The Beautiful and Damned — Reviews from an Author
“Can anything said ever be enough to encompass the timeless beauty of Fitzgerald’s prose?”
“I think not,” whispered the wind…
What is the book about?
The Beautiful and Damned is the tragic and endlessly lyrical story of the brilliant but lazy Anthony Patch and the charming Gloria Gilbert. They haven’t a care in the world but the fortune that Anthony is set to inherit from his legendary grandfather, Adam J. Patch.
Set in the time leading to the Great War, the book follows Anthony as he graduates from Harvard. The young man distrusts the virtue of work and believes in the superiority of leisure, believing that he is destined for it. One fateful afternoon seals his fate as he falls hopelessly head-over-heels for the maddeningly beautiful young socialite from Kansas.
Before long, they get married and live in the sweet anticipation of soon receiving their money. A dream that a silly drunken incident precludes from happening…
Now Anthony and Gloria, unused to labour and responsibility, spending way more than they can afford to, see their glorious future sink down the drain of despair. Unless they can find a way to contest his grandfather’s will… But can they manage to do it through their newfound poverty and affliction?
Incomparable Writing
As with everything Fitzgerald wrote, you can almost hear the words reverberate in a melody. His writing, just like poetry, speaks to the soul, shedding light on its most intimate, shameful, but thoroughly human aspects.
The symphony of sounds that the author managed to somehow contrive will never cease to amaze me. Fitzgerlad is no stranger to poetic writing but The Beautiful and Damned is, without a doubt, his most lyrical work.
Unique Characters
This is a feat rarely achieved by authors. Regardless of how well a writer can structure their prose, the characters always follow tried and weary archetypes. And Fitzgerald is no exception. What sets him apart is how much depth of feeling his characters possess.
The literature of the 18th and 19th centuries tended to be a little on the bland side, not giving human emotions their due consideration, often resulting in lacklustre characters that had to be thought of long and hard to understand their motivations or relate to them.
Fitzgerald, on the other hand, saturates Anthony and Gloria with such immense emotion, that every current of sentiment that passes through them shoots like shock through the reader, too. Their pain is his suffering, their anticipation is his torture, and their happiness… is his joy.
Masterful Suspense
The synopsis of the book is rather far from seeming like a thrilling read. Just a bunch of rich people fighting about money. What is new about this? Well, the torturing suspense that Fitzgerald imbued the book with.
I do not exaggerate when I say that this distant, phantom promise of a fortune that was once almost theirs, that was taken away from them on a childish whim but which could still be theirs, kept me biting my fingernails in anticipation.
Conclusion
The Beautiful and Damned is an absolute must-read for lovers of vivid prose, bohemian and extravagant characters and simply, beauty.
You can also read my reviews of other books by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
