration of their professional and personal lives, and by the basic impermanence of ‘sanity’ in the human mind.
It seemed to be about the abundance of decay - the many mortalities of life, including the death of innocence, of marriage, and of brilliant careers… I still think of it as groundbreaking in this way, though it may have only been breaking ground in my mind, not in literary circles or history as a whole.
a_literary_streak's review against another edition
I was very keen on trying another F Scott Fitzgerald, even though I wouldn't count The Great Gatsby (my only other venture into his work) as a favourite, and thought this might be the one for me. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into it and found the writing, though lovely here and there, to be so fussy to the point of distraction. Might be I'm just not in a classics mood at the moment.
andreeadicu's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
the only way i can describe this is as a big book about nothing really. i picked this book up thinking a majority of this book would be about a tumultuous affair between a young actress and a married man and was really looking for the drama and internal turmoil á la The Great Gatsby.
Spoiler
unfortunately the affair between Dick and Rosemary probably only takes up about 30% of the novel. They kiss a bit and tease a little and then sleep together once and that’s about it. There’s hardly any internal push and pull from Dick discussed, or any effect on Rosemary’s life. The actual affair also took forever to culminate without the pleasant will they won’t they, it simply happened 150 pages so briefly you could’ve missed it.By far the most interesting part was the retelling of Nicole’s early mental illness. These couple dozen pages are probably what pushed me to finish this book. Really makes it enjoyable to see Dick selfishly fall from grace by the end.
With so much space to deal with anything else, no wonder Fitzgerald had time to add unnecessary racist and homophobic scenes. What exactly was the purpose of Peterson dying and Rosemary finding it if that had no lasting effect on either Dick’s relationship with Rosemary or with Nicole? And what was the point of the explicit “conversion therapy” style scene describing medical treatments for homosexuality? The most I delve into Fitzgerald the more he disappoints me, even for a man of the early 20th Century.
Spoiler
Just overall one big disappointment. It’s such a shame, because even in this novel of his, Fitzgerald’s writing flows nicely and reads beautifully. He should perhaps stick to books of about 200 pages though.
P.S.: Justice for my girl Nicole.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Racism
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, Rape, Mental illness, Medical trauma, War, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
bibliophile_gurl's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
primix's review against another edition
4.0
*4,5 stelle*
Il primo libro mi ha lasciata abbastanza indifferente, i personaggi non mi attiravano più di tanto, e nemmeno la storia che si fa un po' di fatica a seguire. E questa è la ragione della mezza stella mancante.
Ma le altre 4 e mezza sono più che giustificate da tutto quello che viene dopo. E' una storia complessa, intrigante, per certi versi anche molto triste. Si comprende ma non si accetta. E gli influssi autobiografici non sono neanche troppo nascosti (le origini irlandesi di Dick, la schizofrenia di Nicole, il suo amante francese...).
Il primo libro mi ha lasciata abbastanza indifferente, i personaggi non mi attiravano più di tanto, e nemmeno la storia che si fa un po' di fatica a seguire. E questa è la ragione della mezza stella mancante.
Ma le altre 4 e mezza sono più che giustificate da tutto quello che viene dopo. E' una storia complessa, intrigante, per certi versi anche molto triste. Si comprende ma non si accetta. E gli influssi autobiografici non sono neanche troppo nascosti (le origini irlandesi di Dick, la schizofrenia di Nicole, il suo amante francese...).
chaoticbookgremlin's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kimmulholland's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
sdibartola's review against another edition
4.0
There is a point midway through “Tender is the Night” when Dick Diver is having tea with Baby Warren (Nicole’s sister) in Zurich and she questions his motives for wanting to marry Nicole: “It isn’t we think you’re an adventurer. We don’t know who you are.” It seems a turning point for Diver, and he decides that the danger Nicole’s schizophrenia poses to their happiness is less important than the advantages of her family’s wealth. It turns out to be a disastrous decision. Dick was widely acknowledged to be a brilliant young psychiatrist with a skill for writing works that rendered European advances in the emerging field accessible to American physicians. Ultimately, he gives up any aspirations he previously had for serious medical research, instead using Nicole’s family money to finance a private clinic in Zurich with his colleague Franz Gregorovius and to pursue a dissolute lifestyle with wealthy American and European friends.
Set in the decade after World War I, the story unfolds primarily in Europe – the French Riviera, Zurich, and Rome. The book actually starts in the middle of the story (on the beach in the French Riviera where the idle rich pass their time and Dick and Nicole Diver meet Rosemary Hoyt, an 18-year old actress who has just completed her first movie, “Daddy’s Girl”). Rosemary is infatuated with Dick and although he flirts with her, their relationship is not consummated until 4 years later (in the third part of the book). The middle of the book relates the early part of Dick’s career when he had just completed his medical training and meets the schizophrenic patient Nicole whom he eventually marries. In the final third of the book, Rosemary is now 22 years old and an established American film star. Dick has become dissatisfied with his wealthy but frivolous lifestyle with Nicole and laments that he has abandoned his serious scientific work. At this point in the story, Dick’s disillusionment with his marriage and hopeless infatuation with Rosemary lead him into a downward alcoholic spiral punctuated by mean-spirited attacks on those around him, and eventually into a drunken brawl with the Italian police that lands him in jail in Rome. At the end of the novel, he is living alone as a marginally successful rural doctor in upstate New York.
Fitzgerald worked on the novel for 9 years after completing “The Great Gatsby.” When published in 1934, it was neither a critical nor commercial success. It is a highly autobiographical work in that Fitzgerald’s own wife Zelda (like Nicole Diver) suffered from schizophrenia while Fitzgerald viewed himself as a great but failed author (as Dick Diver was portrayed as a brilliant but failed psychiatrist). The novel was out of print when Fitzgerald died in 1940, but today is ranked #28 in the Modern Library’s “100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.” As detailed in an article by Calvin Tompkins in the New Yorker (July 28, 1962), Fitzgerald started out using his wealthy friends, Gerald and Sara Murphy as models for the main characters (the dedication of the book is “To Gerald and Sara – Many fêtes”) but somewhere along the line Dick and Nicole Diver morphed into Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Overall, “Tender is the Night” is the sad but engaging story of a brilliant doctor who chooses the convenience of a wealthy marriage to a beautiful (but mentally ill) young woman over a more ascetic and academic career in clinical psychiatry.
Set in the decade after World War I, the story unfolds primarily in Europe – the French Riviera, Zurich, and Rome. The book actually starts in the middle of the story (on the beach in the French Riviera where the idle rich pass their time and Dick and Nicole Diver meet Rosemary Hoyt, an 18-year old actress who has just completed her first movie, “Daddy’s Girl”). Rosemary is infatuated with Dick and although he flirts with her, their relationship is not consummated until 4 years later (in the third part of the book). The middle of the book relates the early part of Dick’s career when he had just completed his medical training and meets the schizophrenic patient Nicole whom he eventually marries. In the final third of the book, Rosemary is now 22 years old and an established American film star. Dick has become dissatisfied with his wealthy but frivolous lifestyle with Nicole and laments that he has abandoned his serious scientific work. At this point in the story, Dick’s disillusionment with his marriage and hopeless infatuation with Rosemary lead him into a downward alcoholic spiral punctuated by mean-spirited attacks on those around him, and eventually into a drunken brawl with the Italian police that lands him in jail in Rome. At the end of the novel, he is living alone as a marginally successful rural doctor in upstate New York.
Fitzgerald worked on the novel for 9 years after completing “The Great Gatsby.” When published in 1934, it was neither a critical nor commercial success. It is a highly autobiographical work in that Fitzgerald’s own wife Zelda (like Nicole Diver) suffered from schizophrenia while Fitzgerald viewed himself as a great but failed author (as Dick Diver was portrayed as a brilliant but failed psychiatrist). The novel was out of print when Fitzgerald died in 1940, but today is ranked #28 in the Modern Library’s “100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.” As detailed in an article by Calvin Tompkins in the New Yorker (July 28, 1962), Fitzgerald started out using his wealthy friends, Gerald and Sara Murphy as models for the main characters (the dedication of the book is “To Gerald and Sara – Many fêtes”) but somewhere along the line Dick and Nicole Diver morphed into Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Overall, “Tender is the Night” is the sad but engaging story of a brilliant doctor who chooses the convenience of a wealthy marriage to a beautiful (but mentally ill) young woman over a more ascetic and academic career in clinical psychiatry.
radioisasoundsalvation's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, only my second experience with Fitzgerald; I'm glad I hadn't attempted to read it previously, because I wouldn't have appreciated it at all. I think most readers will be struck by Dick's selfish demise, love it or hate it. I enjoyed it because I've known people to be narcissistic enough to want to be as needed as Dick felt Nicole needed him. Rosemary enables Dick his life regrets, and this self-indulgence begins Fitzgerald's amazing narrative of personal failure.
dexterw's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5