Fitzgerald Novels, Ranked — Reviews from an Author
Achieving the impossible
Fitzgerald is my favorite author. I am not going to lie. But this only makes the task of ranking his novels more daunting.
You are unlikely to find someone who mimics your tastes perfectly in several lifetimes. So, I do not claim that everyone must agree with my opinion or that it is ultimate. It is simply a humble opinion of someone who re-reads all of Fitzgerald’s novels and whose work he holds dearly in his heart. So, take this article with a grain of salt.
Introduction
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The son of a wicker furniture manufacturer and an heiress, he had a certain unacceptance of his parents, which led him to make up stories that he was the forgotten son of royalty. A quirky personal detail that made its way into some of his novels.
He is famous for his hysterical romance with the beautiful but mad Zelda Sayre and their endless, extravagant parties. Although a part of the crème de la crème of American society in his younger years, Fitzgerald died in obscurity, believing that his name was to forever be forgotten by future generations. Talk about sad.
During his lifetime, he wrote 4 full novels as well as one unfinished one, The Love of the Last Tycoon, which was completed by his friend and writer Edmund Wilson. For the sake of this article, I am only going to rank novels that were finished by Fitzgerald himself.
1. This Side of Paradise
I think that this forever will remain my favorite book. It is not a mere recollection of rascallous college life, nor the deep ponderation of a young philosopher-type. This novel set a whole genre and defined the melancholy mentality of the Lost Generation, of which Fitzgerald was part.
It helped define nihilism; philosophers, scholars, and artists alike quoted this book for decades. This novel holds the soul of what it means to be a human, to live, to desire, to lose, and to hope. I cannot imagine putting it anywhere else on the list.
2. The Beautiful and Damned
Perhaps Fitzgerald’s most poetic work, this book holds a special place in my heart.
What many may not know is that Fitzgerald had aspirations to become a poet. Alas, they were never fulfilled, but the world is, perhaps, all the better for it, for it gained a magnificent prose writer.
The essence of the young poet’s romance saturates this book with unspeakable yearnings, intellectual arrogance, broken dreams, and a crushed fate. And yet… in its own twisted and perverse right, the tragic and biblically broken events of this novel are lit by the light of hope, which is everpresent in Fitzgerald’s works. Although it may not always find an outlet.
3. The Great Gatsby
Perhaps the most known of Fitzgerald’s work, the one that ensured his name would forever be remembered by future generations. Fitzgerald’s star has been waiting for a long time after the release of The Beautiful and Damned. Conflicts with Zelda, excessive spending, and a drinking problem all contributed.
Alas, Fitzgerald never again mimicked the success of his early life. Not until after his death, when The Great Gatsby was taken on by the Armed Services Edition books during WWII, sparking a renewed interest in the book and finally allotting it its rightful place among the pantheon of American classics.
I am obliged, however, to rank it third only on my list. I don’t mean to diminish the greatness of this book. After all, it’s The Great Gatsby that is studied in schools nowadays, not the two books that preceded it. The Great Gatsby remains a thrilling read, laced with pomp, pathos, drama, and dreaminess. But the former simply have my heart.
4. Tender is the Night
Fitzgerald’s last finished novel also happens to be my least favorite. Not because of its qualities or plot, but rather because of how humanly difficult it is to read.
The style of Fitzgerald’s writing has evolved from splendid youthful vigor to a more tired and melancholy adult chic. The traces of pain and addiction are evident in each line and the mental disease that afflicts the protagonist’s love interest… God was it hard to bear.
It is the sadness of this book that places it so low on my list. Indeed, Fitzgerald never lost his genius or his grip. Tender is the Night is testimony to that. It’s just… a little too sad.
Conclusion
While I undertook the task of ranking these masterpieces, it does not mean that any of them are worse than the others. Humanity is better off that we have these books, it is nothing more but the order in which I love them and should only be treated as such.
Perhaps our opinions are similar, or perhaps they are different, but I truly do hope that after reading this, you might avail your mind to the incomparable beauty of Fitzgerald’s writing, if you haven’t yet.
Only after having completed this list, did I realize that it happened to align with the order in which Fitzgerald released them. Happy reading!
