Reviews

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

bsides13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

It’s difficult to give an accurate rating of this novel. I find it a very troubling story signifying the disaster of living a life of pleasure and selfishness. It is incredibly detailed and written with vivid insight into the Jazz Age. However, I don’t know if I have the capability to read it again. By the end the characters are fundamentally destroyed (as they deserved) or turned into hypocrites. In all, it serves as an incredible commentary of Capitalism and of the leisure class, aiding in the need for one to create meaning in one’s life. It is a wonderful book for those that read for pain, not pleasure.

shelly_kate's review against another edition

medium-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

2.75

ferris_mx's review against another edition

3.0

I mean, it wasn't bad. There was a bit of antisemitism and other non-modern thought, but then again it's not a modern book. The symbiotic ineffectiveness and insecurity was real enough.

frozencusser's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

1.0

stingra10's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense 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? No

3.0

stonefruitbutch's review against another edition

5.0

I cannot express with well-articulated words how much I enjoyed this novel. It's beautiful and poetic and sad and desperate. Fitzgerald is a master of words and I would quite literally have to sit and absorb certain passages for a few minutes in stunned silence. My new favorite read. Highly recommended.

caliesha's review against another edition

4.0

I reached maturity under the impression that I was gathering the experience to order my life for happiness. Indeed, I accomplished the not unusual feat of solving each question in my mind long before it presented itself to me in life—and of being beaten and bewildered just the same. "But after a few tastes of this latter dish I had had enough. Here! I said, Experience is not worth the getting. It's not a thing that happens pleasantly to a passive you—it's a wall that an active you runs up against. So I wrapped myself in what I thought was my invulnerable scepticism and decided that my education was complete. But it was too late. Protect myself as I might by making no new ties with tragic and predestined humanity, I was lost with the rest. I had traded the fight against love for the fight against loneliness, the fight against life for the fight against death.

fitzgerald's idealistic rash emotional passionately misguided stupid aesthetes... yes <3

anthony's ramblings & maury's sharp wit!!

the "Your remarks grow rambling and inconclusive," said Anthony sleepily. "You expected one of those miracles of illumination by which you say your most brilliant and pregnant things in exactly the setting that should provoke the ideal symposium." of it all?absolutely. table for one. thanks. expect a tip.

4.25

lakecake's review against another edition

2.0

I had high expectations for this novel, probably because I loved Gatsby so much and...it didn't really deliver for me. I know it's supposed to be satirical, but it mostly just made me mad and depressed. I think I might actually need an English teacher to help me through it, and then I might like it more.

maysa_christmas's review against another edition

sad 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

3.0

cindyqn4118's review against another edition

challenging 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