Tender are the Early AM Hours

Even though it's considered Tuesday night, I'm going ahead and doing...Affie's Book Recommendation Wednesday! I've almost been blogging a month. Hehe, I'm currently listening to Sep them...ber's Music Wednesday band. And are they sweet. Much sweeter than jelly beans and better than rice, except I can't eat them...well...but that's Johnny Depp's line. And before I further confuse anyone that might have been interested in reading this, lemme get to the book. This month, today actually, I finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. OK, now this is just my opinion, but it was no where near The Great Gatsby. An online review that I read said this: "It is often said that every writer has, at least, one good book in him. Sadly most of them only have one. This certainly appears to be the case for Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby, while flawed (see review), is nonetheless a great novel." ..."Tender is the Night seems to be a victim of this Modernist disease, too autobiographical & self absorbed to tell us much of value about the wider world." (Full paragraph here.)

The book was a disaster to me, as was Fitzgerald's life by the time he wrote it. I recently read Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, and was thoroughly engrossed with finishing it as soon as I could. As his first novel, of course, it's more juvenile than his later writings, but the fact that he was younger gave him a different outlook and one that I could relate to more. When the book review mentions that it's too autobiographical, all I have to do is agree. The two central characters Dick and Nicole Diver, are far too much like Scott and Zelda (hehe) Fitzgerald. Nicole is battling a mental illness due to sexual abuse and although Fitz has her over come it and the insanity consume Dick, it sounds all too familiar. By this time, Fitzgerald was a heavy drinker. Guess who else is? Dick! Coincidence? I think not. In similarity to This Side of Paradise, the book is divided into three sections, but are unsatisfactory in helping the plot line. In TSoP, not only is the division into two books appropriate, it's necessary. There are clearly two different sections of Amory's life going on in the book and it works. (I'm still in love with Amory Blaine. Just as much as Jim Halpert. [see first post]) But these three book divisions, although I see the logic, seem to be more motivated by the divisions in Fitzgerald's life and not in Dick Diver's. As usual, I consulted Sparknotes, but it didn't help much because I guess there wasn't as much to interpret as I thought there was. It's laid out plain as day. I do feel for the main character, Dick though. He starts out healthy and magnetic, and as his wife's mental health improves, his deteriorates, due mostly to the fact that not only has he married a mental patient (Nicole) and must double as her doctor; he has spent a lot of time with other mental cases, since that was his chosen profession. Book 3 seemed the most important to me and I enjoyed it the most. Book 2 seemed muddled and Book 1, although entertaining at times, seemed to really drone on and on. Book 3 contained the climax and the most emotionally wrenching part of the book. There are two passages that I would like to share, just because.

This one amuses me:
"Nicole reproved him when they were in their room alone. 'Why so many highballs? why did you use your word spic in front of him?'
'Excuse me, I meant smoke. The tounge slipped.'
'Dick, this isn't faintly like you.'
'Excuse me again. I'm not much like myself anymore.'

And...I decline from sharing the other one from Book 3 since it is central to the main plot. Really, it's pitiful, only because by this time, this exemplified the Fitzgeralds, so it's more of a sad pitiful. If you're working on THE LIST!!!, then, as #28, you'll have to read it, but I would have to mark my first Affie's Book Wednesday as a nonrecommendation. It is probably the least favorable novel of Fitzgerald's that I've read, but this one only makes 3 out of the 4 novels that he wrote in among a sea of short stories. I've read The Great Gatsby a few times because I really do love it and Fitzgerald is my favorite author. And Jay Gatsby is far more appealing than Dick Diver. And as noted already, I've read This Side of Paradise and enjoyed it. This was a let down for me overall, though some parts were good, but the nonrecommendation still stands.

I'll probably blog later today, so be prepared. There's gonna be drama today!