1001 Books Challenge: Tender is the Night

Like I mentioned a few weeks ago, I never managed to read a selection for March for the 1001 books to read before you die challenge. I had every intention of reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. I even selected a book discussion meet-up to attend, but that did not work out either. Anyway, since I gave myself this assignment, I felt I needed to make it up as quickly as possible! Last night I finished it. I selected Tender is the Night because I would like to read more Fitzgerald in general and it sounded interesting. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby both times I read it in school, so why not? While I was not totally disappointed, I can say Tender is the Night is nowhere near as strong a storytelling piece as Gatsby. While Fitzgerald also focuses on wealth Americans in Tender is the Night, he moves them to Europe - traveling in high style and spending money with abandon. Throw in a vague medical career, a mental condition and the occasional lustful affair and you have Fitzgerald's recipe for a story. The back cover describes the story as "the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver." I thought this meant the story would center heavily on Rosemary and her relationship with the Divers. Not so. I found that Rosemary's presence served as a catalyst for Fitzgerald to explore the beginnings and later deterioration of the Diver marriage. The suspense Fitzgerald builds early on about Nicole's mysterious behavior fizzles in part two when he painstakingly, yet dully explains her mental condition and relationship with Dick. This contrast demonstrates the unfortunate pacing of the novel. While the beginning is languid, slowly setting the scene and builds larger than life indulgent characters, the story spirals down into the Divers unhappy marriage. Fitzgerald manages to demonstrate that people change and often not with each other; that marriage or partnership of any kind for the wrong reasons result in anguish and infidelities. Fitzgerald's writing is strong, lyrical and compelling, but his storytelling is flat.

- KER