The Beautiful and Damned

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

According to Wikipedia: "Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the twenties. He finished four novels, including The Great Gatsby, with another published posthumously, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seltzer Books
• Release date: Mar 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781455316083

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) was an American novelist and short story writer. He is best known for his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, the quintessential tale of the decadence and overindulgence of the Jazz Age. Born into an upper middle-class family in St. Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised in New York. After dropping out of Princeton University in 1917 to join the Army, he was stationed in Alabama, where he met wealthy socialite Zelda Sayre. It was only after he achieved moderate success with his debut novel This Side of Paradise that Zelda agreed to marry him. His second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned, propelled him to literary stardom, the volatile nature of which inspired his best-known work The Great Gatsby. Though it met with mixed reviews in Fitzgerald’s lifetime, The Great Gatsby is now considered by some literary scholars to be the “Great American Novel.” Haunted by alcoholism, declining popularity, and financial difficulties well into the 1930s, Fitzgerald died in 1940. An unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon, was published posthumously in 1941. 

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Reviews for The Beautiful and Damned

[rdra1962 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

First book I read on the Kindle, not sure if that made it feel longer, but this book was a slow, often dull read.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Being bulky compared to Scott's other gems, may arouse faint hopes of an epic. The Beautiful and the Damned isn't quite that, but it does plumb the entrails of a relationship. The novel isn't about seltzer and sernades, nor invitations and the celebrity pages. It is about the sweet insomnia of expectations and the early chafing where discord gulps heavily. FSF gnaws within these pages. This isn't Homeric like Tender Is The Night. This is a novel of tingles and unexplained bruises. It is worth most people's time.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5* for the book with an extra half star for the narration by William Dufris.To be honest, I liked this novel more than I expected to (not being a big fan of Fitzgerald).

[lindsay7564 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book interested me, but at the same time bored me. The characters were not at all likeable in anyway. The book was slow and lacked an intriging plot line. However, I would recommend it. I think this book is almost dead on alot of upper class lives back then and now. I was personally able to relate the characters to people in my own life.

[cecilturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a marvel of styles: it can sometimes be very classically descriptive, even poetic in its romantic passages, or it can be quick witted dialogue and read like a play. The pace of the novel, as well, brilliantly changes as events precipitate: the first books set the stage: a fun-loving, party-going couple with no cares; the reader can predict tragedy, an inexorable end, until the war arrives and the whole dynamic changes. All of a sudden, the pace quickens, the characters, instead of seizing a chance for change, sink further into their habits until Anthony's alcoholism becomes pitiable and Gloria's vanity ridiculous. I did wonder how it would all end, and the ending is predictably dramatic - it was the irony that threw me off.Fitzgerald's characters are not likable, nor are they meant to be, but they are intensely human and real, both puppets and makers of their lives. Although there are some lengthy passages, ultimately, the reader will become attached to these touching figures.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As I was reading this book I said of it, on Feb 27,1952: "Erratic, at times thestory has real morbid power--very uneven." I finished the book on Mar 1, 1952, but made no further note in regard to it.

[fuzzy_patters · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fitzgerald's brilliance lied in his ability to explain human emotions and motivations to us as readers that we can recognize in ourselves but would otherwise find it difficult to put into words. The Beautiful and the Damned is a perfect example of this. Most people struggle when they reach young adulthood to figure out where true happiness lies for them. Many go so far as to refuse to turn away from youthful idealism and become pragmatic rather than admit their own mediocrity and live a humdrum life like the rest of us. Fitzgerald's protagonist, Anthony Patch, is a perfect example of this.Anthony Patch is set to inherit millions of dollars once his grandfather, Adam Patch, dies. As such, he is bound and determined to never have to work for a living like his friend, Richard Caramel, who, after writing one good novel, has become a mediocre author who writes novels quickly and carelessly in order to make a quick buck. Anthony would much rather prove that he is not as mediocre as Richard by refusing to ever work at anything and hope that he can get by until his money runs out. This trait is exacerbated when Anthony falls in love with Richard's cousin, Gloria, who is even more impractical than he is. She only cares about being rich and beautiful and is not willing to do anything to attain that state.Fitzgerald brings these characters to life for us in such a way that we see some of them in ourselves even though we may not be New York socialites waiting to inherit millions. The reader can relate to the crises of youth faced by the two characters, provided that the reader has lived through his twenties and their awkwardness. This is the brilliance of Fitzgerald. He can make us relate to people that would be otherwise unrelateable.

[hopingforchange · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It's just no Great Gatsby. The descriptive power and fluid prose that I expect from Fitzgerald are still there, as is the commentary on the meaninglessness of daily existence, but the work lacks staying power. It just isn't a compelling read, and it doesn't leave you with a strong impression of its beauty the way that Gatsby does.

[bibleblaster · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though I had a little trouble getting into it (couldn't quite tell whether Fitzgerald's tone was detached, sarcastic, ironic, or sympathetic), I ended up being quite taken with this look at a different sort of "beat" generation. I appreciated that Fitzgerald did not attempt to romanticize his subjects; made me trust him more. It sometimes felt aimless as a novel, but that's kind of the point. Sad, often bleak, ultimately tragic, I think this is generally overlooked in descriptions of his canon, but I'm glad to have read it, if only because I was always intrigued by the title. And I'm sometimes a sucker for sad, bleak, tragic...

[hadriantheblind · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cautionary tale about depravity and decadence. Very flowery writing style which is hit-or-miss. Still pretty good, though.

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

It makes sense that it was like this in the 20s. No need to feel sorry for the protagonists, but to see the follow of being spoilt - maybe this is the message? Or maybe there is no message at all, just a reflection of the beautiful and the damned. Not sure you can find any solace in being honest and poor, though. FSF always leaves me navel-gazing. I believe his work is much more than a simple depiction of the Jazz Age.

[tloeffler_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fitzgerald is WAY too verbose and full of himself. Not a likable character in the lot.

[upstairsgirl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Tedious in the extreme with a profoundly unsatisfying resolution. The characters are boring, the social criticism is not particularly sharp or interesting, and absolutely nothing changes from one end of the novel to the other. In Edith Wharton's hands, this story would have been a funny, biting social commentary; in Fitzgerald's, it's not even a half-hearted indictment of the upper classes but rather a limping, uneven chronicle of the boy who never grew up. It's not clear to me whether the story wants to be perceived as tragic, but it fails through the sheer hatefulness of the protagonists. Not one of Fitzgerald's better efforts, to say the least.

[stormrose · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

9/20. Good, not great. I love The Great Gatsby, and I think Fitzgerald is a brilliant author at the worst of times...and this is one of his less good books. Possibly because I've been reading too much about marriages falling apart. I do recommend it - I think there are some incandescant moments in here, some great character portraits, and the ending is absolutely spectacular. By any other author this would be a major work, by Fitzgerald...not so much. He is the opposite of his author character in the novel Carmel, who writes one great book and then is terrible.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A very well-written book by Fitzgerald where the plot meanders quite a lot. Offers fascinating insight into the Scott and Zelda lifestyle.

[kenoubi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I kind of hated the characters, which may have been the point, but which makes it difficult to like the book. There were also descriptive passages which I felt outlasted their usefulness, although this is probably true of the great majority of written fiction.

What I liked about this book was how Fitzgerald would pick a psychological pattern and run with it. Many of these patterns were things I had recognized in my own life. There were a reasonable number of times when I would think "a-ha! I knew it would turn out that way!"

For an 88 year old book it has aged well; it's still quite readable and comprehensible. This edition also has sparse endnotes (this is a good thing) which were usually actually relevant.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I hereby give notice that I think F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most overrated writers of the twentieth century. The more I 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.

[proustitute_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an intriguing read, but overall a very uneven novel; the three books feel very different in tone and theme, almost as if Fitzgerald were juggling so many issues without the ability to bring them fully into a narrative cohesion. There's a lot going on here: evocations of Freud and how the modern complexes are at variance with classical philosophy and aesthetic values; a fascinating portrayal of love and pain in Anthony and Gloria's relationship which plays out Fitzgerald's preoccupation with Hegel and Freud both; there is even some interesting dialogue that is very unique for blending different genres (e.g. screenplay, interior monologues, Greek tragedy, etc.).

What is perhaps most compelling in the novel is Fitzgerald's very overt pacifism, as well as his condemnation of the bourgeois class and the values associated with capital, money, and status -- values that run counter to art. Indeed, there is a nice tension between Anthony and his writer friend, Dick, about different kinds of art, how an artist can be bought and sold, how art can be catered to fit the needs of the masses and turn a profit instead of for the sake of art in and of itself. But all of these aspects, while compelling and beautifully drawn out, fail to speak to one another in a nice dialogue; the result is a very fragmented and scattered novel where many of the main characters aren't fleshed out enough, forcing the reader to view them as "types" and nothing more.

One brilliantly written chapter toward the end of book two, the longest one which takes place in the middle of the night and begins with Gloria's perspective and meanders through much of the philosophical and aesthetic debates above is Fitzgerald at his finest in this novel, I though, and the section might well stand on its own to illustrate his central concerns in the text and in his work more generally.

[dele2451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nobody crafts simultaneously sympathetic and contemptible drunks quite like Fitzgerald. One of those books where you love the writing and hate the story because you have to watch characters who have been born with so much piss it all away through booze and lethargy. I'm happy Fitzgerald turned out to be a writer but, if he hadn't been, he would have made one heck of a psychologist. He has no trouble pinpointing the frailities of human character and he's not afraid to detail them.

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald is an interesting and problematic writer for me. The Great Gatsby (which FSF wanted to call "Under the Red, White and Blue") is a great book, that not only features stellar writing and compelling characters, but that managed to capture the ethos of an entire age. All of the glitz, glamour, and greed of roaring 20s New York is encapsulated in that work, and it's one of my favorites. In contrast, This Side of Paradise was so juvenile in both writing and sentiment that I had to drop it before I was half-way through. The Beautiful and Damned falls in between these two other works, without being remarkably good or remarkably bad. In fact, that's a good way to sum how I felt about The Beautiful and Damned: it was rather unremarkable.

Like This Side of Paradise, the writing here doesn't come off as fully matured. There are nice turns of phrase and descriptions sprinkled (rather conservatively) throughout the work, but oftentimes the writing struck me as something FSF thought was terribly clever, despite not being very substantive. An example is that at various points the book shifts form to that of a closet drama, with all the characters becoming parts in a play. The thing is, though, that FSF doesn't use this shift in form to do anything that he couldn't already do in the style of the rest of the book: FSF's dialogue is already very reminiscent of play dialogue, so making the format more play-like isn't at all memorable. There's a reason why we remember FSF today in connection with his books, and not in connection to his Hollywood writing career.

The subject matter of the book is likewise very immature. The two main characters, Anthony and Gloria, both unlikable for different reasons, putter about New York. They lounge away their days and they party through their nights, with both lamenting their (rather desirable) financial situation but with neither doing anything about it. Eventually something happens that's the equivalent of them not winning the lottery due to their own incompetence, and this turn is interpreted by them both as a tragedy that becomes the main factor driving the plot going forward. Anthony at one point goes to train for deployment in World War I, but the story makes that development all about him and fails to communicate what that experience was actually like. Not much happens in this book, and what does happen doesn't feel symbolic of society in the 20s like the action in The Great Gatsby did. When the book satirizes something, like the dating process in the 20s, it feels more like FSF did it by accident. The end of the story tries to recast this tale as one about the harmful nature of pride and stubbornness, but the problems of Anthony and Gloria are clearly stem from laziness and a mental inability to do anything but lounge and party- the story is more tied to the sins of sloth and avarice, so the ending pretending that it's about something else felt strange. Also abrupt. Finally, toward the end, FSF gives a shout out to his own book This Side of Paradise, an action that always makes me cringe.

It sounds terrible to say, but I think The Beautiful and Damned stands for the proposition that FSF had to go through some real pain and tragedy in order to evolve as a writer, with this work predating that occurrence. Like This Side of Paradise, this book felt immature in writing and subject matter, though not quite to the same degree. Once FSF experienced some actual hardship, I'm betting he was better able to craft an effective text, and because of this I'm adding Tender is the Night to my to-read pile. Unfortunately Fitzgerald's work predating Gatsby has all proven lackluster to me, but I'm hopeful that is last work realizes his potential as a writer- otherwise I'll be forced to consider Gatsby a fluke.

[salmondaze · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely a fine example of an artist maturing. I loved this book. Throughout the novel, Anthony Patch is a fucking douchebag, but it's something where finally the douchebag gets what he deserves. Certainly Great Expectations doesn't end with Pip gettin his just desserts. Anthony and Gloria are unlikeable but fully realized characters and the book shows examples of the thought process that lead to the Great Depression, although at 450 pages, it's not as tight as the masterful Great Gatsby (which was under 200).

[stbomb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written but story left me a little cold.

[kohrmanmj · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Tedious, although enjoyable at times.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dang. After suffering through The Great Gatsby several times for school (and once on my own to try and understand *why*) and a collection of his short stories, I assumed he was just a grossly overrated author. I thoroughly enjoyed this one however. The first part was overly long and drawn out, and the middling part was middling, but part three was of particular interest and may even inspire me to read other words of Fitzgerald's.

[selfcallednowhere · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had very mixed feelings about this book. My main criticism is that the characters were all completely terrible people so it was hard to be fully invested in what happened to them. There was also one Japanese character who was portrayed in a very racist way, and a horrific instance of animal abuse that really upset me.But in spite of these problems, overall I still enjoyed the book. The language was exquisite. The major characters were living, breathing people, and even minor characters who only appeared very briefly were described in interesting ways. I felt like I could be inspired by this book as far as ways to improve my own writing, which is the mark of really good writing to me.My favourite moment in the book came from a conversation the main character had with a friend about contemporary fiction:"You know these new novels make me tired. My God! Everywhere I go some silly girl asks me if I've read 'This Side of Paradise.' Are our girls really like that? If it's true to life, which I don't believe, the next generation is going to the dogs. I'm sick of all this shoddy realism. I think there is a place for the romanticist in literature.""This Side of Paradise"? F. Scott Fitzgerald's first book! So that unexpected little bit of self-deprecation made me laugh aloud.

[jonesli · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this book to be a bit rambling at times, but overall an excellent portrayal of what happens to us when we are greedy, self indulgent and expect others to solve our problems.Set in the wonderful Jazz Age in New York, The Beautiful and Damned is the story of Anthony Patch, a Havard educated aspiring writer, and loafer and his wife Gloria,a petulant party girl's downward spiral after their brief courtship and marriage. Basically Anthony and Gloria are waiting patiently for his grandfather Adam Patch to die, so that they will inherit his multimillion dollar estate. Neither one feels as though they should work and instead live on a small trust income and sell bonds to pay their bills and afford liquor, cigarettes, and domestic help.What happens next is an important lesson about reality, becoming a responsible adult and what brings true happiness. A great read although it is perhaps a little lenghty.

[zumbanista · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dismal DeadbeatsThe Beautiful and Damned is Fitzgerald's second book and is set in pre Jazz Age NYC. It is a dark and depressing story of the American aristocracy and nouveau-riche. The author writes a scathing commentary on society life and his tone is cynical and critical of nearly every character he introduces us to.There is nothing redeeming about our two selfish and shallow protagonists, Anthony and Gloria. It's all about greed, manipulation, pettiness and depravity. If, as is thought, Gloria is based on Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda, it's not a very flattering portrayal. Gloria is trading on her beauty and Anthony on his promised inheritance. I felt no sympathy for these two, who find themselves in dire straits due mostly to their hedonism and stupidity. Both are pathetic.While there are very many well written passages, some parts of the novel seemed over long. The story did keep me guessing as it unfolded, but I anticipated a bad end to this well-matched couple: well-matched in their extreme narcissism and lack of morale ethic. Fitzgerald thoroughly convinced me there was nothing glamorous about the endless partying, resulting alcoholism and broken, useless lives of the Beautiful and Damned.

[nigeyb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The only other books I've read by F. Scott Fitzgerald, prior to this one, are The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night. Both are wonderful, especially The Great Gatsby.The Beautiful and Damned has many pointers to the greatness that was to follow just three years later with the publication of The Great Gatsby Unlike The Great Gatsby, this is long and sprawling novel and that is its great weakness. Some judicious editing might have resulted in another masterpiece. The Beautiful and Damned explores luxury's disappointment, and the corrupting and corrosive power of money. The couple at the heart of the story have it all and yet conspire to end the story as utterly broken and tragic.As anyone who has already F. Scott Fitzgerald would expect, there is some stunning writing here and the book beautifully evokes the monied social milieu of the East Coast of the 1920s. The Beautiful and Damned is worth reading - but read The Great Gatsby first. 3/5

[jkrejci_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent tale of dissipation and the perils of moral groundlessness, however not, in my opinion, as brilliant as Tender is the Night or the Great Gatsby. At times a tad rambling, including Fitzgerald's annoying habit of lapsing into thinly disguised social commentary or litcrit. However, he remains in my opinion one of the most gifted writers ever to put pen to paper. His lyricism is breathtaking, and at his best no one can compare with him.

[lizzysiddal · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Marvellous title and powerful description of the marriage of the rich, young and beautiful is damned to unhappiness. Too long though.