This Side of Paradise

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Unofficial Autobiography of F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Youth is like having a big plate of candy. Sentimentalists think they want to be in the pure, simple state they were in before they ate the candy. They don't. They just want the fun of eating it all over again.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

Amory Blaine is a young upper-class boy confident he can make a living out of writing literature. He attends Princeton University, serves in World War I and returns to the United States where he ends up poor, without any close confidantes and with a broken heart.
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xist Publishing
• Release date: Aug 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781681952550

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1896, attended Princeton University in 1913, and published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. That same year he married Zelda Sayre, and he quickly became a central figure in the American expatriate circle in Paris that included Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. He died of a heart attack in 1940 at the age of forty-four.

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Reviews for This Side of Paradise

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The circumstances of the novel have blurred over the years. It is certain that I finished the book at a White Castle, perhaps avoiding aspects of my life which had veered problematic. I recall highballs, many of them. The drinks were in the novel, of course. My own problems involved living in the wrong place and that finding the reciprocity of a relationship was corroding my self-esteem. There is an echo of that within the pages. That was a funny time. Does my smile appear forced?

[larson23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book, compared to "The Great Gastby", wasn't nearly as good. I absolutely loved "The Great Gastby", but this book was more difficult for me to get into. I still enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but it just didn't have the same spark that interested me.This book is a wonderful example of a rich man being shaded in the depths of his dreams. Armory, the main character, comes from a weathly family. He doesn't really think of what is going to happen now, it is always what will benefit him from the future, well, that is what I get from him, anyway. He goes with whatever will get him the most popularity throughout the book and ends up kind of just broken with everything at the end. There are several things that do relate to the time period, the first one that pops out is going to the movies then, prohibition and World War One. Overall, this was a really good book that I enjoyed, but it isn't my favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald book.

[jawalter · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

eBook

You know something's wrong when the climax of your book involves your main character talking to a completely new character about communism. The real problem, however, is that Fitzgerald's book focuses on a main character who is not only insufferable, but boring as well. The side characters exist merely to give him something to do and the plot meanders pointlessly.

I've read somewhere that This Side of Paradise is somewhat autobiographical, and while that might explain some of it, it fails to excuse any of it. This was a pointless exercise in tedium.

[kdavidw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fitzgerald written about a young man named Amory. Amory comes from some old money, goes to Princeton, fights in the war, and along the way, has several intense love relationships. It's a story about self-discovery and love where Amory famously ends the novel by saying, "I know myself, but that is all--."

[megantron-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book pretty much defines my college experience.

Except for the attending Princeton part.
And the not-being-a-hot-dude part.
And I didn't fight in WWI either.

okay, so maybe Amory Blaine and I are nothing alike, but we share the same sense of malaise and we're both drifting purposelessly through life.

behold: the power of literature!

[gbill_7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There’s no doubt Fitzgerald was a good writer, and that he “wrote what he knew”. On the positive side of This Side of Paradise there are touching sentiments of youth, one’s college days, and lost innocence, both collectively post WWI, and individually in love lost. There are also a variety of literary forms, including some dabbling in stream of consciousness, which I give Fitzgerald credit for. “The Debutante”, the first chapter in Book Two, written in play form, is excellent.The thing that makes him hard to read for me, at least in his early efforts such as this, is that “what he knew” was such lazy affluence. The main character is given everything; he has good looks, money, talent, and attends Princeton. Unfortunately he is also egotistic, spoiled, and lackadaisical – and therefore damn hard to like. Complaining about the “tiresome” war, so removed from its horrors, stating how the lower classes are “narrower, less pleasant, and personally more selfish” among other things throughout the book … it rings of elitism.Quotes:On media:“It’s worse in the case of newspapers. Any rich, unprogressive old party with that particularly grasping, acquisitive form of mentality known as financial genius can own a paper that is the intellectual meat and drink of thousands of tired, hurried men, men too involved in the business of modern living to swallow anything but predigested food. For two cents the voter buys his politics, prejudices, and philosophy.”On religion:“And Monsignor, upon whom a cardinal rested, had moments of strange and horrible insecurity – inexplicable in a religion that explained even disbelief in terms of its own faith: if you doubted the devil it was the devil that made you doubt him.”On the outlook for women at the time:“’Rotten, rotten old world,’ broke out Eleanor suddenly, ‘and the wretchedest thing of all is me – oh, why am I a girl? Why am I not a stupid - ? Look at you; you’re stupider than I am, not much, but some, and you can lope about and get bored and then lope somewhere else, and you can play around with girls without being involved in meshes of sentiment, and you can do anything and be justified – and here am I with the brains to do everything, yet tied to the sinking ship of future matrimony. If I were born a hundred years from now, well and good, but now what’s in store for me – I have to marry, that goes without saying. Who? I’m too bright for most men, and yet I have to descend to their level and let them patronize my intellect in order to get their attention. Every year that I don’t marry I’ve got less chance for a first-class man.”On writing:“Every author ought to write every book as if he were going to be beheaded the day he finished it.”

[pinkpandaparade_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

With this first novel, 23-year old Fitzgerald was catapulted into fame as the offspring of the Jazz Age, and with no surprise. This novel, which covers the life of Amory Blaine, a wandering Princeton egoist who is bored and disillusioned with the world around him, is reminiscent not only of the lost generation after World War I, but of the great coming-of-age novels of our time, most notably Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.It was Fitzgerald himself who said that he was merely "a product of a versatile mind in a restless generation-—with every reason to throw my mind and pen in with the radicals." The appeal of this book is hence universal and completely timeless, and just like Holden Caufield, many will take on this character and his hedonism as their own, recognizing his faults and weaknesses and learning, probably before he does, from his mistakes. Based partly on Fitzgerald's own burgeoning academic life, the author claims to capture "a new generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken." Probably the most experimental of all of Fitzgerald's books, filled not only with the actual story text, but also with acridly humorous lists, melodramatic poems, and even a section written like a play, all coming together seamlessly to show how Blaine learns from his friendships, affairs, and intellectual and spiritual lessons and mishaps how to become a more mature (though not necessarily a better and happier) person.Though not all will be drawn to this self-absorbed character, many still will find a thread of themselves in this man. As Fitzgerald's first novel, this is probably his most unadulterated and honest, and hence is of great value to all Fitzgerald followers. Those who have read other Fitzgerald books may not find this to be like the others. It lacks the flapper-filled floating atmosphere of The Great Gatsby, which is certainly his greatest novel. It lacks the sweet and insipid romance of such novels as my personal favorite, Tender is the Night. Still, there is a pervading sense of instability in Amory that seems extant in many of Fitzgerald's heroes and heroines, a certain off-center quality that keeps them down to earth at the same time it makes them other-worldly. Amory carries this quality like a sword and shield, and, more than any one of Fitzgerald's characters, looks at the world around him with the illusion that he is far above it because of his idiosyncrasies.

[overthemoon_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

One of the mysteries of my life is why do I have to keep on reading to the bitter end books that are incredibly boring? I felt like giving this one up many times but kept right on to the very end. It is a mishmash of novel, notes, dialogue, play, poetry all revolving around the early life and loves of Amory Blaine, an apparently extremely good-looking man and apparently an intellectual but he failed to arouse the slightest interest. I liked the short stories of Flappers and Philosophers much better. Despite the promises of the introduction there is nothing racier than a kiss in the dark, and I was really annoyed by the many mistakes (such as Cecilia on one page and Cecelia on another) - is FSF so sacred that they should not be corrected in a new edition? Overall impression: written by a student who thinks undergraduate life is riveting, and wanting to show off all his literary knowledge.

[doondeck · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Expected more of Fitzgerald even though it was his first novel. A strange tale of a self-absorbed kid.

[fuzzy_patters · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A decent novel. You can see the effort to become the great novelist he would become, but it seems experimental and forced at times. Additionally, Fitzgerald's worldview at twenty-three seemed to be lacking in maturity, but it is not a bad coming of age story. I would liken it to Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Maugham's Of Human Bondage except that they were better written than This Side of Paradise. Still, I am glad I read it, and I will remember it.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Duidelijk een eerste werk, met nog veel onvolkomenheden, maar het laat je niet los. Compositorisch moeilijk, pluriform, niet alles is even goed. Gevallen engel-thema, doorprikt zekerheden. Eerder queeste dan Bildungsroman. Een beetje zoals bij Wilde een storende opeenstapeling van quotes.

[ccayne_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful writing is its best attribute

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is a joy to begin a book which has been around for some time and you finally begin to read it and marvel at the beauty of the authors gift. How many times has FSF been called the greatest writer of the 20th century? For me there is no argument. The absolute beauty of the english language undwr his pen is enough to bring tears to ones eyes. His descriptions, his euphemisms, his ability to make unsympathetic characters human is without equal. This is his first novel and a thinly veiled autobiography of his experiences as a young man. And as a young man he thinks as a young man. I wish he had written 40 books instead of 4. But maybe the beautiful prose was meant for only a few and perhaps would have been diluted if there were more.

[mstrust · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The life of Amory Blaine, a romantic, dreamy boy, who pursues friends on his intellectual level, girls who will break his heart, and literary idols who inspire him.The only child of a dramatic mother and a father who leaves little impression, Amory was molded into a precocious boy who believes himself better than his classmates, which makes it hard for him at school until he proves himself to be a good athlete. This transition earns him the title of "eccentric", which deflects from the boy's truer nature, which is snobbery. Making friends, attending Princeton, falling in love, serving in WWI and having low-paying work cause Amory to develop a less idealistic view of himself.

[tanya8dogearedcopy · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This Side of Paradiseby F. Scott FitzgeraldIntroduction and Notes by Sharon G. CarsonThis Side of Paradise originally published in 1920 by ScribnerBarnes & Noble Classics trade paperback edition published in 2005 (by Barnes & Noble)ClassicsWHO: Amory Blaine,…WHAT: recounts his life as he comes of age, goes to boarding school, college, war, and falls in love a couple of times.WHERE: Blaine hails from the Mid-West, goes to Princeton and makes occasional forays into New York City to participate in social life.WHEN: The narrative covers roughly ten years, from 1908-1918, with very little time spent on Blaine’s military service in 1917.WHY: Blaine seeks to define himself philosophically…HOW: by taking into consideration his experiences, what he has been taught formally and through the mentorship of a priest.+ This Side of Paradise is a unique diary in form that functions as a thinly disguised autobiography of F. Scott Fitzgerald himself.- Without an academically informed approach, This Side of Paradise comes across as a self-indulgent account of a spoiled brat. With bad poetry.OTHER: I purchased paperback copy of This Side of Paradise (by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Introduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson ) from Barnes and Noble (the retail store in Medford, OR.) I did not read theIntroduction and Notes by Sharon G. Carson. I learned to never do that when reading the Classics (unless the Classic is a re-read) as the academics who write these things often include spoilers. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

[schmerguls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this while on a trip to Washington and made no note on what I thought of the reading. My memory is that it was OK.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Finally, a Fitzgerald book that is interesting and does not follow the mold. Normally, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald is a most overrated writers. The more I have read of his works, the less I like him. Sure, he knows how to turn a phrase but he lacks what is essential to all truly good writers - how to make characters who appeal to the common man. This seems to me to be his major problem and will ultimately lead to his downfall from the pedestal upon which his friends in the New York publishing world had placed him. Who cares about the spoiled wealthy and their angst over empty lives? Every one of his books are similar in this respect. However, this particular one was his first and is the freshest. It shows the promise he had failed to fulfill.

[thecrowdedleaf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 Gatsby-like to live up to. The bits of genius were effortless and beautiful because they were the first of their kind, pure and innocent. Paradise seems like it was easy for Fitz. Fun. I feel like I can tell this is his first novel because it wouldn’t be until later that the pressure of being a “good writer” would hit him. For that reason, I enjoyed this novel tremendously.This Side of Paradise revolves around Amory Blaine. There are many words to describe Amory: self-involved, self-indulgent, self-conscious. Overly dramatic, lost, found, curious, lonely, broken, bruised. Affected. Amory is a character. He’s full of life but completely lost. He’s a dreamer and an idealist and a realist all at the same time; he is one big hypocritical oxymoron, and he’s completely overwhelmingly tragic.We begin Amory’s life from whence all his issues started: Beatrice. Beatrice is dear old mother with her delicacy and indulgences, and her personality makes Amory into the person he is because of her eccentricities and failures. We follow Amory through school and his younger years (where he’s disliked by his classmates because they don’t get him), through his college years (where he’s liked by classmates because they don’t get him), vaguely through World War I, and always through his women, until we meet Rosalind – the beginning, end, and in-between of everything Amory wanted and could never have.Amory is always looking for himself, and never finding the person he wants. He loses himself in whatever he likes at the time, whether it be school, an idea, a place, or a person. He’s never happy and never content for long. He wants to be remembered, but never sticks to anything long enough to be cause for remembrance. He’s lost, and I feel sad for him. He never quite finds what he’s looking for.The best description of Amory can be found on the twelfth page of the book:“It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.”

[madepercy-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was somewhat struck by the use of a play format for heavy dialogue, and the various long poems, interspersed with a two-book structure (and interlude) and a complex structure of interwoven characters and time-shifts. Well worth the read and I can only imagine the stir it would have caused in 1920. I can only wonder what the original drat of this novel would have been line and I remain bewildered by the life experience FSF had at such a very young age.

[mcolv9890 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amory Blaine is one of the more frustrating characters I've ever come to like. He is certainly self-interested to a degree that most would consider unhealthy. His self-interested escapades see him try everything from athletics and poetry to failing on purpose, going to war, and arguing for socialism to name a few. His philosophy is that he is beautiful and superior to more or less everyone he meets, save Burne Holliday. His mother dies young (an alcoholic), he is mentored by a priest who becomes his only 'father figure'. I see that the general consensus on the thing is that this novel is in some shape or form inferior to Fitzgerald's other novels. Well I'm no critic and I've not been through all F. Scott Fitzgerald's books. Some may dislike Amory and his self-righteous monologues, but in a world in which everyone is self-interested, well you'd be crazy to be any other way.The high moments of this novel are definitely those involving women. Amory's drunken escapade falls far short of Fitzgerald's own escapades and is most definitely toned down if this novel is to be at all autobiographical. He loses many lovers but Rosalind being the key love figure. His love for Eleanor being second best, not for Amory but for the quality of the story being told.The end is the best portion of the novel. However that may be just because I, unlike Amory, am sentimental and not romantic. The difference being something between hoping that it never ends and praying to God that it does.All in all, not a bad or difficult read.

[jkrejci_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This, Fitzgerald's first book written at the tender age of 23, while in my opinion clearly his worst, hints at the enormous talent underlying some of his later masterpieces. This Side of Paradise is self-consciously autobiographical and has an unfortunate tendency towards pretentiousness and self-absorption. The narrative is also less mature than his later works, and tends to wander. Nonetheless, it is worth a read for glimpses of the incomparable Fitzgerald style.

[lucthegreat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good book. I really liked it when I read it, but as I reflect now (a couple summers later), I think that Fitzgerald gets rather tiring. It's 'On the Road' that has done this to me, particularly a quote on the back mentioning that it was closer to Whitman's American Dream than Fitzgerald's. Fitzgerald is a confused boy living in a make-believe world, whereas Whitman and Kerouac celebrate Life. I prefer that. Today.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An exquisitely written book, as a first book, Mr. Fitzgerald has his prose at a high level. Slightly autobiographical, it offers interesting insight into the author, and bears comparison with The Great Gatsby, for the same themes. The original poetry in the book is quite good too.

[bhryk0 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Amory Blaine and takes place in the early 1900's, just before and after WWI. Amory was born to a family of wealth and lived a rather leisurely life.

[cglanovsky · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glanced through other reviews: bored by philosophical shpeel? It rings of elitism? There's no real plot? Obviously, everyone is entitled to their opinion. If saying so sounds dismissive, it may be because one person's entitlement to have them is different from an obligation in the rest of us to heed them.It isn't The Great Gatsby. That is true, as so many reviewers below point out, but then again all books but one aren't The Great Gatsby. This is a great example of the Bildungsroman. The journey of reading this sort of story is to see a character take shape in interaction with an environment. The interesting thing with Amory--the "Egotist"--is how conscious he seems to be of his own Self taking shape, even from a very young age. He is hyper-aware of how his poses redound upon his reputation in society. You are, I think, absolutely meant to recoil at the self-indulgence and shallowness of his patrician lifestyle. His philosophical musings are, I think, meant to sound amateurish. Many of his romantic woes are meant to seem maudlin. If he seems to be drifting through life, I think it's in the nature of his generation, it's representative of a time and place. Note the conspicuous absence of the World War; there's an elephant in the room. To those who felt there was no plot, that Amory doesn't undergo a change, that the story seems to promote class-ist sentiments, you perhaps gave up before the culminating dialogue between a thoroughly broken-down Amory and the father of one of his dead Princeton acquaintances. His love life has been repeatedly sabotaged by economic interests, his family fortune is entirely dried-up, his mentor has died beloved for his service to mankind, and Amory has no idea what to do with himself. Facing real poverty, he goes on to articulate a case for Socialism that rings true even today: a society that refuses to make concessions to its working class cannot be surprised when they resort to organization and agitation on their own behalf. He calls for a meritocracy where every child (or every male child) is begun on an equal footing with equal access to education and opportunity and called upon to achieve for the sake of honor and self-respect rather than mere financial gain. Amory plans to commit his pen to the cause of social justice. Surely this is not an argument for elitism, and surely this is a change from the Amory who cared only for his social status. Best of all, his transformation--admittedly sudden--organically arises from his experience, from thwarted love most of all. Amory himself concedes that his zeal is a sublimation of his feelings for Rosalind, and a poor substitute.There is that Ancient Greek axiomatic exhortation to "know thyself." In This Side of Paradise Fitzgerald has posited a case in rebuttal. Amory's excessive self-consciousness is his stumbling block. Even in the end he cannot escape his own scrutiny. Even he knows that his self-knowledge is an impediment. "I know myself... but that is all."So, this book: *Makes a philosophical statement about a well-lived life *Has a political message about the world *Captures the tone of a period in history *Sketches a complicated and evolving personality (personage?) *Is written in an innovative structure *Is written with powerful language *Provides insights into the early life of one of America's greatest writersand *Is capable of inspiring strongly differing opinions and perspectives.If only he'd never written The Great Gatsby. Maybe then we could read the rest of his work in peace with a clear head.

[sanjana19_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The writing is pretty good, but the story drags. There's no real plot, which I suppose not every book needs. But while I liked Amory Blaine, I also found him kind of boring. Fitzgerald had a tendency to write only what he knew, since all his books are kind of related to the same idea of disillusionment, and the the separation between the classes. I never finished it, but I got about halfway through and I thought it was okay.It was nothing compared to The Great Gatsby.

[dysmonia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was my first Fitzgerald. The author came up in conversation and, having realized I had never read anything by him, the next time I was at the library I went to the fiction section and this was the only Fitzgerald currently on the shelf (my branch is one of the smallest in the county; much of what I read I have transferred in from the other locations).

I had heard of This Side of Paradise, but I have no idea whether it's a good introduction to the author. As I read, I felt like I needed someone smarter than me to tell me what was important about the book.

I noticed the changes in writing style: at times the story was told in third person, at times it was a play, at times a poem, and there was a brief couple of pages that were first person.

I've read other fiction that takes place when this book does (the nineteen-teens), but most of it was historical fiction, while Paradisewas actually realistic fiction when it was published: a coming of age story about a young man growing up as the world around him is experiencing growing pains.

I liked it, and I felt the writing was good, but I was alternately bored and interested. I couldn't figure out why the main character's two years at war were almost completely ignored (but I wasn't disappointed by the fact, that's for sure).

I think my next Fitzgerald will be The Great Gatsby, for no other reason that it's the most famous.

[elosoblanco · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really like Fitzgerald, and I think this book has some redeeming qualities, but the wandering story of Amory Blaine just didn't make me care, and that's why I didn't care for this novel.

[fodroy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This begins slowly. You really have to work to get through the first half, but once you get through that it really pays off. There are many brilliant moments in this book.

[cait86 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am a big fan of The Great Gatsby, so I thought I would pick up this novel, Fitzgerald's first. Unfortunately, it was no where near as good. I liked it, but I didn't love it.Summary: This Side of Paradise is the story of Amory Blaine, an egotistical young man who lives in the elite upper class world of 1910s and 1920s America. The reader watches as Amory attends a private prep school, goes to Princeton, fights in WWI, and then drifts along as one of the "lost generation." He loves, he loses, and he believes himself to have grown from a "personality" into a "personage." I, however, am still not sure of the destinction between the two, nor do I believe that Amory changes all that much.Amory's voice reminded me a little of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye, a book that I do not really enjoy. Both boys are lazy, sarcastic, self-important characters who complain a lot but do nothing. The up side of This Side of Paradise is Fitzgerald's prose, which is lovely, and the setting of the 1920s, a time period that I find infinitely interesting. Sprinkled throughout the book is Amory's poetry, which I guess shows his growth as an artist and a person, but I found it distracting. While this book doesn't live up to The Great Gatsby, it is interesting to see how Fitzgerald grew as an author, and since This Side of Paradise is semi-autobiographical, the reader gains a lot of insight into Fitzgerald's life. All-in-all, I am glad I read it, but this was definitely not one of my favourite reads for the year. Recommended for Classics-lovers or Fitzgerald aficiandos, but that's about it.