MIKE: So I feel like I have a lot to say regarding chapter 1 of This Side of Paradise (henceforth known as TSoP). <After writing this entry, I now realize I didn't have that much to say after all. Hump.>
First, I totally agree with you on the appreciation of Fitzgerald's use of humor. While reading, I almost feel as if Fitzgerald is telling me this sly little story with a wink-wink at his one-liners. Amory is a complex character who reminds me greatly of either the children from The Royal Tenenbaums or maybe even Stewie. I had to remind myself that Amory was thirteen when he had his tiny fling with Myra. His dialogue is hilarious considering his age.
"Myra," he said, lowering his voice and choosing his words carefully, "I beg a
thousand pardons. Can you ever forgive me?"
and
"I been smoking too much. I've got t'bacca heart."
Fitzgerald actually wrote this book just after flunking out of Princeton and just before being shipped off to Europe to fight in WWI. His original book draft was call The Romantic Egotist but it was rejected by publishers.
This leads me to my second point. You said you liked Amory but didn't think you'd like him in real life. I'm completely on board with that. You also wrote that you feel sorry for him. Again, I completely agree. But I don't feel sorry for him until he heads to St. Regis. It is at this point that the chapter seems to shift in tone. And I wonder if the earlier (humorous) parts were written at a different time (pre WWI?) than the second half of the chapter. Amory, who makes me chuckle repeatedly, loses his humorous edge. Fitzgerald rewrote The Romantic Egotist when he was twenty-two or twenty-three and after he faced the rejected of his love, Zelda, because he was too poor. At twenty-three he published TSoP to huge applause. I'm eager to see which Amory we'll get in subsequent chapters. My money is somber Amory.
Speaking of subsequent chapters, I think I'm going to break our reading schedule and finish the book this week (who really goes to the NJ teacher conference anyway?). If you're ahead in your reading, we could post earlier. No pressure.
I don't think I have much else to say about chapter one. So far so good. Chapter two is fiftyish pages so we might have more to say about that.
Also, it sounded like you thought you missed the humor in The Great Gatsby when you read it in high school. I'm here to tell you that you certainly didn't miss the humor because it's not really there. But it is still my all time favorite novel.
Finally, do you realize that we are probably the only blogging book group featuring TSoP? I'm not going to factcheck that because it's more fun to believe what I want to believe.
Finally again, I'm reading my high school library's copy of TSoP and I'm writing in the margins. I wonder if/when they'll notice and if this makes me a terrible person. I don't think this copy has been checked out for a while.
#iliketosmelloldbooks
#thatdoesntnecessarilymakemecreepy
First, I totally agree with you on the appreciation of Fitzgerald's use of humor. While reading, I almost feel as if Fitzgerald is telling me this sly little story with a wink-wink at his one-liners. Amory is a complex character who reminds me greatly of either the children from The Royal Tenenbaums or maybe even Stewie. I had to remind myself that Amory was thirteen when he had his tiny fling with Myra. His dialogue is hilarious considering his age.
"Myra," he said, lowering his voice and choosing his words carefully, "I beg a
thousand pardons. Can you ever forgive me?"
and
"I been smoking too much. I've got t'bacca heart."
Fitzgerald actually wrote this book just after flunking out of Princeton and just before being shipped off to Europe to fight in WWI. His original book draft was call The Romantic Egotist but it was rejected by publishers.
This leads me to my second point. You said you liked Amory but didn't think you'd like him in real life. I'm completely on board with that. You also wrote that you feel sorry for him. Again, I completely agree. But I don't feel sorry for him until he heads to St. Regis. It is at this point that the chapter seems to shift in tone. And I wonder if the earlier (humorous) parts were written at a different time (pre WWI?) than the second half of the chapter. Amory, who makes me chuckle repeatedly, loses his humorous edge. Fitzgerald rewrote The Romantic Egotist when he was twenty-two or twenty-three and after he faced the rejected of his love, Zelda, because he was too poor. At twenty-three he published TSoP to huge applause. I'm eager to see which Amory we'll get in subsequent chapters. My money is somber Amory.
Speaking of subsequent chapters, I think I'm going to break our reading schedule and finish the book this week (who really goes to the NJ teacher conference anyway?). If you're ahead in your reading, we could post earlier. No pressure.
I don't think I have much else to say about chapter one. So far so good. Chapter two is fiftyish pages so we might have more to say about that.
Also, it sounded like you thought you missed the humor in The Great Gatsby when you read it in high school. I'm here to tell you that you certainly didn't miss the humor because it's not really there. But it is still my all time favorite novel.
Finally, do you realize that we are probably the only blogging book group featuring TSoP? I'm not going to factcheck that because it's more fun to believe what I want to believe.
Finally again, I'm reading my high school library's copy of TSoP and I'm writing in the margins. I wonder if/when they'll notice and if this makes me a terrible person. I don't think this copy has been checked out for a while.
#iliketosmelloldbooks
#thatdoesntnecessarilymakemecreepy
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