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Synopsis:
A dazzling novel that captures all of the romance, glamour, and tragedy of the first flapper, Zelda Fitzgerald.
When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame.
Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner's, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral and take the rest as it comes.
My Review:
“If the river has a soul, it's a peaceful one. If it has a lesson to impart, that lesson is patience. There will be drought, it says; there will be floods; the ice will form, the ice will melt; the water will flow and blend into the river's brackish mouth, then join the ocean between Lewes and Cape May, endlessly, forever, amen.”
I must admit I expected a fluffy written book on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda. Instead, I discovered a wonderful tale of the life of the woman behind the legend.
Told in the first person, we follow Zelda from the time she meets Scott Fitzgerald in 1918 through the time of his death in 1940. She meets Scott before the publication of his first novel when he was so young and full of the spirit of adventure it captivates her despite her father’s admonition that he can never support her. Their first few years in New York city whirlwind of social engagements, all-night clubbing, and the undying attention of the media and the public. They seem charmed during those days. But if you know their story, you’ll be awaiting what happens next. Zelda’s own creative ambitions ultimately threaten her husband’s, and there seems no hope of a peaceful resolution for the two of them.
As the story progresses, Zelda matures, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. Being in her mind throughout the story you can feel her growing. I could sense her emotions, her desires, and the sadness that lingered whenever she felt overlooked or tossed aside.
As Zelda and Scott’s marriage falls apart, Zelda gains the unimaginable strength of character and becomes one of my favorite people. She is a Renaissance woman. A painter, a dancer, and a wonderful writer despite being pushed into using Scott’s name on her work. She single-handedly saves their family from ruin at the expense of her own sanity, and then she puts her life back together again. Zelda Fitzgerald becomes a true paragon of a strong woman, and I am thankful every day that Therese Ann Fowler shared this version of her with the world.
Society portrays Zelda as “crazy” and blames her for ruining Scott’s career, but I feel they were equally bad for each other. There was a constant eagerness to “outdo” the other, but both Scott and Zelda had their faults which ended up leading to their own self-destruction. Zelda battled with the constant wish to make something of her life while Scott battled with the desire to be the best writer to walk the earth. While some may think Zelda was lazy or dependent on Scott financially, Zelda actually had many talents and was very busy. She was a writer, a dancer, a painter... She danced in plays, she sold her paintings in galleries, she accomplished a lot more than the average house or trophy wife. Scott also depended on Zelda for his writing, Zelda motivated him to complete his first novel which launched his career, and he would continue to draw from her diary and personal experiences to create content for future winning novels.
One of my favorite quotes and one I was glad to see appear in Z is “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” That’s what Fowler did. Scott may be the hero that took Zelda away from Alabama, but their love is too strong and toxic for them to continue their party lifestyle with no consequences.
Author Therese Anne Fowler did extensive research while writing this fictionalized account of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s lives together, so although the dialogue and some scenes are imagined as it might have happened, the thoughts, people, places, and situations discussed are supported by diaries and letters between the Fitzgeralds and others, and writings about them at the time.
A thrilling read. On many levels. Family, love, marriage, home, ambition, self-destruction, motherhood--Z has it all.
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