Scan barcode
A review by thehawk72
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4.0
Actual rating 3.5
I enjoyed this book because it was quite a change of pace of the things I have been reading as of late. Normally, I like to read YA novels because they are more light-hearted, but I was really feeling the need for something deeper, so I turned to this classic. While the book follows a main character that I don't really relate to, I found his coming-of-age story to be universally applicable. It follows Amory, a young boy who is a self proclaimed egotist, and follows his journey through adolescence, young adulthood, and even after he has been through a war. Not only do his opinions regarding other people change, his opinions regarding himself and the world around him changes due to a variety of factors, some of which were his own fault. Fitzgerald's imagery is really striking, and as much as I know other people may not enjoy lengthy descriptions, I appreciate them because of their aesthetic value. I also loved every single female character that was featured in this novel (even though they were not present for very long) because each of them exhibited such a confident, spunky attitude that was characteristic of the flapper girls at the time. I also think the ending was fairly well deserved; it was not a happy perfect ending where everything was resolved neatly, but it also was not the end of the world for Amory as he battled his feelings.
As of right now, I don't know if I could say I would read it again, but it is a classic that I genuinely enjoyed and would recommend to other people looking for good classics. It is different than the Great Gatsby for sure, so I wouldn't go into this book with a similar mindset, definitely think of it as separate and it will serve its entertainment purposes.
I enjoyed this book because it was quite a change of pace of the things I have been reading as of late. Normally, I like to read YA novels because they are more light-hearted, but I was really feeling the need for something deeper, so I turned to this classic. While the book follows a main character that I don't really relate to, I found his coming-of-age story to be universally applicable. It follows Amory, a young boy who is a self proclaimed egotist, and follows his journey through adolescence, young adulthood, and even after he has been through a war. Not only do his opinions regarding other people change, his opinions regarding himself and the world around him changes due to a variety of factors, some of which were his own fault. Fitzgerald's imagery is really striking, and as much as I know other people may not enjoy lengthy descriptions, I appreciate them because of their aesthetic value. I also loved every single female character that was featured in this novel (even though they were not present for very long) because each of them exhibited such a confident, spunky attitude that was characteristic of the flapper girls at the time. I also think the ending was fairly well deserved; it was not a happy perfect ending where everything was resolved neatly, but it also was not the end of the world for Amory as he battled his feelings.
As of right now, I don't know if I could say I would read it again, but it is a classic that I genuinely enjoyed and would recommend to other people looking for good classics. It is different than the Great Gatsby for sure, so I wouldn't go into this book with a similar mindset, definitely think of it as separate and it will serve its entertainment purposes.