Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Tender Is the Night

A well-crafted, well-controlled novel. Fitzgerald is a master of prose when it comes to pairing life’s finest luxuries with those who least deserve it. At many intervals, I thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the writing. At a few moments, the writing seemed to hold the plot back a bit, adding little to the story or character, and seemed to exist to be beautiful without substance. Overall, a fine read.

Characters: 4.25⭐️/5

The characters in this novel are not all (or always) good or moral people. But they are fascinating. I thought Dick Diver was missing a little something – substance, motive, characterization – and yet he was still interesting to read. Nicole Diver was a fascinating creature, as was Rosemary. Both women were deeply described and written with good depth. I think I also would have loved a bit extra from Nicole’s family, to fully understand both Nicole and Dick’s turmoil and relationship.

Plot: 4⭐️/5

The plot is really there to support the characters, and yet I still wish a little more occurred throughout the novel. Don’t get me wrong, the writing and characters made up for the lack of plot, but I would’ve loved the drama that followed Rosemary at the beginning to weave thoroughly throughout the novel. Instead, it disappeared, and the characters took the main stage.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Content Warnings?

Mental illness, murder, incest, gun violence, alcoholism, child abuse, racism, racial slurs, adult/minor relationship, psychosis, ableism, death of parent, sexual assault, homophobia, sexism, misogyny, police brutality, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, infidelity

Post-Reading Rating: 4⭐️/5

Fascinating.

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

Content Warnings

carlycormier_'s review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

janwe's review

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challenging emotional lighthearted sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

marensorber's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

andreeadicu's review against another edition

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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.

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.

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

oliveslittlelibrary_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

maddalenacesco's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

mr dick diver living up to his name

Content Warnings

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