This Side of Paradise describes life at Princeton among the glittering, bored, and disillusioned-the post-World War I "lost generation." Published in 1920, when he was just twenty-three, the novel was an overnight success and shot Fitzgerald to instant stardom.
Fitzgerald's first novel, reprinted in the handsome Everyman's Library series of literary classic, uses numerous formal experiments to tell the story of Amory Blaine, as he grows up during the crazy years following the First World War. It also contains a new introduction by Craig Raine that describes critical and popular reception of the book when it came out in 1920.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
The Herald Of "The Jazz Age":
There was a time when if I used the name of the 20th century American writer Ernest Hemingway it also almost always meant that name of the author under review, F. Scott Fitzgerald, would follow in the next breathe (and then John Dos Passos). At that time I placed Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" and Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby" pretty closely together as exemplars of strong, non-nonsense writing styles and sparse but meaningful dialogue, along with a great narrative. "Gatsby" still certainly holds up. I... more info
Lyrical But Flawed:
Published in 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel was wildly controversial, critically lauded, and an instant bestseller. Read today, it may be difficult to understand why; the story is a highly episodic "bildungroman" of a pampered, arrogant young man as he drifts with noticeable lack of appreciation through corridors of power and pleasure without absorbing much in the way of insight. But it is precisely because of that THIS SIDE OF PARADISE was felt to be such a shocker in its era: the very notion that... more info
A quality first novel.:
This Side of Paradise is Fitzgerald's first novel and compared to most first novels, it is one of high quality. It is primarily a character study of Amory Blaine ,a young man of romantic temperament who lives off the inheritance form his wealthy mother. Blaine and his relationships with his male friends at Princeton both during and after college are one part of the book.His sense of purposelessness and his relationships with women are the other major themes of the book.Blaine is not a likable protagonist... more info
Effortless for Fitzgerald:
Ahhhh Mr. Fitzgerald. How you woo me with your lyrical prose and bore me with your philosophical shpeel. There were times during This Side of Paradise where I was overcome by what I was reading because it was just that amazing. And then there were times where I glazed over the philosophy with dry eyes and an annoying buzz in my ears. But looking beyond those parts, I have to acknowledge Paradise as Fitz's first novel, and therefore the good parts were made that much better since he had nothing... more info
