world literature

I was about to pass this book up in order to buy The Great Gatsby, but someone reccomended me to read this one first before I got to read the other books by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I have to say it was a excellent introduction to the author; I've also been told that this book is one of Fitzgerald's less accomplished works, and I did find it a bit lacking on something, I don't know what, but I enjoyed it anyway. Amory Blaine, although richly described, is not a particularly likable character, but he is certainly bright and his capacity for self analysis is amazing, though his little why-is-everyone-but-me-an-idiot attitude can grate in your nerves sometimes. Oh well, I guess that can be forgiven, considering his age; I also believe (sometimes) that at my ripe old age of nineteen I already know all I'll ever need to know about pretty much everything. Speaking of which, I loved that line, "I know myself, but that is all", I think it about sums up the whole story. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I realize that some reviewers find Blaine's selfishness and hubris offensive, and I ask, did you finish the book? He spells it out in simple english, though disguised as an afterthought, "Yes - I was perhaps an egotist in youth, but I soon found it made me morbid to think too much about myself."
This novel is the pronunciation of Amory Blaine's (read Fitzgerald's) emotional growth, sparked by the destruction of all the axioms that he thought he knew. He realizes at the end of the book (and the beginning of his life) that in order to matter, in the Descartes sense of the phrase, you need to make an impact on the lives of others. Blaine uses socialism as Monsignor used religion, to make himself indispensible to those that would listen to him, and so in some respect this novel is a blueprint for a good life lived, as any coming of age story should aspire to be. But above all, this novel is a doctrine of love. As Fitzgerald puts it, "yet the waters of disillusion had left a deposit on his soul, responsibility and a love of life, the faint stirrings of ambitions and unrealized dreams. But oh, Rosalind, Rosalind... It's all a poor substitute at best."

This was one of my favorite books when I was 15 years old. I read it several times and carried it with me around the dreary halls of the oppresive, boring land called High School. Even as a kid I sensed Fitzgerald's amazing writing gift: his effortless way of painting a visual picture in the mind of the reader. He was always extremely funny, off-beat and his charactizations are usually on the mark. Though Amory Blaine's psyche wanders a trifle after the first hundred pages, it's impossible not to gravitate towards him, the things he says and the stunts he pulls.

After 25 years I picked up the book again recently. Dusting off my old copy, I re-read the pages that had so captivated me as a teenager. Time dulls many things and people change. But I still love the book and think it's a brilliant first novel. Though it's sappy in spots and it definitely lags at the end, Fitzgerald still had a beautiful ability to harness the emotions of the reader into a world now vanished. It's not his most complete or mature work by a wide margin, but it matters not. This is still a great book, especially for young people or those still a kid at heart.