03.10.11
Another 20th-century classic that has somehow passed me by all this time. I have encountered, and been impressed by, some of Fitzgerald's short stories in the past but never his novels. This is one of those you think you've read, until you read it. Then you think you'd have remembered it if you had read it. While the plot and character development are a tad flimsy, I was bowled over by the richness of the prose, unfashionably and unapologetically poetic, conjuring a vivid sense of atmosphere, of the studied superficiality of the lives it describes. This is the American epic that so many modern writers (stand up, Mr Franzen) try to recreate but can't quite match.
I loved The Great Gatsby. I've also read Tender is the Night; bleak was the read.
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