This Side of Paradise - F Scott Fitzgerald Kartoniert (TB)

Ein wunderschönes und tiefgründiges Stück Literatur, das die Entwicklung von Amory Blaine sehr lebendig darstellt. Die Ausgabe ist in guter Qualität, obwohl man vielleicht etwas mehr Kontext zu den historischen Hintergründen wünschen würde.

I originally read This Side of Paradise some years ago, and I decided to reread it. I ordered Oxford World’s Classics edition. First, rereading this great novel was even better the second time I read it. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a great writer. And, as much as people applaud his book The Great Gatsby (which I also like a lot), to me This Side of Paradise is better. On the back cover of the book they explain that This Side of Paradise is semi-autobiographical, a “thinly veiled account of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s time as a Princeton undergraduate and an aspiring writer set against the turbulent backgrounds of adolescence, first loves, and the outbreak of World War I.” And this is perhaps why the writing is so crisp and his characters really come alive.The main character Amory Blaine is a naturally talented, very intelligent, rich boy who coast through life with is natural charm, wit, intelligence and good looks. Coming from wealth and spoiled rotten, it looks like the world is his to do as he pleases. But, you soon learn that Amory’s over confidence and laziness shows through in his apathy and lack of character. In so many ways, Amory is the epitome of what’s wrong with people who are given everything at birth. He’s a brilliantly written character, who you almost hate to like, yet he is charming and enviable in many ways. Yet, time again, he squanders his chances and neglects to appreciate the people who really care about him, only beginning to realize in the end, after experiencing the loss of friends and going off to war. It’s a great book that became what some say is the book that defined The Lost Generation, which in fact F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, along with Hemingway and others, became the very embodiment of.