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A review by mebbs
The Cruise of the Rolling Junk by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4.0
I almost skipped over the prologue, but my guilt at having marked 30 pages as read on Goodreads whilst only actually, at that point, reading about 10 propelled me back to the beginning. However, I’m glad I did. Paul Theroux and Julian Evans had some very enlightening and insightful thoughts on how the apparently spontaneous and fateful journey Scott and Zelda took in the early years of their marriage paved the way for the often tragic and short lives that followed after.
Evans also highlighted how the prevailingly beautiful language and ideas in The Great Gatsby seem to have their beginnings in some of the pages of this memoir.
It goes without saying that Fitzgerald’s attitudes towards black people is somewhat jarring, however it’s necessary to remember that 1920 was a very different world to 2018. Otherwise, this is a beautifully written, if somewhat fictionalised account of two fascinating people on a journey of impulse and calamity.
Evans also highlighted how the prevailingly beautiful language and ideas in The Great Gatsby seem to have their beginnings in some of the pages of this memoir.
It goes without saying that Fitzgerald’s attitudes towards black people is somewhat jarring, however it’s necessary to remember that 1920 was a very different world to 2018. Otherwise, this is a beautifully written, if somewhat fictionalised account of two fascinating people on a journey of impulse and calamity.