KEY WEST BED & BREAKFAST, Key West Lodging and Accommodation Guide: Florida Traveling Guides: Tender is the Night

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
In the wake of World War I, a community of expatriate American writers established itself in the salons and cafes of 1920s Paris. They congregated at Gertrude Stein's select soirees, drank too much, married none too wisely, and wrote volumes--about the war, about the Jazz Age, and often about each other. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, were part of this gang of literary Young Turks, and it was while living in France that Fitzgerald began writing Tender Is the Night. Begun in 1925, the novel was not actually published until 1934. By then, Fitzgerald was back in the States and his marriage was on the rocks, destroyed by Zelda's mental illness and alcoholism. Despite the modernist mandate to keep authors and their creations strictly segregated, it's difficult not to look for parallels between Fitzgerald's private life and the lives of his characters, psychiatrist Dick Diver and his former patient turned wife, Nicole. Certainly the hospital in Switzerland where Zelda was committed in 1929 provided the inspiration for the clinic where Diver meets, treats, and then marries the wealthy Nicole Warren. And Fitzgerald drew both the European locale and many of the characters from places and people he knew from abroad.

In the novel, Dick is eventually ruined--professionally, emotionally, and spiritually--by his union with Nicole. Fitzgerald's fate was not quite so novelistically neat: after Zelda was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and committed, Fitzgerald went to work as a Hollywood screenwriter in 1937 to pay her hospital bills. He died three years later--not melodramatically, like poor Jay Gatsby in his swimming pool, but prosaically, while eating a chocolate bar and reading a newspaper. Of all his novels, Tender Is the Night is arguably the one closest to his heart. As he himself wrote, "Gatsby was a tour de force, but this is a confession of faith."

Product Description
Difinitive edition of the American classic 'Tender Is The Noght'. This, Scott Fitzgerald's most personal work, is based upon the author's unhappy marriage. It tells the tale of Dick Diver's life with Nicole, of their opulent lifestyle, infidelities and dangerous friendships.

Customer Reviews: Read 133 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

I thought I would love this book November 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

based on what I had read about it, but I did not. There were parts that I liked, passages that are well-written, but overall the writing is stilted and the narrative choppy. There is an air of self-importance in the narrative itself that rivals that of the characters, which has the effect of downplaying their snobbery. There are also a few instances in Book 1 where Fitzgerald felt the need to tell the reader about, even though he had already shown, Rosemary's naivete. I also agree with the reviewers who said that Fitzgerald failed in presenting the psychology of Nicole's illness accurately.

5 out of 5 stars

The 2nd best of a talented author October 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Tender is the Night is a beautiful and sublte psychological novel of deterioration and wasted talent. It chronicles the gradual fall of Dick Diver (note the last name), the brilliant psychiatrist who wrecks himself trying to cure his insane wife, Nicole. Inevitably ever reader compares it to the Great Gatsby, which was arguably a better and very different book. While Gatsby was a faced-paced, tightly organized drama, Tender is a much slower book that leaves an impression on the reader by giving a lot of subtle impressions.

Even though it is not the Great Gatsby, Tender is an impressive book. The characters are especially convincing because they are so dynamic. They all change over the long course of the novel based on their interractions with one another. This is exactly what real people do. After reading this book you feel like you know and are in an emotional relationship with the characters, and that is the mark of a great personal novel. As with any Fitzgerald novel, the prose is beautiful. Fitzgerald fills the book with the rich imagery and flowing rythms of a very beautiful time and place- the French Riviera of the 1920s.

Tender is certainly not for all readers, and not even for all fans of the Great Gatsby. Whereas Gatsby felt at times like a detailed landscape, Tender is the Night is more like an abstract painting. Fitzgerald does not attempt to rationalize the improbable events in the book, and often uses almost surreal descriptions and occurences to create an atmosphere or reinforce an idea. It is almost like the Divers' reality is an extension of their imaginations.

Some readers also struggle with the structure of the book. The story begins with a long, romantic introduction to the Divers at the height of their marriage and the beginning of Dick's decline in 1925. In Book II, the story moves back to 1917 when Dick met Nicole, and moves through their early marriage into 1925. Book III continues the narrative through Dick's decline into the late 1920s.

Fitzgerald's non-linear structure is interesting, but he often fails to make it work. There are inconsistencies in the timing of the novel, and in Book III it is often difficult to know what year it is. This makes the rate of Dick's deterioration and the course of the Diver's marriage unnessecarily confusing.

Another problem is that Fitzgerald's portrait of the psychiatrist protagonist is somewhat marred by his almost silly English-major's view of the world. Fitzgerald was a talented writer who successfully communicated his deep understanding of people through Dr. Diver's professional knowledge of pyschology, which he uses to achieve social success. It is also interesting that the man who studies feelings is intensely self conscious about his own emotions and perceptions. However, it is necessary to remember that Dr. Diver is supposed to a be a pyschiatrist and neurologist, a medical doctor who takes a scientific approach to behavior. However, Dick acts like an English major. He educated himself by reading books, and most of his work consists of "spinning out his story". This is not at all how a technical person learns, or works. This is how a writer works. All Fitzgerald knew was literature, so that is really all he could write about. A doctor is really just an applied scientist, and scientists are natural problem solvers. Dick Diver does not act like a problem solver, does not take a rational view of the world, does not take a scientific approach to his work, and does not express curiosity in understanding how things work. He is not at all a convincing doctor, yet his career is supposed to be central to his character. This problem occurs again when Fitzgerald tries to emphasize Nicole's intelligence by talking about her interest in books. And Nicole's lover Tommy, a soldier of fortune, is a painter who does a lot of posing and really does not come across as a soldier. In the end everyone of his characters is really some kind of artist. He is not able to convincingly render any kinds of intelligence besides artistic creativity, and that often makes his work seem unconvincing and a little silly.

Despite its flaws, Tender is the work of a master. I read the book months ago, and looking back at it seems to get better and better. You'll feel like you personally know the characters, and the ending will haunt you. Fitzgerald's second rate work is better than 99% of the books out there.

3 out of 5 stars

Sad tale of a broken marriage October 13, 2008
Despite its sombre tone, I really enjoyed reading Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. At first, it appears that the novel will follow Rosemary Hoyt, a young American actress traveling abroad with her mother. Rosemary meets Dick and Nicole Diver, a young, affluent couple, on a beach in France, during her travels. She soon finds herself falling in love with Mr. Diver.

From there, however, the story takes an abrupt turn. We learn the history of the Diver couple. Dick is a psychoanalytic doctor, and his relationship with Nicole began as a clinical one. An impossibly rich young girl from America, she'd been committed to a mental facility in Europe after a disastrous turn in her relationship with her father. Dick happens upon her one day in the facility grounds, and the two begin talking and writing to one another. Later, Dick almost seems compelled to marry her in order to fully cure her of her illness.

At any rate, the remainder of the tale primarily follows Dick and Nicole (with brief re-appearances by Rosemary) as their marriage evolves and eventually disintegrates. It is a sad tale, indeed, and it definitely smacks of Fitzgerald's fascinations with social power and money. It also sadly rings with autobiographical elements in Fitzgerald's later life - adultery, mental illness, the feeling of failed potential.

4 out of 5 stars

More personal than The Great Gatsby September 3, 2008
Tender Is the Night is the story of a very dysfunctional American couple, the Divers, slowly disintegrating in Europe. Much less economical and symbolic than The Great Gatsby, it is a personal work. There are some problems with this novel, such as the coincidental way in which characters meet each other again across Europe and the poor development of some of the important secondary characters. However, one is convincingly drawn in to the initial magic of the Divers' relationship and its gradual collapse.

1 out of 5 stars

not reading this August 20, 2008
0 out of 10 found this review helpful

You don't need to buy this book to know it sucks. Just click "look inside" on the left side of the item page. The book starts out describing some building. Ok, do I have to be a student of architecture in order to appreciate this book? The first paragraph is supposed to pull the reader in. I'm not sure I can express how NOT PULLED IN the first paragraph makes me. So superficial, mundane...oh, DO I need a 3rd adjective? I don't know what kind of "great minds" like to waste their lives away reading about the paint job of some building. Even if it's only a couple seconds, we as mere mortals DO NOT have even the slightest amount of time to waste. If I'm going to waste my time, I'd rather it be on my own terms, and not on those of Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald.